Brandon To is a Politics graduate from UCL and a Hong Kong BN(O) immigrant settled in Harrow.
There is a temptation to think of Young Conservatives as the bit of the Conservative Party where young people in suits go for drinks, and discover that someone has somehow managed to bring a Union Jack to a pub.
There’s nothing wrong with it. Who doesn’t like a pint of Guinness when arguing about Thatcher?
But if the Young Conservatives want to matter to the future of the Conservative Party, we have to be more than a social club. This should be where young Conservatives learn how to campaign, develop ideas, represent their communities and, eventually, lead. That is why I have been following the campaign for National Young Conservatives Chairman.
I first met Matthew Goodwin-Freeman when the political atmosphere was much less cheerful than a YC social.
Back during the 2024 General Election, the Harrow East campaign office was, quite frankly, despondent. Every poll pointed to a Conservative defeat. I took a long time to prepare mentally. ‘At least it’s not a Green or Reform MP’, I said to myself. And yet Matthew seemed remarkably unfazed.
He had energy. He kept canvassing, cold-calling, and chatting with constituents despite all the mockery. He genuinely believed in what he was doing.
Anyone who has spent time around a political campaign knows how contagious morale can be. When everyone else is wondering whether they should start looking at W4MP, having someone who still believes we can win matters.
Hope matters, especially for a YC that stalled for 11 years without an election.
But I’ve noticed another quality: Matthew listens.
His campaign to become the National Young Conservatives Chairman began not with a lengthy manifesto of ‘what he wants to do’, but with a survey that asked: ‘what do we want him to do?’ He has since hosted Q&A sessions, and answered questions from YCs across the country.
We don’t need another pensioner telling us what young people supposedly want. We need someone who will actually ask.
I have seen that locally too. I have come across Matthew answering questions in Harrow Facebook groups, including on issues outside his own ward, and turning up to activities across the borough.
That is not particularly glamorous politics. There is no dramatic conference stage or media spotlight. It is simply being around, answering people and making them feel heard.
Now he’s bringing that humility and energy to the national YC stage.
In response to our feedback, he has promised to get more YCs elected as councillors and earn young members a real seat at the table. He promised to give YCs more influence on national policy, whether it’s housing, crime, or the economy.
And, most importantly, he promised to make YC genuinely national.
A young Conservative in Harrow should have opportunities to get involved. So should someone in Yorkshire, Wales, the West Midlands, Cornwall or Scotland. The future of the party cannot be built entirely around those who happen to live within commuting distance of SW1.
We need equal branch support across the country. Every YC, no matter where they’re from, should receive training that they never can get from university.
How do you run a campaign? How do you knock on doors without sounding like a human leaflet? How do you stand for council? How do you stop yourself from banging your head against the wall when a Green voter said Zack Polanski can make the economy bigger… perhaps by hypnotism?
These are skills that last much longer than a Young Conservatives membership card.
Matthew is a successful campaigner himself. He got Bob Blackman MP and himself re-elected, both with an increased majority, despite the current political headwind.
He helped more than 5 YC candidates to get elected as councillors.
His grassroots campaign company both ran and won the only campaign to beat Reform in North West Leicestershire.
I doubt any YC would be better than him to tailor branch support and help YCs out on campaigning.
Young Conservatives should be a pipeline for the next generation of councillors, campaigners, researchers and political leaders. Not because everyone joining a YC social secretly dreams of becoming Prime Minister (although I am sure a few do), but because every political party need people who turn ideas into electoral victory.
That is particularly important after the Conservatives’ 2024 defeat.
The party needs to rebuild the people, skills and local networks capable of making those arguments work in the real world. It needs to work for everyone, in every part of Britain.
That starts with listening to young members.
That means giving them responsibility rather than simply asking them to clap at conference.
That means creating opportunities for people outside the usual Westminster bubble to contribute.
And that’s why I support Matthew’s campaign.
I have seen him in an environment where the numbers were gloomy, and the easy thing would have been to become gloomy with them. Instead, he brought energy to the room and kept believing in the work.
I have seen the same instinct in how he engages with people locally and, now, with YCs across the country.
And I have seen him actually getting people elected, not just chucking pints.
Listen. Engage. Deliver.
Give Matthew a chance.
And give YCs the voice we have waited a decade for