Euro Action Day In Wollaton

For the last few weeks the Nottingham Conservatives have been out every Saturday in Wollaton canvassing local opinions with residents' surveys (sadly I have been too busy the last few weekends to help until today). However this Saturday was slightly different as we combined our normal survey about local issues with a message concerning the European Elections on May 22nd. To defend the national interest and to Let Britain Decide, vote Conservative for the Euros.

Getting ready to set off.

We had a fair number of activists out, some coming later in the day, ready to get listen to the problems and concerns of the good people of Wollaton. Also there was Jane Hunt the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Nottingham South. Jane is a really lovely lady and had a very successful time in picking up complaints she will try to sort on the door. 

Jane off to meet some more residents.

There were a number of issues in Wollaton that were raised by residents. One that kept cropping up was state of the pavements and roads. One lady told me she had been living in Wollaton for 42 years and in that time the roads have not been properly resurfaced at all. In my opinion that is an unacceptable amount of time. The problem with actually getting a mass repair of pavements and roads in Wollaton is that the council for a long period have refused consistently to give a lot of money to this project. A few areas have been patched up by the local Conservative councillors with a small pot of money they have, but it is clearly not enough. I have no idea why the council have not been so unhelpful. Some residents told me they were biased against Wollaton. I hope this is not true, it would seem a unfair.

Brendan and his jacket outside the Hemlock Stone and Dragon Pub.

We were later joined by Brendan Clarke Smith, the 5th Conservative MEP candidate on the list for the East Midlands. Brendan is the local Nottingham candidate for the Euros. He lives in Clifton, where he has been a councillor for some time in the past, and is a teacher of politics at a secondary school. Brendan turned up to help in the afternoon, wearing a very 1980s pastel green jacket, after helping Ken Clarke MP in the morning. Ken had been campaigning with Brendan in Rushcliffe on a street stall. There seems to have been a lot of Euro Election campaigning across the country by the Conservatives today. I hope the British public will listen and vote wisely taking into consideration that it is only the Conservatives that will Let Britain Decide over Europe on May 22nd.

There was another prominent local Conservative out in Wollaton too. We were joined by Cllr Roger Steel from Clifton North who always works very hard for Wilford, Silverdale, the Grove and the northern part of the Clifton estate. Roger took some time out from helping his constituents to aid his Conservative friends in Wollaton today. I think it's good to see the local Conservatives working together.  

Jane with Clifton North councillor, Roger Steel.

Another new member of the team was Ifte. He has recently joined the Conservatives and is very keen to help us get a majority government. He has told me he was persuaded to help the Conservatives because of Dave's long term economic plan*. He seriously wants to defend our strong economy as its the only way for people, especially the young, to get back into employment.

Jane and Ifte.

People of Wollaton please vote for the Conservatives and an EU Referendum in the European Elections on May 22nd.

*I hope you're happy Lynton with that line drop, although Ifte genuinely joined the Conservatives for Dave's good economic handling.

Ken Pledges to Fight On

Like the great PM he served under Ken Clarke has pledged to 'go on and on' as he will be seeking to re-stand in 2015. Rushcliffe have already selected Ken for the next General Election, indeed they did so they day before I got my picture taken with him campaigning for the party political broadcast.

Ken has been in Parliament serving Rushcliffe for a very long time, since 1970 to be precise. Indeed this is such a long time to be an MP that Ken is in line to be the next Father of the House, who is currently Sir Peter Tapsell for Louth. Obviously I'm not here to write the biography of a career that has been on a high when Chancellor of the Exchequer and at a low when defeated 3 times for the Conservative Party leadership, thank god. 

At the Cricket with Ken Clarke.

But as we know Ken is known really for one thing and one thing only; Europhilia. Ken is a member of the almost dead breed of Conservatives who love Europe, indeed so much so he would still join the Euro. In the 1970s Ken was a government whip trying to get the Bill through the House of Commons that made us join the EEC Ken was one of those who told Thatcher to go when Geoffrey Howe sparked a leadership contest over Europe. Ken was, and still is, highly critical of the Maastricht rebels who recently he said "should die of shame". And of course after 1997 Ken has pushed hard for this country to join the disaster zone of the Euro.

Ken however is a great chap. When he's not slightly rambling on about something he has to say, I have experienced this and so has Patrick Mcloughlin, he does have a lot of interesting bits of knowledge. His love of cigars, real ale, the cricket and hushpuppy shoes make him the ideal gentleman. A funny guy also who laughed when I asked what is better Minister Without Portfolio or Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; Ken has served both and both roles have no ministerial role. Ok that wasn't an amazing joke, but Ken and I thought so. 

Ken is a big fan of supporting enjoyment of cigars.

Also, from what I have seen and heard he is a great constituency MP. When out and about in public he is always listening hard to people and his constituents really like him. He is more than able to serve as the MP for Rushcliffe despite being the 2nd longest serving in the House of Commons.

Ken has drunk more Real Ale in the last year than Nigel Farage has ever posed with.

So Ken do carry on with your life as an MP. I will be asking the decent and hardworking people of Rushcliffe to continue to vote for a good local MP. But Dave, for the love of God, please sack Ken from the Cabinet. 

Exclusive: Next Party Political Broadcast

Today I went with Jamie, Jenny, Felipe and other prominent local Conservatives to film the next Party Political Broadcast. This will be shown during the Conference on the BBC and ITV as well as in the hall. I will put up all the backstage photos closer to the date but just to tempt you here are two photos of the day.

Photo Courtesy of @JennyWhoJenny

With Ken.

Weekly Poll Lowdown

If you could advise Dave on whose seat from the Cabinet table should be broken and thrown out it seems your choice would be Michael Gove, the Education Secretary. Although Gove is clearly the loser in the poll, the vote was quite close amongst all other Cabinet Ministers, most picked up 10% or 3% of the vote. The only person without a single vote is Philip Hammond, I'm sure he is very pleased.

Which Major Conservative should Dave sack from his Cabinet?

William Hague	7%
George Osborne	10%
Theresa May	10%
Philip Hammond	0%
Ian Duncan Smith	10%
Chris Grayling	7%
Michael Gove	23%
Eric Pickles	3%
Jeremy Hunt	13%
Ken Clarke	10%
Sir George Young	3%
Dominic Grieve	3%

Total votes: 30

The decision to sack Michael Gove from the Cabinet is poor and beyond belief (his 1st position is probably the result of sneaky left wingers). In my opinion, closely followed by Eric Pickles, Michael Gove is the best minister around the cabinet table. His education reforms are the best thing that has happened under the government. His drive to make sure education is improved drastically across the country in our global race, which we must compete in for people to have jobs and prosperity, is going very well. The quality of education is up under this government. The ideas of free schools and academies are really working because they offer choice to students and parents. Wisbech people can see how well Gove is doing locally with Thomas Clarkson secondary school, which used to be the worst school in the County. Now after 1 year of officially being an academy it is right at the top being one of the best schools in the County. 

 Michael Gove is doing really well as Education Secretary.

Michael Gove probably came top in this poll because he is reviled by the Left. Gove's idea of choice and making every school a good school insults every fibre of left wing dogma. Under the last Labour government it was simply get 5 Cs at GCSE level and that's it. To add insult to this idea GCSEs were inflated so it looked like there were improvements, which is shown clear to be not the case when looking at how much Britain fell in the international rankings. The Left believes students education should be kept at an easy level where the Government looks good but the students do poorly. The results are that for most pupils their education is poor and they become low skilled workers or on benefits and thus vote Labour. What a good system if you want to win elections, not a good system if you want to aspire and have a better life.

 Labour lied when they said their focus was on improving Education.

 

So who should go? To me there are many contenders in my mind. Jeremy Hunt hasn't be a great health secretary and represents style over substance as he is much of a blank page. I would have preferred Andrew Lansley to stay as Health Secretary. Arguably Andrew is very bad at presentation but he was made a scapegoat by the Government and Lib Dems for the health reforms which was a very good policy. It is however hard to sack Jeremy Hunt for not doing much when the Government needs health to not create anymore big issues.

A triumph of style over substance.

George Osborne hasn't done amazingly because he has stuck to a Brownite consensus in economics. Yes, he is tied by the Liberal Democrats but he hasn't pushed for cuts to taxes where it is plainly obvious growth and greater government income would be achieved. We really need a more liberal economic chancellor to bring real and sustainable growth. However, Getting rid of Osborne would seem like a reversal of government deficit reduction policy, which should not happen under any circumstances as it is bad for market confidence (that's 'markets' as in all businesses and people across the country and not a few stockbrokers in the city left wingers). 

Alistair Darling and George Osborne follow similar policies. Osborne is so much better than Ed Balls though.

William Hague has a strong case against him for being partially behind the disastrous foreign policy of the last two months. Why on Earth did he think that invading Syria was factually a good idea when we can only create more problems and solve none? William Hague is starting to look much like a statesmen during the easy times but when the pressure is really on bad decisions are made. This is not a good quality for a Foreign Secretary considering the international bust ups that need defusing.

Not going well for William Hague at the moment.

But the person who I would sack is Ken Clarke. Ken is someone with great gravitas and someone I actually like a lot. But his policy ideas are terrible. His handling of the justice department was woeful. Ken didn't reform the ECHR when he had a great chance and changed the emphasis of the courts and jails from deterrence, justice and punishment. Both of these were awful moves. At this moment Ken is advising Osborne on the economy. I certainly wouldn't take advice from the man who still wants to join the Euro and become more closely integrated in a protectionist racket. 

I love Ken's cigars but not his policies.

So Dave if you're reading, Sack Ken.

Please Vote in the next poll on the Sidebar.

'Historical Error'

Yesterday saw a victory, just, by England in the cricket against the Australians. Hurray! I was not there to see it, although Trent Bridge is pretty near to Nottingham Uni and I have been before. But someone I have met at Trent Bridge before was there and that was Ken Clarke MP. But as well as watching cricket Ken has been busy telling us that we should never, ever, consider leaving the EU as it would be a 'historical error' and does not back 'unilateral repatriation of powers'.

Ken was yesterday spotted getting a drink as well as asking for money for his carpet that was ruined by Bukkake.

I'm always very confused by Ken Clarke because when he's talks about the fixing of our economy back in the 1980s, where he played a part, he rightly points out how uncompetitive Britain was and the need to deal with inflation. Yet at the same time he wishes to push us closer to a Europe which is plainly uncompetitive and can only have a negative effect on our economy. He also is one of the rare few who still backs the decision to go into the Euro and thinks the ERM was a good idea; but we need need this monetary control to help our economy at the moment. Unsurprisingly Ken did not back the bill on the EU referendum.

Ken Chillaxing at Trent Bridge a few days ago.

Because of Ken's bizarre set of views its no surprise that Ken is fronting the team with Peter Mandelson and Danny Alexander to make sure UK stays in the Euro. These last two are people that any other Conservative would spurn when taking a podium with them on the matters of Europe because they are both solidly for Britain joining in with the up and coming political union. Mandelson spent many years as a European Commissioner whilst Danny Alexander is a Lib Dem.

These three have produced a manifesto for staying in the EU where they want no particular change except they want the EU to be 'leaner and meaner', emphasis on the meaner. Despite the popular distress from extra powers not wanted from Brussels that are constricting the economy and people's everyday lives, Ken wants to remain 'doggedly engaged in Europe'. Ken isn't fooling anyone however because we know that him and everyone else in this group want to remain in Europe and want to go fully in. If the 'In' camp wants to win the referendum in 2017 I'd keep those who believe in moving closer into Europe away.  

I'm quite disappointed with Ken because I like him, I just dislike many things he stands for which is a real shame. 

Ken smoking a Churchillian Cigar.