Unguarded Moment

Least written about the Prime Minister’s unguarded remarks the better, but I can’t help thinking they might not have seen the light of day had he got on better with the media. Tony Blair would have shrugged it off.
Nice that we’re allowed to talk about immigration now, it being one of the most common complaints on the doorstep.
Let’s hope the Liberals’ amnesty comes under scrutiny, with each of the one million illegals being allowed one family member from abroad.
No one is quite sure where the ex-Labour voters will go.
If there is an indecisive result I can see both left wing parties splitting, and a Cameron rainbow coalition to sort out Gordon Brown’s mess.

Today’s LibDem lie: Last week Nick Clegg said: “Politicians who sell their houses and pocket the money still haven’t been held to account.” Five years ago he made a profit of £240,000 selling his home in Brussels, after using his expenses as a Member of the European Parliament to help pay his mortgage.

Stolen Bicycles

Sympathies to Labour’s parliamentary candidate in Spelthorne.
He commutes from central London each day by train, with a folding bicycle so he can then get around. Unfortunately it keeps on getting stolen. Four times now he has bought a brand new one.
My advice, after I had my bike stolen, is to get a cheap second hand one!
Truly an indictment of thirteen years of soaring crime under Labour.

Hung Parliament

Few people seem to understand the constitutional position in the event of a hung parliament.

For a start Gordon Brown carries on as Prime Minster. He does not have to resign until he were to lose a vote of confidence in the House of Commons. It’s nothing to do with how many seats (or votes) each party has.

Britain’s third Party does not get to haggle over policy, though now doubt Labour will try to bribe them. If they decide not to keep Gordon Brown in power they are automatically locked in to back David Cameron as Prime Minster. They can’t pick and choose policy. Take it or leave it.

Failing that, we have another General Election, brought about by Liberal indecision.

NH-yeS

Campaigning today with Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, we learned why the Conservatives have health as the top priority.
The Conservatives do not believe in making the sick pay for Labour’s economic failure.

Most people rely on the NHS when they get ill, but it needs to be better run. Labour’s targets will be abolished in favour of decisions taken by the healthcare professionals, and patients themselves.

For instance, well-informed patients may opt for a slightly longer waiting list in order to avoid a hospital with a poorer hygiene record.

Today’s LibDem lie: Were it not for the fact that most Liberal Democrat MPs abstained in the House of Commons vote on the Lisbon Treaty, the amendment calling for a referendum would have passed, and the British people would have had the chance to reject the Treaty.
So let’s hear less from the Liberals complaining that the Conservatives won’t hold a referendum -- it’s now too late -- the Treaty is signed.

New Activists

Being a bit of an old lag -- though always willing to learn new tricks -- the enthusiasm amongst our new activists is humbling.

There are those who are returning to the fray after twenty years, perhaps from a different party. But more impressive is the ease with which brand new recruits -- many aged under thirty -- take to the campaign like a duck to water.

There is a widespread misconception that canvassing support for a political party is only for policy wonks. Well no, it’s actually just an ability to say hello and let people know the Conservatives care.

Today’s LibDem lie: The Liberal Democrats portray themselves as whiter than white yet refuse to return the £2.4 million donated by convicted fraudster Michael Brown. If they had any moral scruples they would set an example and reimburse all Michael Brown’s innocent victims, instead of hiding behind the Electoral Commission’s worthless verdict.

First Time Voters

After concluding that Cleggmania is mainly down to the exuberance of younger voters, it has been gratifying these last few days to find first time voters choosing the Conservatives.

And why are they going to vote Conservative?
Because they want a job!

Leave aside the fact that there has never been a Labour Government that didn’t end with more unemployed than when it started: the number of 16 to 24-year-olds seeking work in Britain is now 929,000 and rising.

Today’s LibDem lie: Nick Clegg repeats his pious claim that no LibDem MP abused their expenses for second homes, just one month after four of them were ordered to pay back £16,500 pocketed from a dodgy rent deal at the taxpayers’ expense.

Opinion Polls

I now have a view on the opinion polls and make the following prediction.
If, as seems likely, they are distorting the intentions of those who will actually be voting (by including the views of many youngsters who tend not to vote), then they will be abolished during the next General Election campaign as in continental Europe.
You have to balance the freedom of the press against the artificial volatility caused by people’s herd instinct.
Let people make up their own mind, rather than be told what to think!

Today’s LibDem lie: At the start of the recession Nick Clegg sympathised with voters by saying he was changing his grocery supplier from Waitrose to Sainsbury’s as they were a lot cheaper. The same Nick Clegg MP who claimed £1,657.32 worth of food on his parliamentary expenses in one four-month period alone.

Delivering to Flats

People are always telling me about flats [US: apartments] where they can’t deliver election leaflets.
Yes, more and more people are living in seclusion, and things are set to get worse under a Liberal Democrat administration, when only the most serious criminals will go to prison, because they will abolish sentences of less than six months.
However I have yet to find a building with more than five flats that I couldn’t get into, though admittedly there are hazards.
I have sheltered accommodation on my patch where the warden was always very defensive. After she faced a tirade of abuse from a senior Liberal Democrat local councillor 18 months ago she is even more protective. I have contacts who let me in, and I then have to whiz round the building undetected. Today I exited under her nose, as she sat at her desk.

Today’s LibDem lie: As Member of the European Parliament Nick Clegg used to fly to Brussels in economy class, but always claimed expenses for first class travel and pocketed the difference.

Cleggmania

Two clouds hang in the stratosphere across Britain this week.
We wait for the ash from the Icelandic volcano to clear, and for Nick Clegg’s X-factor stardom to wane.
The Liberals want us to scrutinise their policies. Well how about their amnesty for 600,000 illegal immigrants for starters -- our schools can’t cope. Add in unlimited immigration, “providing they only live up north”.
Locally they petition to keep hospitals open, but nationally there's no commitment to increase funding for the NHS.
And do they not realise cancelling Britain’s nuclear deterrent forfeits our place on the UN Security Council?
Opinion polls are saying one thing, but on the doorstep I’m finding little extra enthusiasm for the Liberals, and no stomach for another LibLab pact, the most likely outcome unless the Conservatives gain two dozen LibDem parliamentary seats.

Surbiton Farmers’ Market

I’ve just eaten some delicious lamb merguez sausages that I picked up from Surbiton Farmers’ Market on Saturday.
This project was initiated by a group of community activists who are now standing as Conservative candidates for their local council.
The existing Liberal Democrat councillors thought the idea of a farmers’ market was so good that they’d try and claim the credit for it.
They issued one of their Focus newsletters advertising the first one.
However the Conservatives decided there were “teething problems” with the plans, and delayed the launch by a month, leaving the Liberals with egg on their faces -- free range I hope!

Sore Feet

After two weeks of campaigning my feet have turned red, where the serrated edges of my bicycle pedals have gnawed through the thinnest part of the soles of my shoes.
As I rest up I wonder whether the phone companies have played a trick on the opinion pollsters, and routed their calls through to voters on Mars.
I’m not finding a single person changing their party allegiance based upon the party leaders TV debate last week.
No doubt the legions of uncommitted voters have plumped for one party over another, but their support is very fickle, and many won’t actually be voting.
When I remind them that unlike the prime ministerial contenders, the leader of Britain’s third party had nothing to lose, they admit that closer scrutiny will sway them again.
I repeat: wait until the poll on May 6th.

More Power to Local People

Campaigning today with Justine Greening, Shadow Minister for Local Government, we learnt how the Conservatives will give planning powers back to local people.
Gone will be the Whitehall targets demanding a certain number of homes in a given time. Instead each community will assess it’s own needs for different types of properties such as affordable homes and larger family houses.
Big developers will have to consult with local residents from day one, rather than put in a ridiculous plan to start with, hoping not to have it watered down too much.
In short people will have a greater say over their own lives.

Where are the Liberals?

I’m temporarily lifting my ban on mentioning the Liberal Democrats simply to ask where are they?
Apart from the odd leaflet here and there, we’ve seen very little sign of them throughout Spelthorne and vicinity, and they are normally so industrious.
In fact they are contesting only one third of the vacant seats on neighbouring Hounslow council, leaving electors in many wards with no chance to vote Liberal at next month’s local elections.
So much for Nick Clegg’s pitch to be Prime Minister.
Hopefully this heralds a return to the two-party system, where people can make a straight forward choice between Big Government with Labour or Good Government with the Conservatives.

Opinion Polls

Whilst I wouldn’t go so far as to outlaw political opinion polls altogether, like they do in some countries, they should be taken off the front page and put near the back, alongside the horoscopes.
Their main purpose is cheap publicity for the market research companies who conduct them.
I have already questioned their methodology in this blog, which largely explains why they are all so inconsistent.
If you speak to people you find that a vast number -- who will be voting in three weeks time -- have simply not applied themselves to the question of which prime minister they’ll be better off with.
So as I wrote before, I will be waiting for the exit poll at 10pm on polling day.

Teamwork

Party politics is the ultimate team exercise. If you don’t work together, sooner or eventually you will lose no matter what, but united you win.
So today I arrived a little late for duty, not least because I was a bit under the weather (man ’flu). I was sent off to deliver a hundred or so leaflets, which involved cycling up Surbiton Hill and back down the other side, and the same the way back.
I was then late for the campaigning session, but they put me in charge anyway.
Sometimes you do what you’re told, and other times you give directions.

Hoovering Votes

So what does the Chairman of a local Conservative Association actually do?
Well today’s job was to go to a neighbouring constituency and Hoover the carpet of the venue for their official General Election campaign launch, then stick up posters on the walls.
Unfortunately these were largely ignored by the audience, who were more interested in the fantastic views over South West London from the top of the Tolworth Tower.
They were treated to an equally impressive speech from their Conservative candidate Helen Whately, with Shadow Justice Minister Dominic Grieve as the support act.
Kingston & Surbiton is one of 24 Liberal held seats which need to change hands to usher in a Conservative Government.
Afterwards I was able to convince a floating voter that a new Conservative MP in Kingston would hold David Cameron to his commitment last Saturday to keep investing in the local hospital, something no other candidate can promise.

VOTE FOR CHANGE

Loose Lips Sink Ships

You can never be too careful campaigning in close proximity to parliamentary candidates, and we are continually warned to be careful what we say.
Campaigning is meant to be fun, but with mobile phones and scurrilous journalists all about, one inadvertent comment posted on YouTube can cause huge embarrassment.

Visit by Bicycling Baronet

My first job Friday morning was to pressure spray months of mud and grime off my trusty bicycle. This was in readiness for the journey to Surbiton to meeting Sir George Young MP, a.k.a. the Bicycling Baronet.

Here we are pictured by the Berrylands pub, for a campaign lunch stop. (From left to right: Berrylands ward council candidate David Hutchinson, Sir George, parliamentary candidate Helen Whately, myself and Berrylands ward candidate Karen George -- picture courtesy of the third ward candidate Peter Topp)
Unlike Sir George, I’m not yet up for taking my bike on the buses. However, hopping on the train is very efficient, though you have to avoid the morning and evening rush hours.

Vote For Change

Some people question the enjoyment of campaigning for votes at election time. Well for a seasoned politician it is always invigorating.
People always have something different to say, and they can often be more demanding than even Jeremy Paxman, the famous BBC inquisitor.
We had great fun this afternoon bumping into people at the shopping parades in Chessington.
Admittedly there’s a few that are still happy with Labour, and many still unsure. But the majority want to see the back of Gordon Brown.
Just one fly in the ointment though. Those that think voting for Britain’s third party can do the trick. When you point out that historically that Party has always propped up a Labour Government, they come to their senses and agree that the only vote for change is a vote for the Conservatives.

Kingston, worth fighting for!

That is the Conservative slogan to win back control of the local council next month, after eight years of financial mismanagement by Britain’s third party, with now the highest property tax in southern England. Plus a mansion tax in the pipeline!
Over a hundred local residents packed a cinema theatre in central Kingston upon Thames for the official launch of the Conservatives' Borough election campaign this Wednesday evening. A series of polished speeches by some of the council candidates were interspersed with their own video reports on local issues.
Then there were presentations by neighbouring MP Justine Greening and local parliamentary candidates Helen Whately and Zac Goldsmith.
Zac explained why only the Conservatives understand that preserving the environment is about so much more than carbon. For example hiking charges for parking near local shops just encourages people to drive further afield to hypermarkets. And people avoid residential parking charges by paving their front gardens, further blighting the street scene.
Above all, green taxes should no longer be stealth taxes, penalizing past choices, but be accompanied by incentives to promote responsible living.

British Election is Called

Five years we’ve been waiting, and the election is now underway.
Because they are so infrequent, British elections tend to be complicated, with floating voters expected to weigh up a huge range of issues, and live with their decision for a long time.
This election is different, because the Conservatives have a simple message, something politicians give their eyeteeth for.

Voting for anyone else could mean a hung parliament, and five more years of Gordon Brown.
So vote for a positive future . . . vote for change . . .
Vote Conservative.

The campaign to win back Kingston & Surbiton is launched with Eric Pickles and PPC Helen Whately (and myself in the centre of the back row). Kingston is a seat needed to give David Cameron a working majority.

Adult Content

I welcome comments on this blog from all over the world, though a new online hazard I’ve discovered is contributions in a foreign language of questionable taste.
A recent response to my China blog was -- not unreasonably -- written in Chinese characters. However it had to be discarded because it contained adult content, which whilst not explicit, was not relevant to the original blogpost.

Doing Business with China

Some of my family lived in China in the later part of the 19th century.
However since 1949 I have regarded mainland China as the red peril -- though Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book was rather fun to pass around at school.
China’s economic advancement is proving an ideological challenge. I’ll pay a little extra for goods of equivalent quality from anywhere but China. But if Chinese stuff is cheaper, then it’s costly to boycott it.
So what about investing there? Corruption is rife, and the penalties severe, though as four employees of Rio Tinto will find out this week, those imprisoned for economic crimes are treated far less harshly.
I’m putting this year’s tax-exempt savings into a new investment trust that will buy into companies that do business in China. Domestic consumer spending is set to take off, creating huge economic expansion.
Investing in China is not for the faint-hearted.

Obamacare: Pyrrhic Victory

So American Democrats have invested all their political capital in forcing through a healthcare plan against the wishes of most hard working Americans.
The hugely bureaucratic new system will cost an arm and a leg, with little benefit for the so-called uninsured. In fact it will cost them too in the form of compulsory levies.
Just like in Europe before the advent of socialised healthcare, and as in America today, no one was ever turned away from hospital for want of emergency treatment and without the means to pay.
By all means address the two key issues of insurers blacklisting clients with “pre-existing conditions”, and capping claims resulting in two million medical bankruptcies per year.
But don’t bankrupt the entire US healthcare system in the process.
And don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for the guy!