There is one thing conservatives in the UK need to understand. Few young people are openly conservative in Britain, not because they don't want to be or because they don't believe in the cause or even because the Conservative Party doesn't speak for them, but because they are afraid to be.
They're afraid to be attacked, afraid to be vilified and have their lives ruined just because of what they believe in.
Joining the Conservative Party aged 15 was the best decision I have ever made. It gave me something to focus on during difficult times and gave me more opportunities than I could ever dream of, but it hasn't come without difficulty.
Every single day I get hundreds, sometimes thousands of abusive messages, mostly about the way I look or threatening violence.
People say I look like a burns victim, like a man, they say they want to throw acid on me, want to break my legs, want to beat me up, to kill me, to rape me.
It is not only online where we are attacked for our views, when I was at Durham University I could hardly leave my room without getting harassed, I would purposely get the latest train back to Durham to avoid people and would still be shouted at in the street. One time, I was studying alone and went to get a drink, only to find myself surrounded by eight men calling me a “Tory slag” among other things.
I was a girl, completely on my own being harassed by eight guys simply because I was a conservative. I then left Durham after my first year and went to Queen Mary. On the first day there I was approached by three girls, who said they were going to try and get me kicked out of the university because of my views. They obviously failed. A girl also tried to get me kicked off the football team because she had read online that I said men shouldn't be playing in women's sport. They would eventually succeed.
In the politics undergraduate group chats that were for academic study I was routinely brought up and had students wish me dead and call me mentally ill — the university simply made them send me a one-sentence apology and took no other action. God forbid what would happen to me if I was to do the same to a raving leftist on campus.
In addition to this, people have tried to find out where I live, and said horrible things about my parents, my twin sister, my Nan and my family.
People say I will never be able to get a job and do everything they can to ruin my life.
You find yourself constantly trying to hide who you are. Hoping that someone doesn't recognize you, that they don't find out what you believe in. you find yourself not being confident in applying for jobs or not writing what you want to at university because you don't want to be marked down. There's always this feeling of “am I ruining my future by being openly conservative” despite holding normal, mainstream views. You consider if it is easier to just shut up and go along with it to protect your future.
So whilst joining the Conservative Party has allowed me to meet many amazing people – it has also come at a cost, a cost that many young people simply aren't willing to pay. MPs need to do more to support and protect young people who hold conservative views and encourage young people to get involved and speak up and know that they aren't going to be worse off for doing so.
Leadership contender Kemi Badenoch has done a lot to recognize the trials young conservatives face and I hope that many MPs and members of the party join her in supporting our party's future. I have been openly conservative because I think that conservative governance and policies are the best thing for my generation and our future, but I have certainly paid the price for it and in the future I want other young people to be able to do what I have done and stand up for those conservative values without fear and without them being worse off for doing do.