Young, Bright and on the Right Wonderland

We're the Conservative Association, I'm the Treasurer, and James is our Publicity Officer.

Quickly...

Election results, 2010, this is looking good.

We've got 40.8% of the vote share.

Really? Come on. We're going to do it.

We're going to win, I think, come on.

CHEERING

-Jacqui Smith has gone.

-What?

Jacqui Smith! Jacqui Smith...

It is an immense privilege and a pleasure to represent...

The last general election produced a coalition cabinet

where almost 70% of the ministers went to either Oxford or Cambridge.

We've already won many seats that we couldn't have imagined gaining.

Come on, Simon. Yes! Yes! That's mine!

Look at that, that is victory, that is sweet victory.

2010 was the first election that I stayed up all night to watch.

Though I do slightly regret not having been a year older,

because then I'd have both got to vote,

and I'd have been here on election night, which was apparently

about the wildest party that can be imagined and never stopped.

The student politics scene where many of our cabinet cut their teeth

is famed to be every bit as ferocious as Westminster.

They say that Oxford politics is the dirtiest in the world,

the most brutal, most aggressive, a warlike forum.

Absolute nonsense.

We follow two young Tories, one at Oxford and one at Cambridge,

during a term that could make or break their political careers.

Whilst you might not be old enough

to have a proper political career at 19,

you're certainly old enough to kill a political career.

One way to break into Tory politics in Oxford

is through the Oxford University Conservative Association.

An 88-year-old politics club, it's historically been a training ground

for future Tory leaders,

such as William Hague and Margaret Thatcher.

Arriving in Oxford is Joe Cooke, a straight-A student,

he's in his third year studying politics, philosophy and economics.

These are my tea chests, where I store my destructibles, shall we say,

sort of ornaments, which can be damaged easily.

Now this is my crucifix, for effect may I add, not necessarily...

I'm not that devout.

What kind of effect does that give?

You always trust a man with a cross, don't you?

Joe's been a Conservative since the age of 14.

Lady Thatcher. She's the real heartbeat of the movement,

the darling of the movement.

Go there.

You see, she does look nice there,

I could have the Union Jack beneath her, and then Winston above.

That could be quite nice above my desk as well.

Cecil. Well, Sir Cecil is what we call him. He's a hare.

Last term, Joe was the President

of the Oxford University Conservative Association.

I'm entering semi-political retirement.

I'm now the grandfather figure of the Conservative Association down here,

the only ex-President still in residence,

making me the third most powerful man after the Vice President and the current President.

Joe was one of the fastest rising stars in the history

of the association, also known as OUCA.

His one term long presidency started six months ago.

Today is the first official event of my presidency

so I am now the President of OUCA. Whey!

Early in his presidency, Joe had organised a gathering

of his close associates at the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.

So this is PJ Edwards, he's our political officer.

Yes.

George was the best communication director

in the history of the Association.

And where's your jacket from George?

I thought I'd go with my college boater, my university bow tie

and then the colour of old school colours.

Sort of a hodgepodge of old boys' institutions, George.

Joe is awesome, flamboyant but above all, very clever.

George, you're making my head grow even larger.

I know that he will bring great prosperity to this country

should he ever get involved with politics,

which I encourage him to do, and I know he wants to.

Has the race started?

Joe's declared mission as President

was to focus OUCA less on socialising...

Outcast!

..and more on serious politics.

I will deliver what the Conservatives need -

reform, of modernity.

I will deliver as a launch of our sort of Big Society in Oxford.

If I have to drag them screaming and kicking,

I assure you I'll put up a hell of a fight.

But it wasn't meant to be.

The OUCA presidency only lasts for one term

and Joe's reign ended in disappointment for him,

when his key reform failed to go through.

They stabbed me in the back. I wasn't even allowed that one change.

A charity reform, with me at the meeting being called Robert Mugabe,

for trying to force something upon the Association that it didn't want.

Despite no longer being President,

Joe will spend this term trying to reform OUCA from the sidelines

and making sure it doesn't fall into the hands of his political rivals.

Many would have desired me to have crawled away

into the woodworks and to have faded. But this is when I strike back.

It's the beginning, it's not the end.

Order. Order.

I call Mr Chris Monk to second the motion. Chris.

Community service.

Why shouldn't someone, young or old, who has damaged the community...

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

..who has damaged the community, pay for what they did

by working to improve it.

Chris Monk is one of the youngest people to ever speak

in the House of Commons.

..are not isolated through society...

He became a Tory when he was at primary school.

At some point between me being five and me being nine,

I decided that I supported the Conservative Party

and became a proper Tory.

We're back off to Cambridge for another term.

It's easier to come out at Cambridge as being gay

than it is to come out as being a Tory.

We all say, "Well, yeah, so they're gay, so what?"

You really don't get, "So he's a Tory, so what?"

For one reason or another, the right wing has always been identified

with taking things away, and being nasty.

Being with the Tories is a bit like The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,

we're in the business of taking people's toys away,

and things like that. I mean, of course, that's untrue.

The simple answer as to why Conservatism is not a popular creed

at university is students don't pay tax.

You've either got to have parents who are so wealthy

that tax is a major issue around the dinner table,

or you've got to be a bit unusual, and I fall into the second camp.

Chris lives with his parents who vote Lib Dem.

They've always been baffled by his politics.

He was very, very right-wing.

He's always been right-wing.

Sometimes too right, but yes, I don't think he's ever been left.

He's never been particularly tolerant of certain aspects...

Hey!

Well, you're not. You haven't been. You're actually getting better now.

What am I intolerant of?

-I knew you were going to say that.

-Your mother with comments like that!

Chris is now entering his second year studying law,

one of Cambridge University's most competitive subjects.

This academic year is vital to any kind of political career

I want to have. It sort of means

that you either do make it or you don't make it.

And if you crack, and if you sort of crash out in spectacular style

because you said something, you said something inappropriate

and it got into the media, then...that's it.

Off downstairs and off to Cambridge.

In Oxford, it's the second week of term.

Despite no longer being President, Joe is determined to push his agenda

within the Oxford University Conservative Association.

The association is now being led by Joe's former friend, James Lawson,

its new president.

We've got a pool table in my college but this is more impressive.

We're talking about the union, James.

'We were a political unit,

'a bit like sort of Tweedledum and Tweedledee.'

We're the Conservative Association.

I'm the Treasurer and James is our publicity officer.

I was more of the front man of the band

and James helped out with the backing music.

Got the impression that friendship was not his priority, that it was...

as long as it was compatible with the political figures and numbers.

I always had that in my gut.

I had inklings that he could betray me, but I...

I never thought it would actually happen.

Joe's treasured charity reform was voted down

on a constitutional technicality. He blames his ex-friend James for this.

Now there's an election coming up for OUCA's new committee.

Joe is determined to get his allies into power,

but to do this, he needs votes.

Every new member who joins the Association is meant

to be read out in Council.

So, as an ex-President, I am, by the letter of the law,

allowed to know who's joined.

However, our President re-interpreted the rules,

to say that because 528 people joined last week,

we didn't have to read them out, and he hadn't printed out a list.

So, exercising my right, I merely asked if I could see a copy,

so he gave me his computer.

As that computer was passed to me in the meeting

and the meeting continued, I quickly went into his files,

found the required list of members and emailed it back to myself.

I would never have given anybody my computer

while connected to the internet.

It wouldn't make sense so he should have expected it.

Dirty tactics already, Joe?

I don't think it's a dirty tactic, when the results are so moral.

Joe's plan is to try to get his friend, George Mawhinney,

elected into a key position.

And he's drawn up a number of related strategies.

-Joe.

-Good afternoon, gentleman.

Good to see you. How are you?

-How are you? Enjoy London, Nihal?

-It was all right.

What teas would you like, gents?

Could I have the light tea, I think.

Yeah, could we have... do we want three of the light tea?

The light tea, I think.

Normally when you provide the scones,

there's usually one plain and there's one with sultanas,

-and can I just have two plain scones?

-All right. OK.

Can I have two plain scones as well, I don't like raisins or anything.

-Could I have the exact same please?

-LAUGHTER

-Absolutely.

-Great.

-Thanks.

Joe is extremely clever.

What's very unique about him is his ability to make these decisions

which are so well considered, and so faultless at such short notice.

I've produced a brief sort of outline of our strategies.

Plan B and C and D of Plan A in terms of total victory,

moderate victory... A mad mutually assured destruction.

And then I produced a second outline

from what we were talking about the other night. Tudor Rose.

Marrying their Lancastrians to our Yorkists

so that we retain influence and end factions.

That would be getting George elected as a senior officer.

I think in 20 years' time, Joe will be a cabinet minister.

I think he definitely has what it takes to fulfil any role

that he wants to in public life.

I would love to see Joe as Prime Minister.

That would be amazing and I think he could do it.

Look how many people have lost

when they've fallen foul of certain people on this table.

It's calculated that every enemy costs you a minimum of three votes.

You see the biggest risk is that we disarm,

they maintain all of their weapons...

The key aim is you. I think it's about time we start making it,

"This is what I want, this is what I'm willing to do to get it.

"Agree or we'll come to blows."

Ruthless as it is, that's how it works.

We're going to commit to Operation Tudor Rose,

but under the facade of Operation B Command/Total Victory.

Chris Monk has arrived in Cambridge.

He's a member of the Cambridge University Conservative Association,

or CUCA,

which is also holding elections for its committee this term.

The Association's elections are a popularity contest

but it would almost be better described

as a vote of confidence in your personality.

But Chris fears that his background puts him at a disadvantage

when it comes to a career in grown-up politics.

I'm on a hiding to nothing trying to enter politics

without significant connections.

I'm around the kinds of people who have those kinds of connections,

but my father isn't a socialist academic and I didn't go to Eton.

I went to a comprehensive school, despite the accent.

Most people say that I speak posh.

As far as I'm concerned, I speak normally and I speak properly.

But Chris is now keen to start climbing the ranks of CUCA

and this term he's putting himself forward

for an entry level position on its committee.

Every week of term,

a debate is held at Cambridge's main debating society, called the Union.

With a worldwide reputation for the cut and thrust of its debates,

it's a meeting place for everybody who's anybody in Cambridge politics.

The Union is an excellent place to get noticed

by the political people in Cambridge.

If you're known as being a sort of a wild firebrand of the right,

as I to an extent am,

it gets you noticed in your political society.

I mean, yeah, I sort of speak every opportunity I get really.

Will you be speaking tonight?

I can't possibly say whether I'll be speaking tonight,

it all comes down to whether they pick me or not.

Will they pick me? I don't know.

To ensure his visibility, Chris has offered his services as a steward.

90% of the time nothing happens, you're just standing around...

Right.

..being friendly, making sure everyone knows where they're going,

telling people where the toilets are.

Yes, yes, yes, keep coming, keep coming.

APPLAUSE

This week, the motion is this house would leave the EU,

and I would like to call on Mark Winterburn who's a second year

at Downing College to open the case for the proposition.

APPLAUSE

Coming into this debate, I am very aware

that Euroscepticism is largely associated

with some of the worst right-wing bigotry there is in this country.

However, tonight I would like to overturn it.

I'd really quite like to get elected,

and speaking in the Union and getting a high profile will help

because they'll see your name on the ballot, remember talking to you

about the debate you were in last week,

and they'll think, "I know him, he seems like a sound person.

"Why don't I vote for him?"

So if anybody would like to make a point in proposition of the motion,

this house would leave the EU, please raise your hand.

Yes. Someone I can't quite see up there.

Chris Monk, Trinity Hall.

First things first, we have a veto on the UN Security Council.

This makes us one of the five most powerful countries

in the world on its own.

Plus, we have a relationship with America,

which is still a hell of a lot closer in my heart

than my relationship to the Belgians.

APPLAUSE

It's always great to get picked and it's always great

to get to finish your speech and then everybody to clap,

and you think, "Oh well, at least they didn't end up booing me."

In Oxford, election fever is in full swing

with Joe plotting to get his faction into power.

So this is where we, the Oxford University Conservative Association,

hold our, our weekly infamous debates, part of policy.

OUCA books a room in the building

of Oxford's 189-year-old Debating Society.

Michael Heseltine said that the elections here...

what he witnessed here were the bloodiest battle grounds

in political life he'd ever come across.

And have many coups been plotted in this room?

No. Coups don't get plotted here, you're too on show in this room

to plot or to scheme. The people will...

You'll come in here, you'll say, "Oh, nice to see you, Michael.

"How are you? Yes, oh, can we just have a quick word outside?"

"Of course." You go out smiling, everyone thinks they're catching up,

you walk out, and you'll be careful about who is out here

watching where you're going, because obviously it's a long corridor,

people can see what room you're going in.

The first thing people think when they see you leaving is

they're up to something.

This is your last opportunity as well to find who you want to speak with,

and also to understand if somebody else is talking,

or if somebody else is planning something.

We'll just wait.

Can't quite talk now.

Now the reason you would choose this location at the end

is because you still have a panoramic vision

as to who knows what you're doing

and if anyone's going to come and follow you.

You also, by sitting here, have secured two exits.

You know who's coming up those steps,

you know who's coming up the back steps,

so you have a total control over the area.

The additional benefit is the table is in the corner,

so you don't have to be seen by the people up there

unless you want to be seen.

Suggests that there's quite an air of paranoia, Joe?

It's not necessarily... Is it paranoia

or is it a desire not to have your plans unveiled?

Because they're betraying their friends by speaking to you sometimes,

you're betraying yours by speaking to them.

That's how significant it is.

And Joe has decided to start talking to an old enemy.

To strengthen his position and raise his profile,

he's now getting into bed with the student newspaper.

My former nemesis I'm now working with.

He's agreed to write a weekly column

and they need a photo for his by-line.

You direct me at your will you know, I'll do anything.

The Oxford Student has a history

of publishing exposes about the inner workings of OUCA.

Can I have a cheeky smile and a tease...

Cheeky, do I do...?

Look, you journalists are already making me sweat,

it's being amongst you all.

I'm too used to your vindictive lies.

'It will give me a degree of power.

'I can criticise my replacement.'

It's rather stressful, this.

'If they're driving the party down a path I believe dangerous,

'or if I believe there are changes which can be made

'then I'm going to write about them

'and I'm going to continue to nag until changes are made.'

Touch away!

'And so my voice will be heard.'

I'm smiling. I'm trying.

'They will listen, and if they don't listen, they'll be made to listen.'

To England.

-I'm standing for Committee.

-Are you?

If I've really caught the bug, I'd then run for Chairmanship.

It'd be quite a fun job. I mean, being Chairman

of the Cambridge University Conservative Association

-is quite a title.

-Won't do the CV any harm.

-No.

In Cambridge, Chris's parents have come to visit from Kettering.

The one thing that would probably help is listening.

Giving people the idea that you're actually listening to them

-and taking on board what they're saying.

-Mm-hmm.

I think you could slightly improve that to make yourself more electable.

Even the impression you're listening to them and paying attention.

-Keeping eye contact...

-I am keeping eye contact!

And not rolling your eyes when I'm talking to you. Actually listening.

-He can do for his mother.

-All right, you can do for me,

but that's the only thing because I think your views are really good.

I think you put them forward really well but you need to listen!

I mean, we're a social society, not a political one, really,

so you get a lot of sort of conversations about

what people are doing, about how you get port out of a dress shirt.

Half the point of the Conservative Association

is that it gives you an opportunity

to pretend to be a member of the upper classes for an afternoon.

Why do you personally like the dressing up

and to use what you said, being upper class for an evening?

It just makes you feel special,

it makes you feel like you're really at Cambridge.

You're all dressed up in black tie,

walking into a room where everyone else is in black tie.

It's sort of, "Oh, Chris, hello, just come and sign this.

"Well, of course you're a member, yes, yes,"

and then straight over to the port where we sort of occasionally,

where we have a chat about the cheese whilst waiting for the biscuits to arrive.

The whole point of university, and Cambridge in particular,

is that you're free to find out what you actually like doing,

and who you actually like being with.

And who you are.

Joe is going home to visit his family.

Hello. Come on, I need a cup of tea with this weather.

Come on in, come on in.

Joe lives with his mother and sister.

Come on, Ruby.

Darling, have you been making sure you've been eating properly,

-I do worry about you.

-Yeah, I've got my vitamin regime

and tinned fish in a morning, toast.

How's jogging going on because I heard that you had a bit of a...

The thing is, I've got these weights now that you strap to your legs

and your arms whilst you're doing so you're...

-I bet you look a bonny sight.

-In the lycra.

LAUGHTER

Like Mr Muscle.

He was the perfect baby.

He was smiley, quiet, then maybe at four,

I thought there should be some form now of more than just

this smiling, happy child.

He actually didn't start speaking until he was about five.

The question had to be asked, is there something wrong?

What are we dealing with here?

They did several tests and said he seems to be major dyslexic.

They asked me, "How does he dress?"

I said, "Everything backwards-way round."

"How does he watch television?" "Upside-down."

Everything, he used to sit on the floor, on his back

and watch everything upside-down.

You forget... oh, Joe will go mad if I've got a little bit teary.

Yeah, you forget. Obviously, I don't forget,

I lived every minute with him, every second of all this with him.

It was very, very worrying because I brought the children up on my own

which people used to say, "You've a lot on with Joe.

"You're going to have a lot on with Joe."

Without the support of my wonderful Mam and Dad,

I think the road would have been even tougher for us.

-Cold.

-Cold, I know.

It's just like father and son. It has been right from the word go,

from him having his problem with his dyslexia.

He were always trying to tell me something

and it got to the stage where I could understand him,

all this yobble-gobble I could understand.

His mother and his grandmother couldn't

but we could talk together, couldn't we?

Yeah.

How do you feel about your grandad?

I get right teary when I talk about it because, you know,

because he is the world to me.

And he has laid the foundations for me to make something of my life.

It was just someone showing an actual...

someone showing an interest in me, someone actually putting time in.

Making it clear that, you know, I could understand,

I could if I persevered, I could learn, you know.

Someone actually showing me that I was somebody.

Yeah. Some belief in him.

What changed that boy who was at the bottom of every class,

who was unable to read? What is it

that clicked at that age that made me able to go on?

I remember that...

this was 13 going on 14, and this was in religious education.

I came in the bottom of the class and it just, you know,

people laugh at you, people taunt at you,

and I thought, you have no right to do that.

I could... I know that I'm better than this.

It were just like somebody turned a light on.

He read everything, didn't he? His thirst for knowledge.

He watched every documentary, every thing on every subject

so that he could converse and what anybody said to him, he knew.

Not a little bit, he knew everything, didn't he?

Hence then, he sat for his exams, and what did he get?

-All A-stars.

-He got all A-stars.

-If there's a subject...

-He's not good at...

-He has to be good at it.

What child that doesn't speak until he's five years old

takes Japanese at school?

Why shouldn't I get what I want to get?

I am different, and from difference can come great potential.

The Conservative ideal is that where you are born

should not determine where you end up.

I was just struggling to be able to determine my own life

and to go against people's expectations.

I saw the Conservative Party as the party

associated with the individual fighting against everything

to be who they are.

In my heart of hearts, yes, I would have liked to go to a public school,

if only because that would have meant I would have met more people

who were like-minded when I was younger.

And it would possibly have made my earlier years at secondary school

less lonely, and less lonely and involved less reading of books

and more talking to people.

And talking to the people who matter

is the next phase in Chris's campaign to win a position on the CUCA committee.

Tonight is the cross-party drinks. Asides from enjoyment...

I mean, enjoyment is a very important part of conservatism,

and, I mean, the other purpose is that we get to know...

get to know people from other political parties.

Most of the primary party men on the Cambridge right

will be around tonight.

If they say that, "I really think voting for Chris would be a good thing,"

and "I think Chris deserves to get on Committee this term,"

then you know that you'll win.

Committee doesn't have any power so you don't have to campaign as much

because you don't need to reassure people that you're not going

to do anything bad with your power, because you haven't got any.

All you have to do is ensure that people believe

that you are competent to perform small tasks.

Buying port, procuring cheese, ensuring there are biscuits.

Right. I'm off.

Conservative cocktail, please. Conservative cocktail, please.

We actually tend to go for port more

because you get a lot more alcohol for your money with port.

Famous alumni of the union, we've got huge numbers of politicians,

Michael Howard, Kenneth Clarke.

These things get lighter blue the more you drink of them.

It's much like the modern Tory party.

In the room tonight, I'm pretty confident

that there are 10 or 15 future Tory MPs

and probably at least three cabinet ministers.

Image is important because essentially you want it to be as inclusive as possible.

Conversation turns to the image of the Cambridge Conservatives,

an organisation currently trying to reform and modernise.

If you make something white tie, not only does that exclude...

It becomes exclusive and excluding.

There's something stultifying occasionally about suggestions

so you must be careful.

Actually I think you can give away everything that's special

to make yourself inclusive.

But then the people who you used to have

will stop coming.

I'm talking to the right people.

I'll acknowledge that I would quite like a Committee slot this term

and that I will be standing.

Chris has just found himself among a group of CUCA movers and shakers.

I'm thinking of running for Committee, yes.

Would I be... Would I be... Would I be considered sound enough?

If I ran for Committee, would I win?

Well we're having a funny term this year

-because we've got a lot of freshers looking to stand.

-Really.

But would I win if I stood?

I mean, yeah, if you have an election on your hands.

One assumes that I'm considered sound enough by the people

that would actually turn up and vote.

The committee consists of eight positions,

but if more than eight people put themselves forward,

there'll be an election.

I approached some various members of CUCA.

They thought I was a good, good, good person

and that it was all happening,

but there was a reasonably high likelihood that the Committee

might be contested because there's lots of first years

who are all talking about standing.

I think you've got to take that sort of thing with a pinch of salt.

I think it will be a long hard road

and there'll be much attrition before the nomination papers go in.

That belongs to the Union.

Joe Cooke is back in Oxford, and there's been a turn of events.

Oh right, OK, sorry.

Joe has been leaked a text message written by James Lawson

to a mutual acquaintance. James believes that Joe is responsible

for various misdemeanours, some dating back to his presidency.

He's threatening to strip Joe of his ex-President title.

"Cooke wants to undermine the Association,

"and I've seen proof of this. Not left with much room for manoeuvre,

"I just hope he's not that stupid.

"Given the evidence I've got on him, the views of central office,

"and the fact I have sufficient support

"to have him removed from his former office for his prior misdeeds."

That was the final, final straw.

I've been trying to snuff this little flame out,

he's starting a huge fire which is going to continue to roar

until it's all been destroyed.

You know, I'm not going to give in now,

now I've got my teeth in it, I've got nothing else to lose now.

Biggest mistake, don't deal with a man who has nothing to lose

because they'll go on fighting, you know,

and I will go on fighting until he will apologise,

but most importantly, he'll regret it at the end.

Me and Lawson have started off

from fundamentally different positions, you know.

I'm the son of a convict.

single parent family... I'm going to...

I'll start again, sorry.

I can't talk, I don't like talking about it, you see.

You put on such a front down here,

but as soon as you delve behind it, you know...

The facade crumbles.

All right, let me just...

Me and James start from different ends of the spectrum.

In 2009, when I came here, there were 25 pupils who were eligible,

out of 10,000, 25 pupils who were eligible for free school meals.

I was one of them.

My father went to prison when I was four.

We might have to...

I'll write it down, I'd be fine, but it's just

when it's coming from the heart, you know.

Joe, do you have friends at Oxford who know about your background?

This is... I've never been able to tell anybody because

if I'd have mentioned it, I'd have been laughed out, you know.

I got laughed at enough having a Yorkshire accent, let alone...

enough for the truth.

Every time I'd speak at Port and Policy, our debating forum,

every time I'd get up, I'd stand down and then you'd get, you know,

sort of, "Ee bah gum, our lad, Ilkley Moor, pork pie."

They probably mean it as banter

but when you've got an entire room doing that to you...

..it eats away at your confidence.

So I changed my accent, I dulled it down, I weakened it.

I feel like I've betrayed who I am by playing by their game,

you know, by having to hide who I am, just to fit in their warped reality.

Why should I have ever done that?

This is when I reclaim my identity now, this is when I strike back.

Despite still being a senior member of OUCA,

Joe has already been helping the student paper to compile

an explosive expose they're running about the association.

This story is breaking, and they're going to keep coming now.

All the skeletons are falling out of the closet.

The years of corruption, the years of scandal, the hidden evil of OUCA.

And tomorrow I resign.

Hot off the press.

"Mutiny at OUCA. Three terms of debauchery, anti-Semitism

"and nepotism have been blown open, after disillusioned OUCA officers

"leaked more than 25 documents to the Oxford Student this week'.

Some of the stories have come from other people

and there's one in particular that's grabbed the headline.

"Most embarrassing for the society is video evidence

"of one member beginning an anti-Semitic chant."

The lyrics are disgusting, I am not willing to repeat them.

I don't want my voice saying those.

Talks about this sort of drunken meeting where these racist

and xenophobic and anti-Semitic songs are sung

and it's absolutely unacceptable.

Was James Lawson involved in the singing of the racist song?

No. It was before his time.

Despite his lack of involvement,

as OUCA's current president, Joe's former friend

is dragged into the spotlight.

"And then finally we have the current President, James Lawson

"who you can see beneath, wrapped in white tie,

"in the Union Jack after an evening of excessive drinking.

-Yes, coke, please.

-Large or small?

-Small, please.

It's nearing the end of term and time for Chris

to formally nominate himself for the CUCA Committee.

I've already got a friend of mine who's a member of the Association

to nominate me.

I've just got to sign it and then deliver it to the Chairman.

I've sort of carried on chatting to people and I think it's felt...

I think it's sort of a general consensus I have a reasonable hope.

It's now out of Chris's hands and all he can do is wait.

I'm very unlikely to be told that this is not my time.

But from the people who I would expect to say that sort of thing,

if it was true, you just have to accept it.

It's true and so one just works out whether it's not my time

because I need to wait, or whether it's not my time

because it's never going to happen.

Running for a position and losing...

Running and losing is hurtful.

Still no official comment.

No communication from officers.

I'd have had a crisis meeting by now, myself.

It's been 10 hours since the paper came out,

and Joe has still had no reaction from OUCA.

Joe has decided to delay his resignation

until the story has made more of an impact.

He wants to get it into a national paper.

He's come to meet the student journalist

who wrote the original article.

How are you, James?

A copy of your salacious reporting, your excellent journalism.

-If I was an excellent journalist...

-We all start somewhere.

The stuff that we can't currently print, is purely due to the fact

that the Oxford Student is a student newspaper, it's too poor.

If you went to the national newspapers,

they can afford to take a hit in terms of a lawsuit or something.

I mean it's just a tragedy that we couldn't put the other photos

-that we had in there...

-But it means that they could be saved

-for the national media.

-OK.

This is the other thing we can talk about because I just spoke

to someone at the Telegraph and they're thinking of looking into it.

And he thinks it could work, it could be well worth it.

I'm willing to resign with one of them and have a full-on interview

-about these stories.

-Do you mind if I take this?

Hello.

You're saying that the gay porn star will let you take a picture of him

naked for the paper? Oh, fantastic.

He's going to be completely naked?

What's he doing with the mortar board?

Well our property... We should probably put it over.

I'm going to put it on his head.

Sorry, Francis, go on...

So you need a mortar board within the next 10 minutes basically?

I'll find a finalist or something that's got a mortar board,

failing that I'll get my tutor to get his.

He works late. Awesome, have fun. See you, Francis.

Ta-ta. No worries.

The racy life of a news editor.

So you want to completely...

-destroy OUCA and its existence.

-Well, it's not that.

I want to destroy what is a cancer in the Conservative Party,

that has been a source of these stories for how many years,

that has continued to reinforce stereotypes and this behaviour...

this behaviour would get you arrested or thrown out of Parliament,

if you're in there.

Newspapers don't want you guys to reform, they want you to keep on...

They want more colour, more sort of port-soaked debauchery,

you know, this kind of thing. More incriminating photos.

If it's going to go to a national newspaper, especially,

and it may end up in a tabloid, because broadsheets can be...

If he's going to sensationalise it, it's better.

Yeah, sure, and to do that the best way forward

is going to be the photographs we already have,

people drinking port out of a helmet.

Lawson passed out from drinking too much port,

Lawson pole dancing at Babylove, all of these images.

They're going to get completely lapped up.

Oh, this might be the Telegraph.

Hey, great to hear from you again.

Try and run it Monday, OK, cool.

Yeah, I'll get some people on the record condemning it as well,

OK, fantastic.

All right, thanks so much for looking into it. See you soon.

Thanks. Bye.

So...

Yeah, you're looking pretty good.

We need you to come on the record for the Telegraph story.

On Monday, so I need to resign tomorrow, if we can...

You need to resign pretty sharpish. Resign,

get all your friends to resign,

get everyone who's even on the fence to resign. Mass resignation.

When the Telegraph story comes out on Monday

we can possibly follow it up with the fruits of the mutiny.

It could be big.

-I'm sure it will. We're making good progress.

-Thank you.

-Yeah, well, no worries.

-And anything you need, give me a ring.

Well, I'm going to be in touch

because this is going to be an ongoing shit-storm.

See you later on, yeah.

In Cambridge, Chris has been called to a meeting in a pub

where the election results will be announced.

This is where CUCA usually has its polling station.

Thusly will do..

Members wander in from time to time to cast their votes.

CUCA does not allow cameras into its meetings.

We had the report from the returning officers and they said,

well, there isn't going to be an election

because there aren't enough candidates to make us have one,

so everyone who applied for a position got it.

And then they sort of read out the names of everyone

who was on Committee, and I said, "Hang on a minute."

I put my form in for that, and then it was realised that

the Chairman hadn't actually told people about all of the people

who had applied, and so they said,

"Well, there are plenty of spaces on Committee

"so you're on Committee too, it's just we've actually got to get...

"We've actually got to sort that out."

So basically the Chairman made a small mistake and lost

a couple of application forms in his room somewhere.

I do feel like I've achieved something,

but in the end I also have quite a lot of sort of relief

that I have sort of successfully navigated the...

administrative difficulties that seem to be inherent in this thing

as well as the political ones.

I do now feel sort of that I am a...

a person within CUCA. I have a position within the Association

in the most literal and the most metaphorical senses.

And, well, it's always something to build on,

something that means you are now somebody in the Association.

There is now a possibility that as a loyal member of Committee,

I will be deputised to the purchase of supplies for port and cheese,

so that could involve me...

that could involve me sorting out how much cheese to buy,

of what sort of cheese to buy, and indeed sourcing biscuits.

And that has, to be honest,

biscuit sourcing is actually quite a responsible position because

it's always a bit of a difficulty on numbers

and are you going to run out of biscuits,

how much cheese have you got?

All right, so what is the damage?

-Are you serious?

-That's page three.

The headline is "Oxford Tories, nights of port and Nazi songs.

"With two Prime Ministers and 13 Cabinet Ministers among its alumni,

"the Oxford University Conservative Association has become

"a conveyor belt for further leaders since it was founded in 1924.

"But the student body whose patron is Baroness Thatcher

"is facing potentially the biggest crisis in its history

"after its own officers accused members of anti-Semitism,

"debauchery and snobbery at its alcohol-fuelled meetings."

-It's just disgusting.

-Oh yeah, yeah.

There's no way that they can come out of this unscathed.

Somewhat...

It's somewhat troubling the level of sort of press notoriety

that the Oxford University Conservative Association manages to attract.

No proper right thinking Conservative starts singing...

starts singing racist songs, let alone sort of poorly composed

and frankly musically valueless racist songs.

I think Joe Cooke couldn't have let it carry on,

but I think giving interviews to national newspapers

about how awful it is, is really the mark of somebody who is trying to...

bolster himself,

sort of trying to ensure that none of the mess gets on him.

And I think it's unacceptable to do personal damage,

personal reputation or damage control at the expense of...

an organisation you signed up to, when if you're President,

you've signed up to support that organisation.

I don't think it'll accomplish anything productive

except burnishing Joe Cooke's political career.

I'm the first President in the history, in 84 years,

ever to resign.

I don't want to say that I was involved in this

and nothing changed because it's not me, so I've got to go.

I want to wipe the slate clean, and I'm taking a lot of risks,

my CV is going to be hit.

I'll lose so many contacts.

It jeopardises my internship in Washington,

because it's organised through people linked to this group.

So if I get accused of being selfish,

or for using it as a motive or an agenda against Lawson personally,

that will be the biggest offence to me

because I am losing so much through taking this act.

It's pressing the erase button on three years.

I'm willing to take these risks for this

because what are we without our values,

what is life without principle?

"Members of the Association, the hour of our departure has arrived,

"and we go our separate ways.

"In all decisions I have made in public and party life,

"I have always acted in the interests of the Conservative Party,

"the body to which we all owe the greatest of our allegiances

"with regards politics.

"Arriving in Oxford,

"one of the 25 pupils eligible for free school meals,

"the first male in my family to come to university,

"and the only one without a criminal record,

"I was committed to achieving some good, making some impact.

"OUCA is the place that constructive conservatism goes to die.

"It is, alas, a dishonourable stain on the Conservative movement.

"Sincerely, your ex-President, Joe Cooke."

We're going to the President's College, where I'm going

to post my resignation and put all of this to an end.

OUCA's President, James, has spoken out in the press denouncing racism

but what Joe wants to know

is what impact his own resignation has had on OUCA.

He's sending Nihal along to OUCA's weekly council meeting

with a hidden recording device.

No longer a member of OUCA,

this is Joe's only way of gauging it for himself.

Hopefully this has worked. I've...

How do you, how do you reckon we get it to work?

How do I get..?

STATIC

Congratulations on your purchase, and welcome to Philips.

-It must have been...

-We mustn't have been...

Do you think... Did you...

I hit stop and then I tried to play it and it...

Oh there we are, Nihal, you're on the wrong file.

This is...

INAUDIBLE

Jim that says that he hasn't got anything from you.

Well, I posted it this morning, an hour before...

an hour before council in his pige and I also sent a second copy

to James Lawson, and I sent an e-mail to James Lawson.

Any legal pursuits against the papers?

Well, yeah, this sort of aggressive stance that we expected from him

hasn't really materialised in the sense that I think

what he's come to realise is that drawing out this battle will only...

Aggravate the situation.

It'll result in the press story being drawn out.

It's atrocious.

I would very much like to be Chairman of CUCA.

And you get to be the top Conservative in Cambridge.

As Chairman, you have no power,

I mean, there are no policies you can change.

I really don't think that any of us at the age of 19

are particularly fitted to have proper power.

You do need to become a little more mature, I think, for that.

You first think, yeah, this is fun.

CUCA fundamentally to me is a leisure activity.

It's always a worry to wonder if he's been eating properly,

if he's pale.

-Hello, darling. You all right?

-There you are. Finally, you know.

-I love you.

-I missed you so much.

Anything else exciting happening other than what's in the papers?

No.

Very rarely left my room really, became a bit of a recluse.

Probably daren't!

Is this ready for closing now, darling?

-Yeah, seal it up.

-Seal it up and she'll be here waiting for you.

Last bag.

-Close her up, darling.

-I will.

-And then back off to Yorkshire.

-Off we go.

The Conservative Party say that OUCA

investigated and suspended one member indefinitely.

Oxford University investigated OUCA.

It uncovered irregularities in the club's financial accounts

and banned it from using the university's name in its title

for one year. OUCA became OCA.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd