Introducing CF Field Rep Paul Wells
For the impending Norwich North by-election I have appointed Paul Wells, a local CF activist and councillor, as our CF Field Representative – essentially ‘our man in Norwich’. Paul will oversee day-to-day CF affairs on the ground, greeting activists, seeing that their needs are heard and addressed, documenting the campaign and generally bringing his peerless local knowledge to bear. Paul and I will both be running campaign days between now and Polling Day.
So by way of introduction, here’s five minutes question and answer with Paul.
CF: How did you become involved with conservative politics?
Paul Wells: I come from a rather political family, and have always been of a conservative leaning, but only got actively involved when I joined my local University CF Branch. I attended a few meetings and met the Norwich South PPC, and ended up offering to help. The rest as they say is history.
CF: You led the successful University of East Anglia CF branch – tell us about the challenges and achivements from that time.
Paul Wells: I am immensely proud of the progress UEA CF made during my two years as chair. Membership consistently rose and is now around 100 paid up members. We are larger than all the other main party’s groups combined. During the last 2 years we became actively involved in our SU overturning the OTC ban on campus, and had great fun causing problems for the NUS. More importantly we have become very heavily involved in local Norwich politics, with 7 UEA CFers standing in the local elections, and many more helping out!
CF: You recently won a council election – how did you become a candidate, and what was the campaign like? Like our PPC Chloe Smith, you were a ‘CF candidate’. How did people respond to a youthful candidate?
Paul Wells: I have lived and campaigned in the Bowthorpe division for much of the time I have lived in Norwich, and had stood twice for city seats so I was always confident that I stood a good chance of being selected. The actual process consisted of simply applying and being selected by the executive which was a fairly smooth process. The campaign itself was a different case! The sheer level of work required was immense and it was a real rollercoaster of emotions, it was made even harder by the position of my finals only a few days before polling day. My age was never really an issue during to the campaign and I think residents appreciated the energy I brought to the campaign.
CF: Tell us about Norwich North, what sort of constituency is it? Can Conservatives win here?
Paul Wells: Norwich North is a strange constituency, mainly because it does not contain that much of the city. The four city divisions it does contain are the basis on which much of Labour’s support is built. This base has hugely eroded in recent years. In the last locals we won the vast majority of the divisions including one in the city, and polled strongly where we did not win. With Iain Gibson standing down Labour is far weaker. We have a fantastic and established candidate in Chloe Smith, who is young energetic and dynamic. Despite the posturing of the Lib Dems and the Greens there are only two horses in this by-election, and I have every confidence that we will see Chloe elected. We will however need all the help we get. (a little hint there)
To contact Paul – paul.wells@conservativefuture.com
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