Contradictory Views amongst Voters

People often say they only ever see politicians at election time.
Conversely we you call on people after an election they complain why are you calling now, there’s not an election is there? You just can’t win.
Here’s another conundrum. Liberal Democrat voters believe Conservatives and LibDems are all the same now (following the coalition at Westminster). I’m not quite sure of the answer to that one, though it does indicate that no one is sure what the LibDems stand for any more.
Another amusing contradiction comes from the ComRes opinion poll last week. 78% of people prefer proportional representation, and yet in the same breath 72% do not like the political horse-trading that follows a hung parliament!
They say the customer is always right.

Why Now?

The London based Daily Telegraph newspaper faces the most serious question about David Laws’ resignation, and that is: Why now?
Why reveal information pertaining to his personal relationship as it relates to a rule change in 2006 about MPs renting accommodation from a “partner” -- a murky term if ever there were one?

It is certainly most detrimental to the coalition government, and hence the economic fortunes of the United Kingdom, and thus totally irresponsible.

Today the Telegraph makes the naïve claim they had no intention of revealing the victim’s sexual orientation. What a foolish claim.

It’s ironic that had David Laws defected to the Conservative Party at the time of the rule change he could then have safely come out, and stopped claiming for the London flat without giving rise to any suspicion.
But he didn’t, because he wrongly thought the Conservative Party more homophobic than his own LibDems.

A Good Deal?

People ask me whether the coalition is a good deal. If activists from both parties are complaining in equal measure that too much was given away, that says that it was about right.

No one believes that a minority Conservative government would have lasted beyond Christmas. Now there’s a good chance the coalition will last long enough to get to grips with Labour’s economic mess.

Meantime we must stomach the hike in capital gains tax and the delay in abolishing inheritance tax for families with modest wealth.
And hope for the best.

A Deal

It looks as though there’ll be a deal before the day is out.
It almost makes you want to believe in a proportional voting system, with single transferable votes and perpertual coalitions.

But these are very special times.
There’s thirteen years of Britain’s economic and social decline under Labour to sort out. And of all parties the Liberals can least afford a second General Election this year.
So whilst I’m happy to sup with the devil at Westminster, Britain’s third party -- with it’s childish campaigning methods -- is not welcome in Surrey.

The Cameron-Clegg deal will either make or break the Liberal Party.

Winning isn’t Everything

Elections are about making difference, and I’m still recovering from last Thursday’s marathon.
My day started in Surbiton at 5:30am with a deft touch to avoid clanking any letterboxes. After five hours delivering it was time to start door-knocking to encourage Conservative supporters to turn out. Ten hours later and I was still bumping into Liberals doing the same thing, meaning we’d kept them pinned down all day long.
Even if you can’t beat Liberals, it was just as nice stopping them concentrating their resources in Richmond Park where they lost a seat.
Ironically for a party that moans about the First Past The Post voting system, they are usually the ones who work it most to their advantage by mobilising their limited manpower to best effect.
Finally back to Spelthorne to watch over the count -- another five hours –- and about the last process left in Britain that is not electronic!

Always be Nice

For you never know who you might bump into.

A couple of weeks ago Ed Davey was asking directions to get to a meeting in Kingston, and a nice lady assisted -- at which point he rushed off without thanking her.
That lady joined the Conservative campaign team a few days later.

Maybe if Gordon Brown hadn’t been so intolerant of the media they wouldn’t have released the Bigotgate tape?

Vote Conservative on May 6th
A vote for the LibDems is a vote for five more years of Gordon Brown.

Conservative Support Firming Up

Expect the opinion polls to move tomorrow after I’ve detected a change in the last 24 hours.
Yesterday LibDem voters were being rude on the doorstep -- always a sign of piousness.
Whereas today (Sunday) even those people who have already voted LibDem (by post) were being pleasant, and wishing the Conservatives good luck -- rather odd, but symbolic I think.

Today’s LibDem Lie: Ed Davey, the man who has already claimed victory in his own constituency-wide leaflet, announced at lunchtime that "People dislike politicians because they don’t tell the truth".
This was after telling us that 80% of UK immigration comes from the European Union, when in fact it’s less than a third; and that the Conservatives stopped counting people out of the country, when it was in fact Labour who abolished exit controls in 1998.
Mr Davey also claimed his party’s amnesty would have no impact on future illegal immigration, when in fact all the evidence is to the contrary, from other countries which have tried it. Goodbye Mr Davey.

Don’t Attack LibDems

One of the great oddities of British politics is that small protest parties can win large numbers of votes by attacking the two mainstream parties. The more hypocritical the attack on policy, and the more personal the abuse about the opponent the better.
However the British love of the underdog means the reverse does not apply. In fact any attack on the LibDems can be counter-productive, as David Cameron found out during the third TV debate, when he criticised the LibDem's ridiculous amnesty for illegal immigrants. His rating immediately plunged.
It is frustrating to explain to Conservative voters why LibDem lies must go unanswered, but that’s just the way it is.

Today’s LibDem Lie: This will be almost the last LibDem lie feature -- unless next week’s election results in a realignment of British politics, and the LibDems cease to be a protest party, and return to the mainstream two-party system.

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.

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.

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.