The Conservative Muslim Forum held a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester and the subject was “winning Muslim votes”. The meeting was very well attended and the room was packed and unfortunately some people were not able to come in. The guest speaker was Caroline Spelman MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who said that the Conservative Party was an inclusive Party and that the ethnic minorities as well as women have the opportunity to be actively involved in the Party and be considered for Parliamentary candidacy and achieve success in politics within the Party.

Lord Sheikh, Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum, gave a brief outline of the structure of the Conservative Muslim Forum and talked about various ways in which the Parliamentary candidates and local associations can reach out and win the support of the Muslim population. Lord Sheikh gave indicators as to how this can be achieved and how the Conservative Muslim Forum can assist the Parliamentary candidates but stressed that the Parliamentary candidates must take the initiative and liaise with the Conservative Muslim Forum offices as to how we can achieve the right results.

Mohammed Amin, Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum, urged the attendees to join the Conservative Muslim Forum and asked the local association representatives and candidates to utilise the Conservative Muslim Forum in order to augment the membership of the association and also win the support of the local Muslim community.

Andrew Stephenson, PPC for Pendle, and Ben Jeffries, PPC for Cheadle, explained how they have taken actions to reach out to the Muslim communities in their areas and how they worked in conjunction with the Conservative Muslim Forum in order to help their campaigns.

Lord Sheikh agreed to summarise the various points he had referred to and send these to the associations & candidates as a ready reckoner.