Douglas Carswell MP
Frederick Forsyth

FREDERICK FORSYTH, CBE
Frederick Forsyth is a well-known author and political commentator. After a career in the RAF and with Reuters and the BBC Frederick Forsyth became an author writing The Day of the Jackal. This became an instant success, and spawned a career of many successful books. Frederick Forsyth speaks fluent French, German and Spanish, and has travelled widely in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He is known for his robust views defending the sovereignty of the nation-state.

His talk was on continuing the opposition to the Lisbon Treaty and why the Conservative Party must hold a post-ratifi cation referendum to repeal the Treaty if they are elected to office.

DOUGLAS CARSWELL, MP
Douglas Carswell is the member of Parliament for Harwich and Clacton. Dod’s political biography describes Douglas as being “Tall and Eurosceptic ... one of his party’s radical thinkers”. Douglas believes that public services fail all too often because power has increasingly been put in the hands of remote and unaccountable elites. The answer, believes Douglas, is Direct Democracy – pushing power away from Whitehall and Brussels, down to the individual, where possible, or failing that the town hall.

Issues advocated by Douglas are; the abolition of the Council Tax and for VAT to be converted into a local sales tax, to make local authorities self-financing, more accountability in public services, directly elected sheriffs, decentralisation of the NHS, public hearings for judicial appointments and the democratisation of quangos.

Achieving Britain’s independence is one of Douglas’ overriding political aims.