It was a real honour when, on Saturday, constituency chairmen with Area and Regional officers of the Conservative Party from up and down the country, elected me to serve as President of the National Conservative Convention for the next year.

President of the Convention is more than just a title. It’s a major commitment for the year, and a huge responsibility to represent more than 200,000 members of the Conservative Party on the Party’s ultimate decision making body; the Party Board. And it’s a massive commitment to be tasked to chair the Party conference in my home city, Birmingham, this coming October.

If we can inspire the nation to place their trust in us once more, that conference will be not only the biggest and best political event ever held in Britain. But it will reach out beyond Birmingham, beyond our shores, and showcase to the whole world that after years of controlling darkness under Labour, Britain is proud and confident in herself again, and is open for business with renewed purpose.

And what a year to have this great job as President of the Convention! This is the Year for Change, the year in which the whole nation is clamouring for a change in the direction in our politics and in our economic security.

In my job working in financial services in Birmingham, many of my work mates think that politics is the full time career of people they find remote and often disinteresting. Few recognise that most of us in politics do so voluntarily and often at considerable personal cost.

Yet many of my colleagues are frustrated by the poor state of the economy that is so holding back their aspirations. They are irritated by the regulatory burden that has such an impact on everything we do from health and safety nonsense at their children’s schools, to the difficulty of opening a simple bank account. They are saddened by our broken society, and they long to regain a nation that is at ease with itself. But few of the people I work with appreciate that they can do something about it themselves.

Getting involved in politics is hard work, and is often unrecognised. But its hugely rewarding, is great fun, and can be really effective personal development. From supporting social action projects in your local community, to talking to neighbours about the issues that concern them, joining a political Party is a fantastic way to play a constructive part in our civil society.

After more than twenty years work for the Conservatives I’ve no doubt that I will enjoy this year as President of the Convention, and I’m hugely grateful to those who have enabled me to serve this year. And, of course, I've got really big shoes to fill in following Emma Pidding in this role. Emma served with real determination and a great sense of fun, and we will miss her on the Board.

But the highlight of my political year will be welcoming more than 10,000 people to the Party Conference in October. I hope those will include a wealth of people from every part of our diverse nation who are newly inspired by David Cameron’s Conservatives, and eager to play their part in this Year for Change.