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Tweet or dare at Conservative conference

By More4 News

Updated on 06 October 2009

Six Conservative MPs and MEPs take the More4 News Twitter-box quickfire challenge at Conservative conference - up against the clock to answer questions sent in via Twitter.

More 4 News Twitter-box

Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan and shadow ministers Alan Duncan, Damian Green, Julian Brazier, Grant Shapps and Jeremy Hunt all took the challenge at the Conservative conference in Manchester.

Click here to see who took part at Labour conference.

Sat in our specially constructed "Twitter-box", each had to answer a quickfire series of questions (sent in via Twitter) before the buzzer sounded.

If you have a question for the next batch of Twitter-box MPs, then send it via Twitter, tagged #c4quiz.

Daniel Hannan MEP


Daniel Hannan said it was "absolutely critical" that people had more freedoms. "The most important thing that you can do in politics is to guarantee people's liberty against state coercion," he said.

"The policy is to be in the EU, but not with the Lisbon treaty and with the return of some other powers," the controversial MEP said. "Speaking personally, I think that the EU is making us poorer and less democratic and less free - and we would be better off as a free trading country, trading with Europe but governing ourselves."

On the prospect of Tony Blair as president of Europe, he said: "I think it would be a bit odd if just after David Cameron had been elected prime minister we got a Labour president who was more senior than him, courtesy of Europe, and that's one of the many reasons we need a referendum on [the Lisbon treaty]."


Alan Duncan MP

The man who apologised for saying MPs lived on rations said: "The last thing we ever want to do ever again is decide on how much we are paid."

Shadow pensions minister Duncan said people should have more freedom and "more discretion to decide what is right or wrong without having millions of rules telling them what to do - we want responsible people doing responsible things."

"We do not believe there should be a president [of Europe] at all," he said, adding it should "certainly not" be Tony Blair.

He summed up his achievements as "openness, honesty and occasional danger".

"I am the first openly gay Conservative," he said. "I don't feel threatened, and to say we're siding with homophobes [in Europe] is complete propagandist rubbish."


Damian Green MP

Damian Green said he had never complained about how much he got paid, but added: "I shouldn't decide how much I get paid."

"Too often I think this government reaches for consultants to avoid having to take difficult decisions itself," the shadow immigration minister said.

He said people should have more freedom, saying that government had "moved towards a database state", and that the databases that do no good "should be scrapped".

"We want the EU to run better," he replied to a question about whether the Conservatives wanted to be in the EU. "If Europe is to work to the advantage of the people of Europe it needs to be run in a much more decentralised way."


Jeremy Hunt MP

Shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said "most Conservative MPs take a pay cut and most Labour MPs take a pay rise when they go into parliament" so MPs pay levels were "about right".

"We want to be in the EU, but we want the British people to be given a say before any more powers are transferred to Brussels," he said. "That's why we are the only party that stuck to our pledge on a referendum."

He answered that he was totally against Tony Blair becoming president of Europe, saying that it "sums up all that's wrong about Europe."

He described his achievements as a politician as "subtitles on BBC Parliament".


Julian Brazier MP

Julian Brazier named Norman Tebbit as the best man never to become prime minister in the 20th century.

The former management consultant said the "vast majority" of them were wasting public money in the public sector.

He said people should have more freedom "as long as it's not harming other people."

"I want to be in the EU," the shadow transport minister said. "I want to see it as the community, and the trading operation, and all the other things that we originally envisaged."


Grant Shapps MP

Grant Shapps said Crisis founder Iain Macleod is the best man in the 20th century never to have become prime minister.

The shadow housing minister said management consultants "can be very good" but there are too many, adding: "I think they've ended up spending a lot of money on them when sometimes it wasn't required."

"This country is over-IDed," he said. "Too many databases and things like the DNA database applying to people who have never committed any crime."

He said he wanted to be "in the EU, just not run by it", and admitted to not knowing how much the minimum wage currently is.

On Thursday Channel 4 News online will be providing extended live coverage of David Cameron's speech to the Conservative conference, including film extracts, expert analysis and Twitter commentary.

To watch and contribute, go to www.channel4.com/news from midday on 8 October.

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