On the doorstep in Hillmorton

After the town centre stall on Saturday morning I spent the afternoon with Councillors Sewell, Allen and Kathryn Lawrence. We knocked on doors with our survey and people were pleased to see us. Not so many years ago there wasn't a single Conservative Councillor in this ward. However with Bill winning first seat, by working hard and earning a reputation for getting things done all three ward Councillors are now Conservatives. It was good to hear residents tell me how effective their local Councillors are and this really is the Conservative localism agenda in practice.

Town centre survey

Saturday was a busy day for campaigning starting off with a street stall in the town centre. Despite a bitterly cold day we had a great team out asking questions and handing out leaflets. Even more impressive was that many people wanted to stop and chat with their thoughts on who will get their vote in May. With the messages we are putting out it's great when people tell me that we cant go on like this and that its time for a change in the county. Our survey is also on line where we're picking up a clear idea of how people feel here in Rugby.

Teaching Cooking

My daughter, who is in Year 7, has been given at school a recipe book to bring home which complements her cookery lessons. Nothing wrong with that, but it contains a foreward by Rt Hon Ed Balls MP including his photo, without anywhere referring to his position in Government, and containing the quote ".....with millions of pounds invested in building and revamping teaching kitchens in schools etc". Is this a reasonable teaching aid or the political targeting of pupils at an early age and their parents? Should the Minister's photo and comments appear in such a document? Should his remarks triumph the Government's expenditure in this area? Is it what we should expect from a politician such as Ed Balls? Or am I being too sensitive?

Holocaust Memorial Day

On Sunday Tracy and I attended a Holocaust Memorial Day Service at St Andrew's Church. This is celebrated internationally on 27 January, being the date on which the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated. We heard a very moving account from Susi Bechhofer, a resident of Rugby for many years who told us about how she found out that she was a survivor of the Holocaust. At the age of three with her twin sister, Susi was transported to Britain under a scheme known as Kindertransport when 10,000 Jewish children were sent to relative safety around the world in 1938 and 1939 as people started to become aware of Nazi intentions. Susi only learnt about her background later in life when she sat an exam and her birth name was revealed. This prompted her to find out about her past and unsurprisingly many of her relatives were killed in the concentration camps. In his remarks, Rev Mark Beach referred to more recent genocides, including Rwanda and my mind was taken back to my visits there over the past two summers. The capital of Rwanda, Kigali has its own Memorial centre, where I look this photo of those who were killed during the attrocities of 1994.

Alstom's impact in Rugby

Continuing my visits to industry in Rugby, earlier this week I met Steve Houldcroft and Stephen Burgin at Alstom's Newbold Road site. This is one of our biggest employers although numbers at the site have reduced in recent years. I learnt a great deal about power generation and concerns that we are facing a shortage of capacity as old nuclear and coal fired plants are de-commissioned before new, mostly gas powered, plants come on line. I was shown the massive turbines that are used in the generation of electricity and was hugely impressed by the skill that goes into their manufacture. Here is a sector which has undergone big changes in recent years and it is important that we provide the environment and support which will ensure that this type of industry is retained both in Rugby and within the UK.

Better Teaching

I was pleased to see an emphasis on improving teaching standards within the draft education manifesto the Conservatives launched to today. Attracting the best quaility graduates into the teaching profesion by raising the status of teachers is the right thing to do but it's also important to remember that just because someone is good at a subject or skill they will make a good teacher. Most people will remember from their schooldays who the best teachers were and they weren't always the ones with the best degrees. Passing on enthusiasm for a subject and an ability to understand people is often just as important. This can often be seen in sport where the best players don't make the best coaches or managers, and where good managers often weren't the best players. Alex Ferguson of Manchester United is perhaps the best example of the latter. In my own career I worked for someone who was great as at getting the business in, but lousy at handling people and so I moved to an organisation where my line manger was by no means the best salesman I met, but always had time for, and a knack of getting the best out of people. As we work to improve the opportunities for our young people in our education system it will be increasingly important to look out for this skill and ensure that those who have it are motivated to join the teaching profession.

Developing Sure Start

Last year I visited the Sure Start centre in Brownsover and saw the work they do in supporting parents with young children. As a parent myself I know that nothing prepares you for having children of your own, how life changes completely and how difficult the early years are, particularly when other children come along. The support that pre school children centres provide is invaluable, particularly as in many cases support which in the past might have been provided by the family, often isn't available. Labour said we would axe them and they were wrong. I was pleased when David Cameron earlier this week announced the Conservative's commitment to Sure Start but with a renewed emphasis on intervention to help the most disadvantaged familes and the opportunity for independent organisations to run them. There is more about David's speech (where interestingly he was accompanied by Labour MP Frank Field) here.

Meeting Eric

Yesterday I joined candidates and helpers at the opening of a new telephone campaigning facility for use during the coming General Election campaign. Honours were provided by Party Chairman, Eric Pickes who gave a stirring speech to get us all fired up. As someone who ran a business based on telephone sales, I am very aware of the opportunities provided by using the phone, particularly at a time of weather such as that at the moment when it is difficult to contact people on the doorstep.

Lessons from Obama

I enjoyed Saturday nights fly on the wall documentary which followed Obama's campaign from when he was running well behind Hilary Clinton for the Democratic nomination right to his success on election night . It showed how different the US process is from our own and how much more pushy and upfront their style is. However there were some lessons to be learnt for a campaign such as my own, not least the appreciation of volunteers. The slogan written in large type on the wall of a campaign office "We love our volunteers" hit home as did Obama's message: "A change of Government won't come if you wait for someone else to do it"! In other words, sign up for www.myconservatives.com now!

Support for manufacturing

As a parliamentary candidate I recieve a fair few invitations to meet with various groups and organisations. I am always keen to understand their relevance to Rugby and so when The West Midlands Manufacturing Advisory Service wanted to speak about the service they offer I asked if we could do so at the site of a local company they are working with. Last week Technoset MD, Kevan Kane, showed me around his buisiness with Simon Griffiths and Cliff Johnson of MAS. I saw a well organised manufacturer of high precision machined compenents which has clearly benefitted from the input of experienced professionals. Manufacturing is a tough business to be in at the best of times and today's climate is particularly difficult. As a country we need a strong manufacturing base to generate the wealth that enable Governments to do all of the good things we want them to do. I am pleased that there is an organisation such as MAS to provide the back up and support that businesses such as Kevan's need.

Return my DNA

I had an interesting conversation at the week-end about the retention of DNA on a national database by the police as an aid to sloving crime. It was put to me that more crimes would be solved if the police retain DNA of people who are arrested but are subsequently not charged in addition to those who are found guilty. My sense of freedom of the individual led me to disagree. I believe that there is no right for the state to hold such data on people who are innocent of any crime. It seems that the benefits to the police of such data are in any event over stated with todays Telegraph having an article here about the statement from a senior police officer that DNA solves just one in 150 crimes. Following Damian Green MP's high profile arrest last he campaigned successfully for his own DNA to be released. The Conservatives have now taken up this issue as a campaign which you can support here.

Back to work

I joined the rest of the country back at work yesterday after the Christmas and New Year break. I am regularly reminded that there are no more than 150 days to the General Election and there is plenty to be done. Loke others I have been very impressed by way our front bench and David Cameron in particular have made the early running in what looks likely to be a long campaign.
I met Craig Humphrey, Council Leader at Rugby Town Hall to talk about recent successes in the running of the Council since the Conservatives took full control and some of the plans for the future. Showing the good work that has been done in running local government will be a good way of indicating to voters the approach we will take if we are succesful at the General Election.