Massive Campaign Day in Clifton North

Last Saturday saw a big campaign day launched by the Nottingham Conservatives in order to get the votes of the people of Clifton North. Over 50 activists were busy trying to get Andrew Rule, the local Conservative candidate, elected to Nottingham City Council. We canvassed all of Wilford, Silverdale, the Grove and a fair portion of the Clifton Estate. We also leafleted virtually the whole ward.

Nadim and Alex out in the ward.

We had people from NUCA, Trent, Derbyshire and people even as far away as Dorset come and help make Clifton North a well represented ward with a local Conservative Councillor. There was of course the usual Conservative team out there led by Andrew as well.

Luke Stevens, Chair of Dorset CF, travelled hundreds of miles to help us.

I didn't see the vast majority of the helpers that day as we broke off into smaller teams. But one of the teams did catch sight of Pat Ferguson, the Labour candidate, and her lovely dog. One of our activists asked Pat if she would be voting in the up coming by-election but she said no. This is not surprising as Pat lives in Aspley which is on the other side of Nottingham. I wonder why she has been parachuted into Clifton North then? Pat then said to the group of activists that she is "far better looking than Andrew". I'm not one to judge beauty but that's quite a weird and ego-centric claim to make in a by-election.

Other teams were out in Clifton.

Pat however does seem to be going a bit barmy at the moment. She wrote on the Clifton Facebook Group recently, insulting the people of Wilford, 'It seems to me that geography, never mind grammar, is perhaps not the strongest in that part of the ward with some members of the WCG'. Not a very wise thing to do. Its no wonder that someone on the same Facebook group has said about Pats comments "Oh my goodness! Iv just saw this post and I must say, I'm actually disgusted in how Pat Ferguson has responded! ... you've made yourself look like a silly and rude woman!!!!" It seems the people of Clifton are not very happy with Pat's actions.

Wisdom meets youth with great Clifton North Cllr Roger Steel and NUCA Alex and George.

But despite Pat's rude words about Clifton North we had a great day campaigning. The sun was shining and I got loads of responses on the doors when canvassing. Virtually all the people were favourable to Andrew and I hope that lots of people will turn out to vote for this great local champion. Andrew is chairman of the Wilford Community Group and Secretary to the social club so he knows what needs to be sorted out in the ward.

Andrew speaking with a resident.

People of Clifton North please vote Conservative and for Andrew Rule, a great local choice, on Thursday.

A Long Day in Clifton North

I have just spent a very long a tiring day helping Andrew Rule, the local Conservative candidate for the Clifton North by-election. It started early and finished late. Quite frankly I am surprised I am up now writing this at 10pm.

Off to talk to the residents of Clifton North.

We started by campaigning in Silverdale along some residential roads with a large team of activists. We got lots of good responses from the people there and they were very pleased to see that the Conservatives are putting a lot of effort in locally. I think Andrew really cares a lot about the people of Clifton North and what the council does there. It effects him as much as everyone else in the ward so he is very in touch.

We then heard that Lilian Greenwood MP was having a coffee morning/surgery for the people of Silverdale and we thought it would be nice to say hi to all those people who were coming out as well. We thus positioned ourselves at the gates with leaflets to give a balanced view of Nottingham politics. The people we spoke to were very receptive and some were pleased about how we had asked them about issues.

We also managed to speak to Lilian as she came out. She gave a friendly hello but said she would not sadly be voting for Andrew Rule specifically because she didn't live in the ward. Indeed Lilian then specifically said she lived in Southwell, almost 20 miles from Clifton North. Lilian Greenwood the 'local' MP for Nottingham South is thus fairly distant; she should really remove all her implied local connections in her literature for example her work with 'other local MPs'. Lilian therefore sadly cannot vote for Andrew but she did leave open the chance that she'd support him. It would be great to see a Labour MP achieve a cross party consensus in backing the Conservative Andrew Rule for Clifton North. Working together is best.

Out in a small sub team.

A strange thing happened at Lilian's coffee morning/surgery as well. One of us spotted Pat Ferguson, the Labour by-election candidate, come out of the coffee morning/ surgery. This is most strange because Pat doesn't live in the parliamentary constituency of Nottingham South let alone the ward Silverdale is in. As an Aspley resident her MP is Graham Alllen, Nottingham North. Why was Pat there at the surgery/coffee morning? Was she campaigning? I hope Lilian wasn't using tax payers money on that coffee morning/ surgery because that would then be illegal.

Just some of the Conservative team that helped today.

After this we campaigned in some more streets before a break for lunch around 1:30ish at the Wilford Harvester. We then hit the pavements again and knocked on over 500 houses with a big group of activists in the rest of Silverdale. We made good progress but it was made hard by the very bad wind and appalling rain. I was drenched and so were the canvass sheets I was holding, luckily they have been salvaged. Let's hope for better weather on the by-election day of 6th March.

It was really great campaigning in Clifton North again. I hope to get back out there soon to try convince more people to vote for the local Conservative candidate Andrew Rule.

Out and About in Clifton North

Today I was out with NUCA and the Nottingham Tories highlighting to the good people of Wilford, Silverdale and Clifton the abilities and asset of Andrew Rule, the Conservative Candidate in the Clifton North by-election. Everyone has been really keen to help Andrew because he is a great local champion who knows exactly what is going on in the ward as he is currently the leader of the Wilford Community Group.

Campaigning in the rain.

Today we did some canvassing; one of our NUCA members had never been out canvassing before and was excited to get going. However today was not the best day to learn the ropes as it was pouring with rain. We were soaked. But Andrew and the team soldiered on and despite the rain we actually made some good headway in Wilford. We had a good crowd of people out there and we got a large number of voting intentions.

Drenched but still happy.

But we decided to go the extra mile and do some telephone canvassing afterwards so we could speak to residents about local issues. Andrew is very keen to do everything he can for the residents of Clifton North and has already started compiling a list of things residents would like to change, many things are small but they are still important. Today we had issues raised about the tram works, littering, anti-social behaviour, parking, dog poo, pot holes and sleeping policeman; Andrew will investigate all these problems if elected as councillor.

Andrew and the team spent a lot of extra hours concentrating on the issues raised by residents.

Please vote for the hard working local Conservative candidate Andrew Rule on Thursday 6th March in the Clifton North by-election.

#ThingsElliottSays Campaigning in Clifton North and with William Hague

Yes after a short break #ThingsElliottSays has returned. I have been ultra busy over the last few days and I'll tell you about two of the things which happened to me.

Photo of William Hague in full flow, taken by Alex Bright.

First off on Thursday I went to see William Hague at East Midlands fundraising dinner for the European elections. Our NUCA treasurer, Alex Bright, sat on the top table with the Foreign Secretary, if only Mr Hague knew how many times Alex has told us the Burmese Embassy story. The food was pretty good and William Hague gave a very good speech under difficult circumstances (the PA system was terrible and he had to shout his speech due to the terrible echo in the hall). Hague said some very important things firstly that even with budget cuts the foreign office is doing more than ever and has opened up a large amount of new embassies and is pushing for more trade with countries across the globe. You would never have seen David Miliband doing that. Furthermore Hague confirmed what we have all suspected; when the new EU referendum bill is put to the commons the government will use the Parliament Acts to get it past the House of Lords, who have shown themselves to be very democratic of late.

Just some of the Conservatives out last Thursday.

There was no rest for me however as the next day I went out campaigning with NUCA members for the Clifton North by-election. There we met the Conservative candidate Andrew Rule, who is a great local champion, and several other Nottingham Conservatives. We leafleted a very large area of Clifton North in a very short amount of time; it's great to have a very large amount of people helping as it shows how much confidence people have in Andrew. Afterwards we went to the pub (this is how all campaigning sessions should end).

Sam delivering a leaflet.

Andrew has specific local knowledge and cares for everyone in the ward. He is the Chairman of the Wilford Community Group and spends a lot of his time helping his neighbours in Clifton North. Andrew told me whilst campaigning that he is very much aware of the problems effecting businesses and people caused by the tram works and if elected will help to ease the congestion and fight for the council to compensate businesses.

NUCA members out campaigning with Andrew.

Andrew is far better and more in touch with people of Wilford, Silverdale and Clifton than the Labour candidate Pat Ferguson. Pat doesn't even live in the same parliamentary constituency as the residents of Clifton North. Pat lives Aspley, miles from anyone who lives in the ward. I personally think it is disheartening when major political parties cannot stand candidates in seats who live in or next to a ward. the Labour candidate has no real demonstrable connection with Clifton North, what a shame.

Andrew is the local choice for Clifton North.

I thus think Andrew Rule is the best choice for Clifton North; I encourage everyone in the ward to vote for him and the Conservatives.

By-Election in Clifton North

Well it is by-election time again in Nottingham, the residents of Clifton North (which already have two decent Conservative Councillors) get to choose who will replace former Labour councillor Lee Jeffrey.

Former Labour Councillor, Lee Jeffrey.

Why did Mr Jeffrey have to stop being a councillor you may ask? He didn't suddenly get ill and he isn't leaving the council due to a career change. No he was forced to resign as a councillor because he was too feckless to turn up to meetings. Apparently he hasn't been to council meetings since June 2013. Indeed according to Lee Jeffrey himself he was selected by Nottingham Labour to be a council candidate although they knew he needed a lot of help to be one. He was not ideal material for a councillor. These Labour councillors are great aren't they. I wonder if Nottingham Labour has any other lazy councillors?

But anyway the City Council have set Thursday 6th March as the by-election day and the deadline to be registered to vote is Wednesday 19th February.

According to Labour activists Nottingham City Council tried to sue me when I once copied a photo of their logo. I now use this as my logo photo to make sure it doesn't happen.

The Conservative Candidate is a local man Andrew Rule who is chairman of the Wilford Community Group. He cares very much about what happens in his local area and will work hard to make sure residents have their opinions heard in the council chamber. He is certainly a man to trust.

Conservative Candidate Andrew Rule 

Please make sure you vote for Andrew.