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A Promise To Serve

A Promise To Serve

Can it really be only a week since 48,699 people across North Wiltshire made their way to the polls (at 73% one of the highest turnouts in the country) to renew their faith in me and my Party. Of course I was pleased and honoured that 25,114 of them chose to vote for me, giving me - at 7,483 - a healthy increase in my majority. (Elected in 1997 with 3,475, 3,878 by 2001, and 5,303 in 2005.) And I look forward to continuing my work on behalf of people of all political persuasions and of none right across the patch. I am particularly looking forward to getting stuck into working in Calne and Cricklade and surrounding villages which of course are new to the constituency.

It was an energetic and robust campaign. 25,000 doorsteps, leaflets like confetti, public meetings, hustings, TV and radio interviews and the rest, largely conducted in the North Wilts tradition of honourable debate.

By the time you read this, I hope that the national  picture will be clearer. David Cameron’s initial approach to the Liberal Democrats last Friday was superb - statesmanlike and accommodating.

It is quite right that Mr Cameron should have made the approach he has to Mr Clegg, offering a number of policy concessions in areas where we broadly agree and going further to offer a referendum on the Alternative Vote system of elections - a step further than most Conservatives would have wanted. If we can form a government with the Liberals tacit or express support, then of course I would welcome that. At a time like this, we need strong decisive and stable government, and I very much hoped that that is exactly what the Lib Dems would allow us to deliver it. If by the time you read this the Liberals or other parties have refused to support us and have formed some kind of Lib/Lab pact, then they will have to explain to the electorate why that was so in what would then become an inevitable second general election.

By the time you read this, much of this may well be history. In the meantime, I would just thank you all for your votes and your confidence, and I pledge to continue to serve all of the people of the area in every possible way, and to represent what I believe to be the consensus of your views in Parliament, whatever its complexion may turn out to be.

Spring Forward

“Spring forward, Fall back” is the old adage about changing the clocks. I have to admit that I always forget it, and am quite unable to work out its significance with regard to brighter mornings, longer evenings and the rest of it. My mobile phone clock automatically adjusts itself, but of course other clocks do not, and I spend 24 hours in a sort of chronometrical limbo unsure of what the time really is. Not only that, but I always find the notion that we are now officially in British Summer Time more than a little worrying as we watch the rain and snow fall all around us.

Nonetheless even the most curmudgeonly and chronologically challenged amongst us, could hardly fail to look forward to the coming of Spring, love the arrival of the daffodils, watch out for the baby lambs, ducklings and goslings to follow shortly.. “Oh to be in England now that April’s there,” wrote Robert Browning. “And the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf, round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf; while the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough; In England- Now!”

I have a feeling of anticipated renewal, hope for the future, in political terms too. I do not fully understand the debate in the US about President Obama’s health reforms. But I have a sneaking – if ideologically impure – suspicion that it’s a good thing. And if the poor in America can land up with healthcare which is even half as good as our beloved NHS, then that is something to be welcomed, even if my natural allies in the Republican Party don’t like it.

Alistair Darling’s last Budget left more unsaid than openly declared. Every sensible person knows that when your credit card providers are bouncing your payments, then that is the time to have a look at what cuts can be made in your family spending. Burying your head in the sand and taking out yet another credit card to pay off your debts is no kind of an answer, but rather than facing up to it, Messrs Brown and Darling chose to dodge that politically difficult reality.

A feeling of “fin de siècle”, of the decline of Empire, was also evident in the absurd picture of three ex cabinet Ministers falling over in an attempt to sell their contacts for £5000 a day. No longer concerned about the country, nor about their political careers, they were ready to do anything for Caesar’s gold. Yet that feeling of an ending, a ‘dissolution’ of Parliament, which we also felt strongly in 1996/7, has inherent in it hope for the future. As we go into Spring, we all hope to leave behind us a wrecked economy, parts of our society collapsing in so many ways, a tainted political system. There’s a very real feeling around that “It just can’t go on like this; it’s Time for a Change in Westminster.”

I hope that by the time you hear from me next (for this will probably be my last Column until the Election is over); there will be a very real feeling of a fresh start, a new beginning. We will all be looking forward to what I very much hope will be a brighter future.

And as an old BBC presenter used to say at the end of his weekly broadcasts: “If you have been, thank you for listening.”

M.P. For All

Its hard to remember a more exciting time politically, nor a General Election which was harder to predict. In 1997, even I had to admit that the Tories were tired and split, and Mr Blair’s honeymoon (on the back of Ken Clarke’s buoyant economy) rather surprisingly lasted through 2001 and 2005. The polls of course show the Tory lead diminishing slightly in recent months, and with 117 seats required to win an overall majority, we would be the first to admit that we have a pretty big mountain to climb. There’s a great deal of talk of a hung Parliament of one sort or another, which would in my view be the worst possible of all outcomes, producing weak government, and potentially giving disproportionate power to the parties who secured the fewest votes! The count nationally (which has been confirmed for election night) will, for the first time in 20 years, be truly exciting, and justify some good election night parties.

All of that will be against a background of a General Election Budget, which in any normal times would be a “give-away” one, although Mr Darling’s handouts may have to constrained this time because of the historically massive borrowing; its against a background of a continuing war in Afghanistan, and the tragic sight of the Wootton Bassett Repatriations; its against a background of renewed strikes and Union power, the like of which we have not seen for 20 years; and its against a background of general disaffection or apathy with regard to our political system. All of that makes for a toxic political mix, the outcome of which is anything but certain.

13 years of work for this local area convinces me that local people here are not terribly party political.(and nor, I have to admit, am I) They care about their local communities, local services. They are looking for decency, honour, common sense values. All of those things were very much on show at two events I attended this week. The Methodist Ladies Friendship group in Wootton Bassett belied their rather staid sounding title by being extremely lively and interesting in their questioning, which was nearly all about local and ethical type matters. And what a wonderful celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the 1^st Wootton Bassett Scouts Group I attended on Saturday. For 100 years Scout leaders have given willingly of their time and energy to get young people off their sofas, into the fresh air, instilling in them the ancient virtues of hard work, honesty, practicality and good fun. What a great job they have done.

I pride myself not on being the “Conservative MP for North Wilts,” but “the MP for North Wilts”, (who happens to take the Conservative whip in parliament.) I am the MP for all, no matter what their personal political allegiances, or lack of them. And events like these two remind me of it.

Canals, Railways And Motorbikes

I am a great admirer and supporter of those self-help projects which one comes across from time to time. You know the sort of thing – a visionary and dynamic chairman raising funds, inspiring volunteers, overcoming hurdles, making things happen without a whinge, and without a single penny of Government money. The Wilts and Berks canal – which will eventually link the Kennet and Avon through to the Cotswold canals- will take a lot of work and a great deal of voluntarily raised money. It may well take 20 or 50 years. But sooner or later a longboat will chug from Devizes to Abingdon.

I visited the Swindon to Cricklade railway on Friday, and was immensely impressed by all I saw. The bed of the old track is still mainly there, and with a little further push there could easily be a train service from the Gloucester line right through to Cricklade. There is a series of splendid old locomotives and carriages under restoration, or actually working (I drove an old diesel myself – Health and safety would no doubt have something to say about that!) And it’s not a few railway cranks and loco spotters. It’s a thoroughly professional and visionary project which will in the end bring great benefits to local people and the economy. The tourism potential is huge. Imagine catching a steam train from Swindon station to Cricklade (or maybe even Cirencester eventually?), transferring to a narrow boat for the return journey. Pubs and cafes along the way.  It won’t happen easily, but the people I met on Friday strike me as being just the sort who will make it happen sooner or later. And with no help nor money from HMG. Self-help entrepreneurialship at its best.

And what a fantastic example of self-starting, patriotic, devil-may-care, socially wonderful, if unattractive to the politically correct fundraising and tribute-paying was that magnificent ride by at least 15,000 motorbikes from Hullavington through Brinkworth and then of course up Wootton Bassett High Street on Sunday? So many of us are well used to the High Street being packed on the weekly sombre occasions of Repatriations. How great it was to see the huge crowds on a lovely sunny day, celebrating and being happy. Hundreds of people remembering our servicemen, honouring and helping those injured by warfare, paying tribute to the people of Bassett whose simple little ceremonies have for three years now warmed the hearts of the world and of our servicemen. And just having such a lot of fun doing it. The noise was containable, the traffic management absolutely fine. And my feeling from talking to people up and down the High Street that day, and at the Repatriation the previous Thursday, was that the town was strongly supportive of the initiative which will raise £100,000 for the superb charity, Afghan Heroes.

The canal, the railway, the bike ride have a great deal in common. They are organised by enthusiasts, enjoying their own passion but bringing benefits to others in doing it; overcoming substantial obstacles, not least opposition from some quarters. All three things and so many others are symptoms of the strong community spirit which we still enjoy in this area. People getting out and about and doing things to help each other and help the community. And having a good laugh at the same time.

I salute them all.

Voting Responsibilities

There’s a tired old refrain about no-one being interested in/ trusting/ respecting politics/politicians/Parliament/people in authority. And I wholly accept that people are angry and upset with so much in Britain and the World today. Our Broken Society, our broken economy, and our broken politics, all need urgent action, alongside so much else. But I just do not accept that that has led to apathy, cynicism and disillusion. My experience is the opposite. People seem to me to be more involved, interested and aerated about politics than they have been for many years, and my prediction is that we will see a record large turnout at the forthcoming General Election.

Just think of what’s been happening in the last week or so. The Tories’ poll lead has narrowed, which, if nothing else will sharply focus the voters’ minds. Can they afford to waste their vote by abstaining or voting for a minority party? I think not. People are increasingly realising that in this election their vote counts more than ever. I personally may be disappointed at the poll gap narrowing. But I welcome it as a stimulus to electoral excitement and democratic vibrancy.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s evidence to the Chilcott Enquiry was eclipsed by the retired military chiefs being astonishingly public the following day that he was being economical with the truth in saying that he had fully funded recent military adventures. Mr Brown may have missed those stories, since he was at that moment hotfoot to a photo opportunity with said well equipped soldiers in Afghanistan. His announcement of 200 armoured vehicles to replace the Snatch Landrovers was initially welcomed until it was discovered to be a rehash of an ancient announcement of 400 such vehicles.

Simultaneous tragic violence in Baghdad surrounded the elections there, at least leading some of us to wonder whether or not there really is any kind of fragile democracy emerging. Was it really all worthwhile? Will the Afghan experience be better or worse, and why is so much Afghanistan money being exported to the Gulf countries in apparent expectation of a collapse of the corrupt Karsai Government?

At home, questions were being asked, and mud slung about Lord Ashcroft, Lord Paul and Michael White, each of whom made substantial donations to the three main parties. (The third, of course, being a convicted fraudster who gave £2 million to the Liberal Democrats.) The Lord Chancellor is on the mat over whether or not he should have said more about the reasoning behind the re-incarceration of the murderer of Jamie Bulger. Was it right to leave it to the tabloids to leak it? The economy and housing market are failing to match the green shoots of early Spring; our hospitals are, or have been, shut down through MRSA and C difficile; immigration, law and order, education, long-term care. All are fully in the public eye.

Well with all of that and so much more happening in Britain and around the World, and with the crucial British Elections looking uncomfortably close, anyone who I meet on doorsteps who says they will not vote because they can’t be bothered will meet a withering stare if not worse. People around the world are losing their lives to get the vote; and it’s only a generation or so ago that women achieved universal suffrage here. The worlds in a mess; Britain’s a shambles. Lets all start to put it right by taking our voting responsibilities seriously.

Funny Old Business

The pace of the run-up to the General Election, the stress for all concerned, and the possibility of drama increases by the day. Locally, candidates of all parties are in frenetic last-minute planning – drafting leaflets, ordering posters, planning the campaign itself. Interest groups are worrying about whether or not to hold hustings meetings, the Council is worried about postal votes, military electoral registration, and where (and when) to hold the count.

Nationally, what at one time looked like a pretty comfortable lead in the polls for David Cameron’s Conservatives seems to have narrowed to a possible hung parliament, with quite possibly Labour being the largest party. Mr Cameron’s dramatic (and unscripted) 45 minute speech in Brighton last weekend seems to have gone down well in most quarters, and may well lead to a renewed improvement in the polls. It had echoes of Margaret Thatcher’s “You turn if you want to, the lady’s not for turning” speech which, by coincidence was also heard in Brighton. In particular, David set his face against any panicky “lurch to the right” which many on the dinner party circuit enjoin us all to do. “Its all about the EU, immigration, law and order,” they declaim, urging the Tories to go to lengths to knock spots of the Labour Government.

That approach is to ignore the polling realities that in order to form a Government, the Tories have to appeal to a very wide swathe of people, many of whom will not have voted Conservative for a long time, some of whom never. My experience on doorsteps is that they are not at all concerned about the EU and immigration. They are worried about their jobs and the economy; they are worried about their family and the health, education, long-term care and other services they need: and they are worried about ‘Politics’ not just Parliamentary sleaze, but also such things as the relationship between Parliament and Government, voting systems, the role of the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, the power of the media and so on. The people want radical solutions to the problems in the economy; they want decent services for their families at an affordable tax rate; and they want honesty, far-sightedness and transparency in our political machinery. David Cameron is intent on delivering those things, even if that is to the disappointment of some who would much rather see us take the fight to the enemy on good old battle grounds such as immigration and law and order.

From a personal standpoint, I have always found in the four general elections I have fought as a candidate, that no matter what the circumstances, stress mounts for the last month or two. Not only are the candidate and his volunteers and helpers increasingly under pressure to get things organised and seek to maximise their vote, which inevitably leads to stresses and strains and disagreements over tactics; but as a candidate there is a very strange personal stress too. Of course I hope that my party will win the election and form a Government. Of course I hope that the people of North Wiltshire will prove overall to have been relatively satisfied with what I have done on their behalf over 13 years. It would of course be a personal disappointment if not. But more than all of that, the incumbent at least, is fighting to save his job. It is an odd thought that at least theoretically one might find oneself without an occupation a month or two from now, at least in some cases through no fault of the candidate’s own. It’s a funny old business, politics.

Queensberry Rules

A bogus newspaper calling itself the “Wiltshire Mail,” but which is actually a voice piece for one of the other political parties, has been joining the other junk mail on North Wilts doorsteps in recent weeks. It contains a number of relatively mild personal attacks on yours truly, which I have no intention of dignifying with any kind of response.

However, it might be timely just to say this to the other parties who will be fielding candidates against me at the General Election:- I pledge that I will be campaigning on the issues and the issues alone. I will be seeking to persuade the voters that a Conservative Government led by David Cameron will be better for all of us than a Labour one led by Gordon Brown, and that I personally will continue my thirteen years of fighting for the people of North Wiltshire. I will make no personal attacks of any kind on other candidates, nor indeed will I react, aside from libel, to any underhand personal remarks they may choose to make. Let’s make this a clean campaign discussing the problems the nation faces and how each of the parties will try to solve them, and leave personalities out of it.

I do also feel strongly that the same should apply nationally. We all sympathise deeply with Gordon Brown’s tragic loss of a child. Of course we do. But that tragedy will neither make him a better nor a worse Prime Minister. His Piers Morgan interview and its content were carefully planned. It was a wrong thing to do. I equally dislike claims in the tabloids that he regularly abuses and assaults his staff. If he does, he certainly should not. But I want to know what he’s going to do to mend our country if he gets another five years in the job, not about his relations with his secretary.

Talking of pretty nauseating and unconvincing press interviews, I have to say that all I want to know about Tiger Woods is whether or not he will win the next major golf tournament.  I want to know about Sir Nicholas Winterton’s political views and career rather than his pretty dopey remarks about Standard Class railway passengers. And when we get to the much-vaunted TV debates amongst the party leaders during the campaign itself, I very much hope that they will be weighty and courteous exchanges about the great matters facing us all, rather than a PMQ- style punch-up. (Which may be fun but really adds very little to the sum total of human happiness.)

So let us try to leave behind our fixation with each other’s private lives, and focus on the problems facing the world, whose magnitude is perhaps greater now than ever before. Poverty, ignorance, terrorism, warfare, climate change, jihadism, the national debt, profligate overspending, the economy in turmoil.

When it comes – and it may not be long away now - I shall be carrying on the very long and honourable North Wiltshire tradition of decent, pleasant, civilised campaigning. I shall robustly argue that our great country is in a shambles, the blame for which lies squarely in Downing Street, and that only a Cameron Government can start to get things sorted out. But no matter what the personal foibles, characteristics, private lives or history of the other candidates may be, I shall make no reference to them whatsoever. When the bell rings to signal the start of the campaign, let’s come out fighting. But let’s stick to the Queensberry Rules.

Cross Party Consensus

Government- or at least good government - is a tough and difficult business. You could even argue that the true test of a government’s success is not how popular it is – which after all might just demonstrate that they are doing what the people think they want in the short term rather than what will be good for the country as a whole in the longer term- but how unpopular it is, which may well indicate that it is actually doing the right thing – videlicet Margaret Thatcher in 1981/2. If we Conservatives form a government at the general election, I am confident that we are taking on such a huge mess that we will soon be one of the most unpopular governments in recent history, which will actually demonstrate that we are doing a good job. By the time of the following general election, it is to be hoped that the people will have come to realise that we did what we had to do for the long-term benefit of the nation as a whole.

There’s been a bit of - slightly self-righteous - media tut-tutting about Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley breaking off talks about long-term care for the elderly because we would not contemplate the death tax which Labour are considering. Why should those who look after their loved ones at home in later years then have to contribute a whacking £20,000 to those who can’t or won’t? We are proposing a voluntary form of insurance instead - a lump sum payment of £8000 on retirement against the cost of possible long-term care. We estimate that those who eventually do not “claim” on that insurance policy will pay for those who have to.

But quite leaving the policy question on one side, I have some difficulty with the very notion that cross-party consensus is necessarily the right thing anyhow. Surely our system of parliamentary democracy depends on groups of people of a like mind – our political parties – coming up with ideas for the betterment of society which they then put to the people in a general election manifesto. Voters consider the various options on offer and cast their votes accordingly. Cross-Party consensus denies them that opportunity to choose. What’s more, since it would involve greater or lesser compromises it may well land up with some kind of lowest common denominator. Tough government demands tough choices which may be temporarily unpopular with the electorate, even if they are actually the right thing to do. Cosy cross-party consensus, government by committee, is likely to produce weak and therefore ultimately unsuccessful government.

And anyhow, it’s not just about how we should care for our evermore aging population. It’s about how we should pay for that care. The devolved government in Scotland, for example, chose to guarantee free long-term care at home for all. That is a political decision which the Scottish Nationalists took, and they have had to cancel a number of other projects to pay for it. At the elections the people will judge whether free long-term care is more or less popular than more or better schools, fewer potholes or rebuilt hospitals. That is a political judgement, and it is right that it is made by a political party who submit themselves to the judgement of the people in a general election.

So roll on our election. It cannot come too soon. The people will then cast their (doubtless quite definitive) judgement of the last 13 years without having that judgement clouded by bogus “cross-party consensus.”

A Rotten Parliament

It’s been another rotten week for Parliament, with the - perfectly justifiable - massive media focus on MPs’ expenses. Those who were on the fiddle in any way must pay the penalty by losing their jobs (as has happened to perhaps 20/30 people) or being prosecuted (and they should most certainly not be allowed the defence of Parliamentary  Privilege ). Those MPs who over claimed and are objecting to the retrospective change in the rules should just pay up and shut up. In my case Sir Thomas Legg decided that I had overpaid my landlord by some £300, or £75 per year, against my rent over the four year period . I cannot imagine how he came to that conclusion. I have always paid my rent on demand and by direct debit straight to the landlord, and reclaimed that figure. However, for the sake of closure, and to avoid endless crawling over ancient accounts, I have indeed  repaid the £300 requested . And I wholly support the efforts of the new independent body, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, who are busily consulting on what system should be put in place to replace the widely discredited system of pay and allowances which currently exists.

All of this is a huge diversion away from real life. As we see the beginning of what may turn out to have been the most intense period of warfare for many years; as our economy totters along with the highest national debt for years; as the Greek and Spanish debts look like endangering, perhaps toppling the Euro project; as this discredited Government tries to do whatever it can to avoid humiliation in the polls which cannot come too soon; as all of that goes on, we in Westminster are chattering about whether or not an 18th Century Bill of Rights should be used to protect three Labour MPs from prosecution in the courts. What we need in the nation is direction and leadership on these great issues and more. So let’s deal with Westminster scandals and move swiftly on to the Election and set about putting our country back to rights.

For myself, I had a busy week - calling my own Westminster Hall debate on Multiple Sclerosis issues (I am Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for MS and Patron of the North Wilts branch of the MS Society); welcoming Neston Farm Shop to Parliament for the Countryside Alliance Rural Awards, of which they were the Wessex Regional Winners; visiting Scisys, a company in Chippenham producing high tech solutions for industry and government; meeting the new Station Commander at Lyneham (You can just guess what we discussed!); attending yet another repatriation in Wootton Bassett; spending a fascinating and enjoyable 6 hours of Friday evening with the Wootton Bassett Police, Sergeant Jo Spencer showing me around and giving me an insight into the excellence of our local police force; surgeries in Wootton Bassett and Malmesbury, looking into the Malmesbury Health Workshop, canvassing in Calne, attending a drinks party in East Tytherton. These things are the real meat of a Constituency MP’s week, and I would not swap them for all the great affairs of state you could mention.

So I do hope that Sir Thomas Legg and his aftermath, and the ever-more imminent General Election will truly draw a line under the last ghastly twelve Parliamentary months, and begin to restore the reputation of politics and our Parliament. We have so much to do and must not waste more time before we set about it.

Royalty

It’s been a bit of a Royal week for us all in North Wiltshire. It was great to see HRH the Duchess of Cornwall, or just “Camilla” as she is known to local people at the 60^th Birthday event for Age Concern Wiltshire on Wednesday. They are a great organisation doing important and sometimes difficult work, which was marked and celebrated by the Duchess’s presence.

Then, of course, as has been extensively reported, she and the Prince of Wales were back in Wootton Bassett on Friday to thank the people of that wonderful town for the way in which they support our armed services by paying respects to the returning bodies of servicemen. There was something absolutely magical about the deluge of snow which landed on us all just as they were laying their wreaths.

It was a unique honour for the town to see the two of them wander down the High Street, stopping off for a drink in the Cross Keys which has done such great work supporting the bereaved families, and then dropping into the Conservative Club to chat to so many local people. The whole event was very much in the spirit of Wootton Bassett- no ceremony, no pomposity. Just two very special Royals quietly thanking the people of this very special town for what they do so well.

I don’t think I am breaking any confidences when I report the Prince’s brief remarks to me when I was presented: - HRH: “Hear you’ve been seeing a lot of my wife lately?” MP: “Yes, Sir. It was great to see her at the Age Concern Party on Wednesday at RAF Lyneham.” HRH “Ah yes, Lyneham. Got to keep it open. Keep up the good work.” MP: “I promise to keep fighting for it, Sir.” Hmm…. I’m not sure that the excellent new Station Commander who was standing beside me liked what he heard!! It was a simply wonderful visit and a huge honour for the town, which will without doubt go down in its annals.

The visit exactly coincided with Mr Blair’s evidence to the Chilcott Inquiry. Sounded like pure spin to me, at which Mr Blair is an unequalled expert. There was an irony that at the precise moment that Their Royal Highnesses were thanking the people of Wootton Bassett for what they do, Mr Blair was twisting and turning to try to avoid any personal blame, seeking to justify the unjustifiable without anyone knowing he was doing it, trying to obliterate the memory of the many servicemen’s bodies which had been carried down that very High Street.

I simply cannot understand Republicans. The Royal family do wonderful work being the true leaders of the Nation without fear or favour. They have their influence – like the prince’s off-the-cuff remark to me about RAF Lyneham – but rise above the hubbub. Their presence at an event like the Age Concern party or so many others in this area is so vastly more important than it would be if, for example, we had a President. If that were the case, it might well have been President Blair. But he couldn’t have come to Bassett because he’d have been too busy with Chilcott. We should thank and respect our magnificent Royal family - ours would be a vastly poorer nation without them.

Political Correctness

My politically correct credentials (such as they were) may have been dealt a further blow by three –on the face of it – politically incorrect speeches in one week. I proposed the toast “To the Lassies” at the Rotary Club Burns Supper in Chippenham on Friday, and again in the House of Commons on Monday, and then spoke at the Oxford Union against a motion praising ‘all-women shortlists’ for candidate selections. A toast to “a person or persons of undeclared gender and ignoring their sexual tendencies’ might have been more modern. It would also have been less fun. And I like to think that that great egalitarian and lover as well as respecter of women, Robert Burns would without doubt have disapproved of all-women shortlists! 

It is easy to parody people like me – and the bard himself – who start from the realisation that men and women, people of varying creeds, religions, races and habits are different. Of course they are. ‘Vive la difference’, as or French brothers and sisters would put it. But people being different should not lead to any presumption that they are at any kind of disadvantage because of those differences. White, black, male, female, gay or straight: it is my passionately held view that all were born equal; and all must be treated equally.  ‘A man’s a man for a’ that’ declaimed Burns famously. We are all humans, and we all have equal rights. Discrimination of any kind must not be allowed.

But discrimination cannot be corrected by positive discrimination – all women shortlists and the like – which in my view are almost as obnoxious. I do not know how the Black and Ethnic Minorities Housing Association (which exists) is any more justifiable than, for example “The white male middle class housing association” (which of course does not) would be. Positive discrimination of that sort actually implies unfair discrimination against the grouping which may well be the majority. (White, straight, middle class.) Why should they be put at a disadvantage merely because of their age, class, sexuality or race any more than a black gay or disabled person. A man’s a man for a’that.

What’s more women (like the excellent new Conservative candidate for Devizes, Claire Perry), or black people (Like Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, the candidate in Chippenham) would not appreciate the patronising approach which suggests that they have got where they have got because they are respectively a woman and a black person. They have succeeded because of their own abilities, which positive discrimination in their favour would tend condescendingly to diminish.

So let us enjoy and relish differences and diversity. Let us be happy to treat people differently. I am not ashamed that I open a door for a lady or stand up when she comes into a room. I have no shame about being as ribald and straightforward with my gay and black friends as I am with my white and straight ones. Walking on egg-shells to avoid upsetting someone who is different to oneself is of itself patronising.

So call me old-fashioned if you will. But I passionately respect the differences between people. I hate discrimination and snobbery. But I hate inverted snobbery and positive discrimination as well. Good manners, respect, politeness. These are the things which bind a society together. Or in the famous old motto of Rotary International “Service before self.”

Campaign Medals For Air Med Evacuation Teams

There are some people who go into politics hoping to change the world. I guess a few are successful- Churchill, Thatcher, Obama, Roosevelt, Disraeli…. But if that’s your political motivation, then most of we political mortals are likely to be frustrated and disappointed. It is surely better to accept that at most we can try to make a few things better here and there - “round the edges” as it were.

When I visited our troops in Afghanistan last weekend, I was lucky enough to see the RAF Air Medical evacuation teams in action – both on a converted C-17 returning wounded soldiers to hospital in Birmingham, and working in the state of the art hospital in Camp Bastion. What a brilliant job they do. Soldiers injured on the very front line are whisked by Chinook to Bastion Hospital, then by Hercules or C-17 either direct or via Kandahar to Selly Oak Hospital. It often takes 24 hours from wounding to operating table, all thanks to the teams which, I am proud to say, are based in RAF Lyneham.

But you can imagine my horror both when I met them all last year, and again when they came to a reception in Speaker’s House in London in the autumn to hear that because of the technicality that their presence in Afghanistan is not constant (how can it be – they are bringing their patients home), they are not eligible for the Afghan Campaign medal. They are not, of course, doing it for the medal.  But the task which they are carrying out is just as – often very much more – dangerous than the jobs done by many soldiers who are in theatre without a break. So I lobbied quite hard on this one. Spoke to ministers on several occasions, wrote to the Secretary of State and generally made myself a bit of a nuisance.

Well I was very glad when I saw some of them at the weekend to be able to tell them that in an informal chat with an MOD Minister just before I had left, he was hinting that he had listened to their complaint, and that he was hopeful of righting what is by any standards a demonstrable wrong. No guarantees yet, but I am hopeful that the MOD may decide to offer the campaign medal not on the strength of continuous service in theatre of war, but on the basis of the total number of days served in a certain period, thereby making the Air Evacuation teams from Lyneham eligible for it. If so, it cannot come too soon.

Trips to visit the troops such as that last weekend are hard work- and hard work for our hosts who lay on such interesting visits. But they are well worth it in terms of finding out the problems and triumphs of conducting a high intensity war in as distant and inhospitable land as Afghanistan. Only by being out there on the ground can politicians hope to gain some kind of an idea about what it is actually like for our brave soldiers, sailors and airmen and women.

And if on return I can help sort out a few details –like medals for Lyneham’s RAF medics – I may not change the course of the war, nor make history, but maybe I can be personally satisfied that I have helped just a little bit around the edges.

Trivial or Great

There is a very narrow gap between trivia and great and important matters of State. The snowy weather is fun for lots of people. It’s pretty, sledgable, seasonal, and lets children have a few buckshee days off school. Yippee! (Although I guess that most of us are getting pretty tired of it now, and spare more than a thought for the cold and elderly, the essential services working under difficult conditions, and those suffering from assorted injuries as a result of snow-bound over-exuberance.) Yet if the grit or the strategic gas supply runs out, it could have terrible consequences for our already miserable economy. And therefore for our even more miserable Prime Minister.

The plot to remove him, apparently hatched in a curry house by Messrs Hoon and Hewitt, and the possibility of others like Bob Ainsworth potentially joining them, truly looks like Nero fiddling while Rome burns. Yet it could have a real and lasting effect on the outcome of the General Election, and therefore on all of our fortunes.

It was a welcome relief from political shenanigans to experience some real life in Malmesbury on Friday. I spent a shift with the Ambulance there, and as you would expect was immensely impressed by the sheer professionalism, determination, caring yet unselfconsciously cheerful approach of all of the people I met. They do a great job on the ground. Yet I remain deeply worried that the amalgamation of the Wiltshire Ambulance Service with all of those from neighbouring counties into the so-called Great Western Ambulance Service will not only do nothing to improve the service (it is now much worse performing in many way than the old and much abused Wilts Ambulance Service), but would also have the effect of sucking our ambulances from rural Wiltshire into neighbouring urban centres.

And so it was. Clinical team leader Philip Green and Emergency Care Assistant, Gina Magor and I were summoned to pick up a sick gentleman in Bath and take him to the Bristol Royal Infirmary. It took us four hours all told, during which time Malmesbury’s sole ambulance was not available for local jobs. And I am told that this happens all the time. The local ambulance takes people into hospital in Swindon, Bath or Bristol, and then gets a local job in those areas, often meaning that they do not return to Malmesbury for the entire day. I spoke up against the amalgamation at the time, my objections being pooh-poohed as out of date parochialism. But I have to say that my experience on Friday precisely confirmed my worse fears. Like so much of our public services I saw brilliantly professional workers hampered by absurd, time-wasting and expensive bureaucratic practices. Bring back the old Wiltshire Ambulance Service, I say. The amalgamation was another apparently harmless piece of management re-organisation which has real and lasting effects on the lives of the people of North Wiltshire.

Lyneham and Wootton Bassett

Lyneham and Wootton Bassett have certainly been in the eye of the storm this week.

I strongly support the great British respect for free speech and the right to protest - after all that’s one of the things our soldiers have fought and died for in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is essential that Anjem Choudary should be allowed to express his views - even if they seem to me, and I think to most people, including much of the moderate Islamic community, to be almost as eccentric and obnoxious as those of Nick Griffin and the BNP at the opposite end of the spectrum. He must be allowed to speak if he wants to.

But he must not be allowed to do so in Wootton Bassett. Our repatriation ceremonies - and I have attended perhaps to thirds of them - are absolutely apolitical. No comment is made about the war, either in favour or against. We simply turn out in all weathers, and often twice a week, to pay our respects to soldiers who have fallen in service of Queen and country. That’s why we are so opposed to the proposed Islam4UK march - it would be hijacking out quiet and simple ceremonies for political purposes.

I have always advised David Cameron, for example, against coming to repatriations, as his presence might be thought to be ‘political.’ A number of MPs have attended alongside me on various occasions, but always incognito, in the crowds alongside the Mayor and the Royal British Legion. Mr Choudary and his like can say whatever they want on the media - and perhaps the threat of the march alone has achieved that through wall-to-wall media coverage without the march itself having to take place. They can have their protests wherever they want to, and I strongly recommend Parliament Square to them. But they must not be allowed to sully the purity of the quietly respectful ceremonies of the good people of Wootton Bassett.

How ironic to have had all the fuss about the Islamic march on Monday, yet another sad repatriation on Tuesday and by strange coincidence a debate in Parliament on Wednesday on the future of RAF Lyneham. I was able to raise a raft of arguments against the new cargo plane, the A400M, without which there is even less logic in the move to Brize Norton. I’d like to see the Hercules fleet stay at Lyneham, supplemented by C17s. That solution would also save the taxpayer a great deal of money. And above all it would avoid “putting all of our eggs in one basket.” I put together a weighty dossier detailing all of this and handed it over both to the Minister and his Shadow - who after all may well be the one making the decision in the end. As with all debate, we can but see what effect it all has.

New Year 2010

Is it a sign of age, or perhaps of busy-ness, that Christmas and New Year, Remembrance Sunday, Burns Night, the Summer Solstice and one’s birthday all seem to come round quicker and quicker? Is it just nostalgia, or when I was a child, did the two weeks before Christmas really stretch out like an eternity? Even General Elections – which are separated by up to five years - seem to recur in the twinkling of an eye.

2009 – indeed a large part of the decade which we are now leaving behind with a sigh of relief- has been something of an Annus Horribilis. In a military area like this, and as we stand yet again down Wootton Bassett High Street for a Repatriation, and as we see yet another close shave terrorist attempt, and the threat of many more pending, who amongst us would not pause to ask “Is the World on 1/1/2010 really a better place than it was on 1/1/2000?” As we hear of redundancies and layoffs, of economic uncertainty, and service cuts and tax rises to come, we wonder “Has Boom and Bust really been abolished?” Are our services better? Are our streets safer or nicer places to be? Is our Global environment more secure? Is our political system still the finest in the world? Are we safer? Are we happier? Richer?” I fear that few of us would answer anything but “no” to those questions.

But was it not Confucius who said that the best view in the world was from the bottom of a ladder looking upwards? In other words, I suppose that the good news as we look forward into the New Year is that it can’t really be any worse than the last one. It’s all there to play for. And none of us –optimist or pessimist alike – should allow ourselves the indulgent luxury of predicting or worrying about the future. We can but stride out into it, doing our best, as well as hoping for the best. As King George VI so memorably said in his broadcast to the Nation at the outbreak of the Second World War: - “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!”

So of course there are things to look forward to which we hope will make our world a better place. There’s the General Election which we hope will bring about a cleansing of the electoral and political system and lead to renewed faith in politics and our Parliamentary system. Many of us hope that it will also lead to a fresh Government of a bluer hue, a renewed economy without excessive pain, rebuilding of our broken society and so many other changes. All of those things are important. But far more important than any of that is what you and I and our friends and families and communities can do in the New Year. How can we work together better? How can we make this a better place, give our friends and neighbours a better life than last year? What can we do to help those less fortunate than ourselves? These are the questions which – if answered thoughtfully and correctly - can give us all hope for the future.

So in the words of the old Scottish song which my father used to insist on singing relentlessly and tunelessly every New Years Day: “A gude New Year tae one and all; and mony may ye see. And during all the year tae come, O happy may ye be!” Or roughly translated: A Good and prosperous and Happy New Year to you all.

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