Brown bottles

What a weekend. Not just the Rugby! I watched the game on Saturday afternoon with friends and marvelled at the transformation of England as they and Sheridan in particular put the Aussies away. We wandered home and I started some work when Tracy came in to tell me of a news flash on the radio and then the phone started ringing with people telling me about Brown’s announcement that there would not be an election.

Various thoughts. Interesting that it was the poll of marginal constituencies in the News of the World that is said to lead to Brown’s decision. I don’t often buy NoW but did so on Sunday. Their poll shows a six point Conservative lead and was held in the 49 most marginal constituencies notionally held by Labour and the 34 most marginal held Conservative constituencies. Whether you take Rallings & Thresher’s or UK Polling Report’s numbers this poll must have included Rugby. Good news. The threat of an election concentrates mind wonderfully (witness the Blackpool conference!) and it enabled us to put in place quickly many of the plans for fighting an election locally which would have usually taken much more time. Once it’s done it’s done and there will be far less preparation to do when the election finally takes place. That gives us more time to get out on the doorstep now and whenever it is called. When selected earlier this year, I always though that the election would be in May 2009, at the same time as the County Council elections, as happened in 2005, and we’re back working to that agenda. Finally, on a personal note, while I would have been very happy starting off our election campaign today, because we would have most definitely won, I’m pleased that the uncertainty of the past few weeks is at an end. Back to plan A.

Cameron's speech

I drove back to Rugby yesterday evening. If we’re going to be fighting an election this time next week, there are still preparations to be made and I’ve taken the view that my time is better spent here.

I’ve just watched David Cameron’s conference speech in my office on the BBC website which wasn’t as good as being there but enabled me to take some notes as he spoke. I liked the tributes to his colleagues – it’s important to show the breadth of thinking in our party; the attacks on Gordon Brown and Labour hit home and I enjoyed his remark that “we’ve got to be better than that”. A large chunk was about education and how we need to raise standards & give head teachers proper control. I too met someone on a doorstep recently who told me how much better off she and her partner were when they lived apart. On each issue he set out how we will do things differently; it not enough just to oppose and blame Labour, we need to show how we will solve the problems Britain faces. Good understanding and support for our troops in Afghanistan contrasts with Brown’s opportunism yesterday. I liked the support for families. He brought the speech to a strong conclusion which obviously received huge support in the hall.

As a candidate in a marginal seat approaching an election, I was encouraged by what I saw and heard and I am sure that those people in the country who just saw and heard Cameron will be too. Most people, however, will react to the accounts given by the media and the edited versions on tv. It will be very interesting to see the comentators take on the speech. This will lead to opinion polls at the weekend and it will be the polls that will steer Brown as to whether he calls an election or not. For my part I’m ready and confident & very happy about the prospect of starting my election campaign next week.

Rugby at the Conference

I'm in Blackpool at the Conservative Party Conference with what I am sure is the largest group from Rugby ever to attend with, at the last count 15 of us here. We did well to get an unlucky 13 together in one place & the photo was taken in the foyer of the Winter Gardens Given my level of IT skill, I think I have done magnificently to get it posted within an hour of it being taken!
Today is day 3 and I sense people here getting more upbeat as the conference progresses with the tax proposals launched by George Osbourne yesterday being the key. I attended two events where David Cameron spoke; he was entusiastic and positive at each and knows that he has to be on really good form tomorrow to deliver the second speech of his life. I am confident he will and we will all leave raring to go, whether or not we find ourselves fighting a General Election this time next week. With this fantastic Rugby team all fired up, the people of Rugby can expect the Conservatives to be busy and working hard across the entire constituency.

Rugby Rail

Yesterday I met Stephen Hammond MP and Stephanie Clifford at Rugby Station. Stephen is our Shadow Minister with responsibility for Railways and Stephanie is the Chair of Rugby Rail Users Group and our meeting was to lobby and resist changes to the 2008 timetable which we believe will disadvantage Rugby. The station is about to be improved by the addition of a modern entrance and ticket hall, a new multi storey car park is to be built, and Rugby is expected to grow (whatever the outcome of the RSS consultation) in coming years. All of these will increase demand for rail travel, but the number of trains to the north west from Rugby is being reduced and there is no growth in the number of trains to London Euston, despite many being standing room only when they leave Coventry, let alone when they leave Rugby. Add to this the fact that many local services will discharge at Rugby to catch the London train and that the only services to Northampton and Milton Keynes will be stopping trains. Rugby has long benefited from good motorway links and good rail connections and it is vital for the well being of our local economy that these are preserved. Expect a campaign!

Election speculation

For the past couple of months there has been speculation about when the next election will be held and whether it will be this autumn. Gordon Brown his and his spokemens’ comments show them having fun with all of us, political opponents, the media and commentators with their constant “will he, won’t he” speculation. Today’s Times reports that Brown will not use his keynote speech on Monday to announce an election while the BBC says The Labour Party is heading to Bournemouth for its annual conference amid speculation Gordon Brown is preparing to call a general election. All of this has made day to day planning in a busy family such as ours almost impossible. Will I be able to take my son down to his first day at University? Will I be able to watch my other son play in a key Rugby match? Can I take my daughter to a party? Can I join a great friend from University at his 50th birthday celebrations? No complaints from me because I knew the form when I first decided to put my name forward as a candidate and in Rugby our local planning for an election is well in hand, but from the perspective of organising daily life and playing an active role in a family, there’s something to be said for fixed term parliaments.

Creating woodland

About five years ago Tracy and I helped a friend plant up a field with trees as part of a plan to introduce woodland into a part of Warwickshire that has very little. On Sunday we were invited to a barbeque in a clearing in the wood with many others who also helped. It was great to see how the fruits of all the hard work have come on and comforting to think we had played a small part in offsetting some of our carbon usage while having a good time with friends.

A Policeman's lot

The BBC is not generally known for supporting a Conservative line. However, their website today refers to tonight’s Panorama programme about a blog written by a police officer here which shows just how right we are to keep reminding people about how our public services are being strangled by red tape and paperwork. The blog has been anonymous up to now and tells about an officer’s daily routine within the police force and how when the public think that the police solve burglaries, the public and are on patrol accosting thieves and people who are up to no good, what they actually do is “attempt to meet government statistics by solving trivial crime”. The key quote for me is that Stuart Davidson, the officer said “I was sometimes tempted not to make an arrest because processing it would mean so much time off the street.” I, for one, will be watching this evening.