I've searched the website of leading Lincs Tory Mark Horn for his comments attacking the newly selected Tory candidate as "out of touch with ordinary folk" as reported in the Bourne Local.
Found some personal attacks on me, but strangely, I can't find his attack on Nicholas Boles who won selection last night to fight Stamford and Grantham at the next election for the Tories.
Surely, Mark hasn't been gagged...?
His website is titled:
Let Your Voice be Heard
Ironic. Or what?
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2 comments:
Mark has either gagged himself or been gagged.
His post dated 30th September 2007 titled "A-List political disconnect" has been taken down.
Not to worry. I remember it well.
His core complaint was that all three local Tory hopefuls had been bounced off the shortlist by Tory HQ.
One of those hopefuls was Mark.
You can read more about this post of Mark's on Rex Needle's internet discussion forum.
The post is still available on Google's cache. It reads:
Selecting an A-List Parliamentary Candidate - Political Disconnect
September 30, 2007
It has been difficult to pay much attention to politics while the Rugby World Cup is on, (I will not mention the England-South Africa match ….. but, ha-ha…….. bugger Tebbit’s cricket test…).
As such, I have largly ignored the Blog, however, an e-mail from a prospective candidate seeking to meet, alerted me to the fact that we now have four aspirants to replace Quentin Davies MP as the Conservative nominee at the next election - Stephen Barclay, Nicholas Boles, Vicky Ford and James Brokenshire MP.
An Open Primary will be held at the Meres Leisure Center, Grantham on Friday 5th October to select one.
The “Open Primary” is a new innovation in selecting Conservative candidates - the objective is to bring politics to the people and generate local enthusiasm.
I very doubt, however, if the candidate selected will win with more than 100 votes being cast in total - the general response to the process has been one big yawn.
The final four are all “A-Listers” - the highly divisive preferred list of candidates put forward by David Cameron in order to try and create a Conservative Party more to his liking, and more in his image - wealthy, metropolitan, priviliged, bright young things …..totally out of touch with ordinary folk.
The A-list, in the face of bitter opposition, was supposed to have been dropped, but it still exists as a “prefered candidate list”. [Always read the small print when reading a CCHQ press release - the bastards lie through their teeth].
None of these “A-Listers” have any local connections - they are simply careerists looking for a safe seat.
Nothing wrong with that I suppose - if you regard Westminster as simply an opportunity to get your snout in the trough.
I am also sure they are all perfectly acceptable, nice respectable folk.
They will not, however, heal the growing political disconnect between politicians and the electorate.
I am not arguing that politicians should slavishly do what the biggest mob in their electorate shout loudest for - as most folk know, I am blunt and tell the truth, and do not pander to anyone.
What I am arguing for is that they should be sufficiently part of their local community to know what are the real issues.
They need to know the difference between right and wrong, and they need to know when they need to listen to their local community, and when they need to say no.
Politicians should be Leaders - able to offer independent judgement, capable of getting respect even when delivering a message that no one wants to hear.
How can someone who owes their position as an MP to Cameron’s “A-List” ever give any loyalty to the people of the Granthan & Stamford constituency?
We are just a means to an end.
By going on the A-list, or the “preferred list”, they stated clearly for all to hear that their loyalty is to the disconnected world of Westminster - to its peculiar morality, its double-speak and its delussions.
Three local candidates, (myself among them), all actively involved in SKDC and LCC, were swiftly ruled out of the process by the shenanigan of CCHQ who withdrew at the last moment the opportunity to go before a Parliamentary Assessment Board (PAB).
So much for Cameron’s “localism”.
Two other local candidates who were already on the approved list, Simon Chapman and Christine Talbot, for some strange reason did not make it through to the final four.
My preference would have been for Christine - she has done stirling work as an Executive member of Lincolnshire County Council in dealing with Education, Adult Social care and Learning Disabilities over many years. These are all important issues that affect real people.
The final list was selected by a committee of 15.
The 480 ordinary members of the local party had no role in selecting that committee - they were simply appointed by the Executive as advised by the local agent and CCHQ.
Cameron talks about “localism”, he says we should “trust the people” - why then the constant gerrymandering of the Party’s constitution and persistant fixing of the selection process?
What is wrong with a simple “one member, one vote” system done in the open with no attempt to pre-determine the outcome?
The arrogance of the Westminster elite is then to assume that the electorate will simply vote like sheep for which ever goat they pin a blue rosette on.
1 Comment »
Accepting what you say Mark about the local candidates being carved out of the process, do you think there are any differences between the four shortlisted?
Who will you vote for and why?
Comment by Brynley — September 30, 2007 @ 6:32 pm
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