Voted early with Beth and, of course, for myself, which felt weird. I almost wanted to keep the ballot paper…
Dashed off to get out the vote, then lunch with the team before trooping around the committee rooms and polling stations. We found a warm and welcoming atmosphere everywhere. Great messages of support from friends and family.
Throughout the day, there was some furious psephology, but the only result that matters is the one I will be leaving for shortly…
Via Candidates clash at BFP election Q&A (From Bucks Free Press):
ELECTION hopefuls clashed over Immigration, Wycombe Hospital, the economy and Europe at The Bucks Free Press Wycombe hustings last night.
Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and UK Independence Parties took part in the 90 minute debate which saw candidates challenged by Free Press readers.
Doctor Who star Colin Baker chaired the debate, at Bucks New University in High Wycombe.
Please see the BFP for more.
Our last scheduled hustings was in Marlow Bottom on Wednesday and I look forward to returning tonight to meet people door-to-door.
David Cameron has welcomed the official announcement of the General Election date.
The election is a choice between five more years of Gordon Brown’s tired government making things worse – or change with the Conservatives, who have the energy, leadership and values to get Britain moving again.
Speaking to supporters this morning, David Cameron will say that the Consevatives are “fighting this election for the great ignored”.
“Young, old, rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight. They start our businesses, operate our factories, teach our children, clean our streets, grow our food, keep us safe. They work hard, pay their taxes, obey the law”, he will say.
“They’re good, decent people – they’re the people of Britain and they just want a reason to believe that anything is still possible in Britain.”
“This election is about giving them that reason, giving them that hope”.
At last, we can begin to look forward to the Big Society replacing the Big State:
What I have spoken about today combines optimism about the potential for social renewal with realism about the role of the state in fighting poverty and inequality.
If we stick the course and change this country then we will have a national life expanded with meaning and mutual responsibility.
We will feel it in the strength of our relationships – the civility and courtesy we show to each other.
Just as we have felt this coarsen in the past decade, so I believe we will feel it change for the better in the years ahead.
And we will feel it in our culture – a new can-do and should-do attitude where Britons once again feel in control of their lives.
This is not the work of one parliamentary term, or even two. Culture change is much harder than state control. It will take more than a generation. But it is because I believe the appetite for change is there that I know that change will come.
The era of big government has run its course.
Poverty and inequality have got worse, despite Labour’s massive expansion of the state. We need new answers now, and they will only come from a bigger society, not bigger government.
That’s why it’s now clear to me that the Conservatives, not Labour, are best placed to fight poverty in our country.
An elector came to see me about parking, but we soon found ourselves discussing the treatment her father had received at Wycombe Hospital. The story was truly heart-rending.
I’ll be following up on that story, but for the moment, let me just say that it put me very much in mind of the account given by David Cameron in his 2008 Conference Speech:
In August, I got a letter from one of my constituents, John Woods. His wife was taken to hospital. She caught MRSA and she died. Some of the incidents described are so dreadful, and so degrading, that I can’t read you most of the letter. He says the treatment his wife received “was like something out of a 17th century asylum not a 21st century £90 billion health service.” And then, as his wife’s life was coming to end, he remembers her “sitting on the edge of her bed in distress and saying ‘I never thought it would be like this’.” I sent the letter to Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary.
This was his reply.
“A complaints procedure has been established for the NHS to resolve concerns…
“Each hospital and Primary Care Trust has a Patient Advice and Liaison Service to support people who wish to make a complaint…
“There is also an Independent Complaints Advocacy Service…
“If, when Mr Woods has received a response, he remains dissatisfied, it is open to him to approach the Healthcare Commission and seek an independent review of his complaint and local organisation’s response…
“Once the Health Care Commission has investigated the case he can approach the Health Service Ombudsman if he remains dissatisfied….”
A Healthcare Commission. A Health Service Ombudsman. A Patient Advice and Liaison Service. An Independent Complaints Advocacy Service. Four ways to make a complaint but not one way for my constituent’s wife to die with dignity. We need to change all that.
Quite right – we can’t go on like this. Labour have failed on the NHS and we Conservatives are now the Party of the NHS.
Bureaucracy is holding back first-class professionals. Buckinghamshire NHS is underfunded and people feel they have lost control over their services. Thousands of people in Wycombe are rightly up in arms about the loss of services at Wycombe Hospital.
This is why I’m backing David Cameron and Andrew Lansley on the NHS. Only the Conservatives are taking seriously the huge challenges facing the NHS. We recognise that, with an increasing and aging population, rising patient expectations and advances in treatments, the NHS must be protected with real terms increases in spending.
But this protection must be supported with real reform. Our draft manifesto for health includes key pledges which go in entirely the right direction to deliver:
David Cameron and Andrew Lansley have made the Conservatives the Party of the NHS and I am backing them for the change Wycombe needs.
Click for my campaign
Via the Bucks Free Press, Health bosses slammed for not appearing at public meeting:
HEALTH bosses were lambasted tonight for sending no one to face questions from members of the public worried about the future of Wycombe Hospital.
Speakers slammed The Primary Care Trust and NHS Buckinghamshire for saying nobody was available to attend, describing their decision as “appalling” and “scandalous”.
Around 200 residents attended the meeting at Great Marlow School, Bobmore Lane, Marlow, which was organised by Marlow People’s Action Group.
Many expressed their fears for the future of Wycombe Hospital and Marlow Community Hospital in Glade Road – despite strong denials this week from health chiefs that either is in danger.
Members of the public are quite right that the NHS is insufficiently accountable to local people. Buckinghamshire health services are underfunded. On top of it all, clinical professionals carry an unacceptable burden of bureaucracy and reorganisation.
This is why I am calling for fair funding, local control and freedom for clinical professionals. As Paul pointed out, becoming a self-governing Foundation Trust would help enormously and we can only achieve that with fair funding. Further local control can be achieved with local commissioning by GPs. Please show your support by signing the petition below.
Meanwhile, we must pursue our campaign for local hospital services against the backdrop provided by today’s Daily Telegraph, which claims:
Tens of thousands of NHS workers would be sacked, hospital units closed and patients denied treatments under secret plans for £20 billion of health cuts.
The sick would be urged to stay at home and email doctors rather than visit surgeries, while procedures such as hip replacements could be scrapped.
The plans have emerged as health chiefs draw up emergency budgets that cast doubt on pledges by Gordon Brown to protect “front line services” in the NHS.
Documents show that health chiefs are considering plans to begin sacking workers, cutting treatments and shutting wards across the country.
Before voting, the public deserve to know the choice they face.
I was delighted that Labour agent Mr Barlow hailed Paul as a “fantastic MP”. I can assure him and all electors that I have every intention of diligently taking forward Paul’s great work.
Our hospital campaign
Today, I am launching my Wycombe Hospital campaign for fair funding, local control and freedom for clinical professionals.
Time and again, local people tell me of their concern about the loss of services at Wycombe Hospital. As we can see from the recent campaign on Facebook, thousands are dismayed that we have lost maternity services. Others are deeply concerned about the lack of full-service accident and emergency care. We all know distressing accounts of inadequate health care and local doctors have told me they are fed up with constraints and reorganisations.
We need to get to the root of the problem and change our NHS for the better. You can find the campaign and sign our petition here.
Recently, I had a good discussion about online campaigning with Graham at Mendip Media. It was an excellent cross-check for what we have been planning in Wycombe.
Anyone who underestimates the significance of the web in the campaign for 2010 is missing a trick. Since 2005, the Internet has evolved into something more than a series of brochures for companies and products. It is now a valuable mine of information for voters and would-be-voters. For example, through this site, you can find out about my political views and the literature which has informed them.
The Internet doesn’t replace meeting people face-to-face — thank goodness! — but it does allow candidates like me engage more fully than traditional doorstep canvassing and literature will allow. For one thing, it is ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’. If a certain issue is troubling you, you can look it up instantly, anywhere, without having to wait for my leaflet to drop through the letterbox. If you have a burning question, you can discuss it with me online.
Millions of younger voters now expect this – they’re regularly active on websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. These are the platforms where peer groups are forming, discussing what matters to them and influencing each other’s decisions. And it’s not limited to the young – indeed, according to Graham, the fastest growing sector on Facebook is 55- to 65-year-old females.
I am looking forward to the full-blooded campaign, online and on the streets of Wycombe, and I am delighted to reveal that fellow Wycombe Conservative Tim Hewish, a Policy Exchange veteran, will be helping online.
You can find my campaign in these locations: Facebook, Twitter and myconservatives.com.
"The heart & soul of biking."
Following a number of private meetings across the Wycombe constituency yesterday, from Fingest to the town centre, I had the pleasure of meeting Wycombe Motorcycle Action Group.
From MAG’s about page:
The Motorcycle Action Group, (MAG), is a voluntary organisation, drawing membership from across the whole spectrum of motorcycling.
Whatever you ride MAG has something for you!
MAG was born out of protest against legislation, introduced in 1973, making it compulsory to wear a crash helmet.
Since then MAG has evolved from a single issue group to a highly respected political lobbying and campaigns group which is central to all aspects of policy and legislation affecting motorcycling.
We covered a wide range of motorcycling and other issues (inevitably, MPs’ expenses!) but the overwhelming themes I perceived were that MAG campaigns for freedom and responsibility and that MAG members have, on the whole, well thought through and logically consistent views which go to the heart of what it means to live in a free society.
I believe we agreed, amongst other things, that:
It was a delight to spend the evening discussing how to live free and responsible lives. I am reminded of a quote attributed to Rose Wilder Lane:
Freedom means self-control; no more, no less.
I am glad to write that I have joined MAG.
An excellent new tool via MyConservatives.com:
Welcome to MyConservatives.
MyConservatives is a new online network that gives you the tools to campaign for the candidates you support, and issues that you care about.
Here are some of the things you can do:
- Take part in campaign activities and social action
- Donate directly to individual campaigns
- Ring voters from the comfort of your home
- Set up fundraising events with online ticketing
And you can learn more about the site by watching the video on the right.
MyConservatives is open to anyone who wants to make a difference in their community and in our country. Just click on the Register button to get started.
My profile is here.
Tim Montgomerie has launched There’s Nothing British About the BNP. Sign the petition declaring your support here.
See also IDS writing on ConservativeHome: Reflections on a visit to Auschwitz amid political crises back home. For an insight into the surprising kind of society which degenerates into barbarism, see Haffner’s Germany: Jekyll and Hyde: a Contemporary Account of Nazi Germany.
For the purpose of enabling a better understanding of the German people as the War began, Haffner divided German society into:
It is remarkable to discover just how few people were in fact Nazis and how “The Loyal Population”:
suffer under the Nazis, they groan, they would rather not watch what they are doing, they despair and hide their heads in shame, but all the same they do not want to see the Nazis fall.
It is a substantial and controversial task to understand how a nation enters such a pitiful state through economic, political, societal, ideological and police failure. Right now, the conclusion is simple: do not vote for the BNP.
How I look forward to The Convention on Modern Liberty:
Sir David Omand, the former Whitehall security and intelligence co-ordinator, sets out a blueprint for the way the state will mine data – including travel information, phone records and emails – held by public and private bodies and admits: “Finding out other people’s secrets is going to involve breaking everyday moral rules.”
via Fight against terror ’spells end of privacy’ | UK news | The Guardian .
Sir David’s IPPR paper is here.
Local communities are losing their sports facilities and squash clubs at an alarming rate. This can be stopped by strengthening a Government planning law called the PPG17.
So, please Sign Telegraph Sport’s petition to help save sports facilities.
Via Spy chief: We risk a police state – Telegraph:
Dame Stella [Rimington, ex-head of MI5,] accused ministers of interfering with people’s privacy and playing straight into the hands of terrorists.
“Since I have retired I feel more at liberty to be against certain decisions of the Government, especially the attempt to pass laws which interfere with people’s privacy,” Dame Stella said in an interview with a Spanish newspaper.
“It would be better that the Government recognised that there are risks, rather than frightening people in order to be able to pass laws which restrict civil liberties, precisely one of the objects of terrorism: that we live in fear and under a police state,” she said.
Dame Stella, 73, added: “The US has gone too far with Guantánamo and the tortures. MI5 does not do that. Furthermore it has achieved the opposite effect: there are more and more suicide terrorists finding a greater justification.” She said the British secret services were “no angels” but insisted they did not kill people.
And:
In a further blow to ministers, an international study by lawyers and judges accused countries such as Britain and America of “actively undermining” the law through the measures they have introduced to counter terrorism.
Via Henry Porter: Calling the police to account | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk :
Although I write as someone who has no particular axe to grind about the police, I am beginning to wonder whether we have a serious problem with a police force that believes it is entitled to monitor political activity. Set against the new law banning photographs of the police – which surely will be used by every policeman parked on a double yellow line or meting out the rough justice – there is increasing tendency of the police to photograph people in an aggressive fashion. It shows an innate lack of respect for the innocent citizen and the conventions of our free society, which is extremely disturbing.
Terror legislation has been increasingly used by this government, and sometimes brutally enforced by the police, to criminalise not only those who protest but also those who dare to give the oxygen of publicity to such dissent.
From Monday it will be an offence to elicit or attempt to elicit information about an individual who is or has been a member of the armed forces, intelligence services, or a police officer in Great Britain – it’s been an offence in Northern Ireland since 2000. It will also be an offence to publish such information.
Via Police chiefs body faces calls for review after cash revelations | Politics | The Guardian :
The Association of Chief Police Officers was yesterday facing calls for a “fundamental review” of the way it works, after reports emerged that the independent organisation is raising millions of pounds through commercial activities.
Acpo, which advises the government on national policing policy and describes itself as “the voice of the police service”, was made a limited company in 1997, but has received £32m from the Home Office over the last two years.
I will be attending The Convention on Modern Liberty in London. Speakers include Douglas Carswell MP, Shami Chakrabarti, Nick Clegg MP, David Davis MP, Andrew Dismore MP, Edward Garnier QC MP, Dominic Grieve QC MP and Lord Goldsmith.
If you think the debate is insufficiently measured, I suggest watching this:
There may be a regional convention in your area: check here.
This blog began as a commentary on a life spent seeking fully to live. As I reflect on it today, I see it has become not only a partial record of my transition to aspiring politician, but one of many online litanies of the state of the United Kingdom today. What is to be done?
Would it help the great cause of the redemption of our country to have one more blog, one more book or one more single-issue proforma post card to an MP? Politics – the exercise of power over people – is surely not furthered by moaning, looking inwards, naive idealism or fire-and-forget correspondence. It is a tough business of compromise and, inevitably, partial dissatisfaction, that dies in the absence of widespread participation: it is dying today.
If, at any level of government, the problems we face are the result of misapplied power, it is surely incumbent on all of us actually to do something. There is in the country, a sense that people have paid their taxes and are right to expect quality services in return. There is a sense that those services are not forthcoming at reasonable cost, with appropriate accountability. There is a sense that we have had our liberties eroded within a culture of fear. There is a desire to see things put right, yet there is also a sense of defeatism.
At arguably the worst moment in this country’s history, a new Prime Minister took up his task with buoyancy and hope. The country faced a monstrous and unsurpassed tyranny, a war for its very survival, and yet the task was taken up, not with despair, but with buoyancy and hope.
Let us do the same. If you want government and public services to work, to do more, to do less, to do differently or just to stop doing badly, then I urge you, get involved in a party. If you believe in the power of everyday people, in buoyancy and hope, in freedom, enterprise, responsibility and nation, if you believe parties should be free from the influence of big donors, then I urge you to help the Conservatives by joining today.
I love these posters: it must be the sky…
I am not responsible for the content of other people’s Flickr photostreams.
The LibDems have produced an apparently independent political leaflet which appears to have a contribution from Boris backing their candidate. It also misleads about John Howell.
For those who culture a reputation of being the principled people of politics, this is vile.
Well, where have all my posts gone? Apart from working and commuting, I have been focussing on meeting people in politics. I joined the Conservative Front Bench Club, which led to some illuminating meetings and introductions. I am developing a real confidence in the Conservatives’ ability to deliver meaningful change and revitalization in Britain.
The “You can get it if you really want” campaign seems spot on to me: upbeat, specific and aligned to what people want.
Look too at David Cameron’s speeches – like this one on local life – and you see the possibility of moving away from the degrading slavery of central state control towards a civil society of individual responsibility and freedom from bureaucracy.
More happening next week…
Hague paints a picture of Brown’s reaction to Blair appointed President of Europe:
… but it confuses the right-wing media, who want government out of our lives, but who also want to blame government for every crisis. At least I am not alone in spotting that Cameron is ahead of the game.
In rare moments of calm the focus switches from a troubled Government to a partially recovered Conservative Party. When it does so David Cameron’s admirers and critics tend to argue in unison that the Conservative leader should set out his political purpose more clearly, implying that he lacks a compelling or coherent narrative.
The criticism is both unfair and slightly odd. Whatever his failings, Cameron outlines in most speeches a vision that is potentially revolutionary in its implications, one that could at the very least transform the political culture in Britain and might bring about more sweeping changes.
Cameron envisages an extraordinary transfer of power away from the centre to local community groups, users of public services and to local government. Take a typical speech he delivered last month to the Young Foundation. Cameron began by arguing that a much greater degree of local control allows communities to apply solutions best suited to meet their needs. He added also that diversity works at a national level. Local innovation would allow others to copy the best.
The article is here.
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