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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Palin for President

Having watched a recording of the 40 minute keynote speech by Sarah Palin to the US National Tea Party Convention last weekend, I saw America’s first woman president in the making.
Her voice was a little shaky at times, but that just added to the authenticity.
My favourite sound bite was “How’s that hope-y, change-y thing workin’ out for ya?”
But the phrase that stuck in the throat of the liberals was her referring to the teleprompter president, for that’s all Obama is.
You can tell it hit home, because all the liberal left could criticise her for was having a few keywords scribbled on her palm. What a puerile jibe!
I think it’s significant that whilst left wing orators rely so much on teleprompters, most conservatives are able to address their audience without a full script. So much more genuine.

Leicestershire North West

Yesterday’s very sad death and untimely of David Taylor MP for Leicestershire North West prompts me to hurry up and get my EBT (electron beam tomography) -- see my blog three days ago. Mr Taylor was fit and healthy having run several marathons in the 1980s, and since then taken up long distance cycling around the UK.
I wonder if Gordon Brown will be brave enough to call a by-election before he has to go to the country? It is an eminently winnable seat for the Conservatives with a fine candidate in Andrew Bridgen. He was selected three years ago and is now well respected in the area, where he runs a family business producing pre-prepared vegetables.
It would be revenge for my own visit to the Leicester South by-election in July 2004 when the Tories were squeezed into third place. At that time the Liberals were on a roll with their anti Iraq War stance, gaining the seat from Labour with a 21% swing. (The seat returned to Labour at the following year’s General Election). I remember spending the day with Peter Bone MP and his campaign team from Wellingborough.

Liberal Dirty Tricks?

Having tested the water, local Liberal Democrats are now starting to pre-register for Spelthorne’s Open Primary election next month.
The Conservatives are relaxed about this because there has rarely been any effective minority party manipulation of primaries in America, where they are commonplace.
In a secret ballot voters realise they are choosing the person that could well become their next Member of Parliament, and are therefore careful to go for the very best person.
Besides the Liberals’ attempt at dirty tricks in Totnes last August backfired spectacularly, when the candidate they backed came last!

Europe Again v LibDems

Still a hot subject today in the blogosphere, though of little interest to most voters, we read of the disenchantment about the LibDems inconsistency on Europe.
Does their leadership want an “in/out” referendum or not?
Being new to blogging I’ve not yet prepared my blogroll but high up there already was Charlotte Gore (even though my views are diametrically opposed to hers on drugs).
It’s come to a pretty pass when the nation’s top LibDem blogger is severing ties with a party that flip-flops on Europe.
And I didn’t even mention the Mansion Tax.

Beating the Liberals in Cornwall

This week Mark Prisk MP came to speak to the Spelthorne Conservatives.
Here’s a man who made it up through the ranks, starting out as “press officer” for the Young Conservatives in Cornwall, the lowest rung on the ladder. He is now Shadow Minister for Cornwall.
This involves beating the Liberals. They have all five MPs, but the Conservatives won control of the new Cornwall unitary authority this year. Five of the six new Cornwall constituencies are now target seats, with the Liberals likely to hang on only in St Ives at the far tip.
Thanks to Eric Pickles, who shut down the LibDem unit at Central Office, and ever since we stopped attacking them we’ve started winning.

Garden Grabbing

The top issue which the Liberals consistently criticise the Conservatives in the Borough of Spelthorne is for alleged over-development, and in particular “garden grabbing”.
Interesting that over in Kingston -- where they run the council -- the Liberals place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Labour Government, for rules which encourage developers to buy up people’s back gardens.
But then the Liberals have never been ashamed about saying one thing to one group of people and the opposite to others.