News reached me late last night that local travel agent Neil Basnett plans to stand as an independent candidate in Stratford at the forthcoming general election.
I attended his public meeting last week along with approximately 40 others , many of which urged him not to stand (hardly giving him a larger local mandate to represent local conservatives than Nadhim Zahawi who was selected by a vote of nearly 200 people). What was interesting was that he refused to be drawn on policy with the exception of his views on Afghanistan (that troops should be brought home immedieately leaving a potential security vacuum in the region) and that he was pro the building of more affordable housing in Stratford.
Many of his issues, and those of his supporters are those dealt with at a local council level, the Bancroft gardens, parking in the town etc. These are obviously important issues to residents of the town (who make up less than a third of the constituency electorate) but what about flooding in Shipston or the state of the economy which affects the whole constituency, not just empty shops in the town. Does Mr Basnett think the deficit should be cut quickly or slowly, does he even know the difference between debt and deficit?
The other worrying thing that came from both him and his supporters was that they felt that a damaging hung parliament was inevitable and would actually be a benificial thing for Stratford if he was our MP. Never mind that interest rates would rise, that the government credit rating would be cut from triple A increasing the cost of borrowing, Neil Basnett's independent vote would be courted by all parties, stroking his ego suitably.
So lets compare the options. On one hand you have Nadhim Zahawi, a strong Conservative who decided to support his country by registering with the Conservative party to become a candidate before a cushy local seat became available. Someone who since being selected has made his home in the centre of the town. A businessman who built a business from 2 men in a shed to a multinational corporation that floated on the stock exchange for over £200 million pounds. He is a Conservative candidate, whose election would help return a Conservative government locally, with strong views on the economy, defence, Europe and immigration.
On the other hand you have Neil Basnett. A man who admits he had no interest in becoming a politician until his local seat became available and he disagreed with who the local party selected as candidate. A local travel agent running one travel agency in one town, for whom Stratford is also an adopted home. A man who has no policy except for Afghanistan hardly a local issue, but that admits that his views on immigration are the same as Nadhim Zahawi and that has publicly stated that Stratford needs to have more houses built. An independent candidate whose election would help to return a hung parliament rather than the new Conservative government this country needs.
Who would you choose?
Showing posts with label Nadhim Zahawi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nadhim Zahawi. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The non-local candidate
The Conservative association quickly moved to select a new candidate to replace him, a short-list of six was selected which included John Maples and Maureen Hicks, the local candidate, who although she had previously been MP for Wolverhampton East was local and had been a district councillor in Straford for 5 years from 1979 to 1984.
On the night of the selection John Maples, an outsider from London (although a party insider and previous MP who had lost his seat in ’92) was selected as the MP and went on to be the consituency MP for the next 13 years.
Fast forward 15 years from then and we see the Conservative Association again selecting a replacement candidate for what has been a safe conservative seat for decades if not nearly a century. John Maples had announced his retirement so close to a general election that by-election rules were in force meaning that a short-list of six candidates would be given to the association to choose from.
At the selection 4 female outsiders and one male outsider, a Londoner who also happened to be an Iraqi Kurd whose family claimed asylum in the UK over 30 years ago, were up for selection. They stood alongside a local candidate, Phillip Seccombe, a long terms resident of the Constituency, local estate agent and chairman of the Conservative Association, a total shoe-in as far as the residents of Stratford were concerned.
On the night though the association overwhelmingly choose the outsider, Nadhim Zahawi, co-found of international polling organisaiton YouGov and a man who began his opening remarks with the line “With a name like Zahawi I can hardly claim that my ancestors have lived in Stratford for generations”
Both in December of 1995 and February of 2010 the Association choose the outsider, the candidate that had no local links but that they felt would be best placed to represent them.
How did the residents of the consituency, the strongly Conservative voting population of Stratford take this?
In 2010 the Stratford Herald’s letter pages have been full of correspondents bemoaning the fact that Nadhim Zahawi is not a local candidate, in the 4 weeks since his selection the letters page has contained little but letters about him, mainly suggesting that his non-local status excludes him from representing the electorate. In total there have been 13 letters questioning his suitability as MP as well as the promise that a local “independent conservative” will run against him given enough support.
A bit of time spent sat at Stratford Library’s microfiche machine looking through back issues of the Herald shows that the situation was very different in 1995. Following John Maples selection there were just 2 letters questioning his suitability due to his non-local status, other letters were either in support of him or on a different subject altogether.
So what has changed so much in Stratford in the last 13 years that to be non-local is such a crime. John Maples, despite his role as Deputy Oarty Chairman, has been seen as an excellent constituency MP so it can’t be that residents feel they have been burned by their past choices.
Is it instead that Stratford’s issues are so unique and complicated that an outsider will never be able to understand them, perhaps but it's issues of transport, planning issues despite housing shortages, and empty shops are hardly unique.
Or has non-local become a code-word for something else? Has Nadhim Zahawi’s selection revealed a darker underbelly to the pretty market town of Shakespeare’s birth?
Friday, March 12, 2010
Immigration, are you thinking what I’m thinking
In recent week’s the Conservative Party have begun swinging further and further right, refining and strengthening their anti immigration messages. It began with a change in language for our pledge to cut immigration from “We will cut net immigration by 75%” to “We would cut net immigration from the current threshold of hundreds of thousands a year to tens of thousands”.
This was an important step towards introducing a cap, in theory that language provides a nominal cap of 99,999 immigrants per year. In reality it gives space for it to be even below that.
Then last night came the news that the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, thinks that it should be a priority that everyone coming into the country can speak English. Speaking in response to Home Office figures that showed an expenditure in the past 6 years of £68 million on translation services he said:
“This all really has to change. It’s important that people who come to the UK should be able to speak English so that they can play a proper part in our life and culture. Of course there will be times when we give sanctuary to refugees who can’t speak English but it really should be a priority that everyone coming into the country can speak English.”
This is probably some of the strongest language yet on immigration from a senior member of the party, and seems to show, if not a shift in behind the scenes policy, a move to bring it to the forefront.
Before I go on, I should hang out my colours and say that just as I’m not a staunch eurosceptic, neither am I totally against immigration. Like Byrne Tofferings I believe immigration has an important economic benefit to the country, plus much of the immigration that most people have rallied against in recent years is from Europe, upon which we really have little control.
Public perception of immigration though is a very different thing. Poll after poll shows that after the state of the economy, and regardless of party affiliations, immigration is their biggest issue, however to date the Conservative party have been afraid to go near it.
In 2005, immigration was front and centre of what was effectively a failed campaign. The slogan “Are you thinking what we’re thinking” was supposed to apply to all of the manifesto issues but was so closely linked to immigration that it was easily jumped on as racist and even more easily attacked by the left. Was it actually meant to appeal to the UKIP and BNP voter? I doubt it, I suspect it was one of those seemed like a good idea at the time things which when plastered across billboards all over the country suddenly looked very different.
So, will shining a light on the immigration debate move the polls apart again after their seemingly inexplicable and unstoppable coming together? Maybe. Immigration is certainly an issue that mobilises the base, one of the things that won the Stratford Conservative Association over to Nadhim Zahawi was that despite being an immigrant and refugee himself, he has a very strong position on immigration (a position that includes the need for a cap and that all immigrants should speak English, so recent announcements now bring him in line with the party position).
Does it move a floating voter though? Who really knows, the polls would say yes, but then the polls say a lot of things. I titled this piece “are you thinking what I’m thinking?”, maybe though it should have been “are you thinking what they’re thinking?” The answer to that would be no. In this election we’re seeing a far greater divergence of positions and issues than ever before, campaigns are being fought on local issues in local areas, immigration will hit the button of voters in some areas, but in others it will be the economy, defence policy, schools, or healthcare.
So far the Conservative Party have been pilloried for not having a simple and clear set of three or four policies that relate what they stand for on a national level. What they have instead is a toolbox of ideas, policies and positions that local candidates can choose from to develop their own campaign on their own local issues. It’s a uniquely Conservative approach, the message isn’t being developed or pushed from the centre but devolved to the local level, where the local candidate knows best what is needed, not some faceless central office staff member.
Unlike in 2005, the party knows that you’re not thinking what they’re thinking, it’s understanding it’s own base principles and recognising that it’s their local candidates that are thinking what the voters are thinking, not them.
This was an important step towards introducing a cap, in theory that language provides a nominal cap of 99,999 immigrants per year. In reality it gives space for it to be even below that.
Then last night came the news that the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, thinks that it should be a priority that everyone coming into the country can speak English. Speaking in response to Home Office figures that showed an expenditure in the past 6 years of £68 million on translation services he said:
“This all really has to change. It’s important that people who come to the UK should be able to speak English so that they can play a proper part in our life and culture. Of course there will be times when we give sanctuary to refugees who can’t speak English but it really should be a priority that everyone coming into the country can speak English.”
This is probably some of the strongest language yet on immigration from a senior member of the party, and seems to show, if not a shift in behind the scenes policy, a move to bring it to the forefront.
Before I go on, I should hang out my colours and say that just as I’m not a staunch eurosceptic, neither am I totally against immigration. Like Byrne Tofferings I believe immigration has an important economic benefit to the country, plus much of the immigration that most people have rallied against in recent years is from Europe, upon which we really have little control.
Public perception of immigration though is a very different thing. Poll after poll shows that after the state of the economy, and regardless of party affiliations, immigration is their biggest issue, however to date the Conservative party have been afraid to go near it.
In 2005, immigration was front and centre of what was effectively a failed campaign. The slogan “Are you thinking what we’re thinking” was supposed to apply to all of the manifesto issues but was so closely linked to immigration that it was easily jumped on as racist and even more easily attacked by the left. Was it actually meant to appeal to the UKIP and BNP voter? I doubt it, I suspect it was one of those seemed like a good idea at the time things which when plastered across billboards all over the country suddenly looked very different.
So, will shining a light on the immigration debate move the polls apart again after their seemingly inexplicable and unstoppable coming together? Maybe. Immigration is certainly an issue that mobilises the base, one of the things that won the Stratford Conservative Association over to Nadhim Zahawi was that despite being an immigrant and refugee himself, he has a very strong position on immigration (a position that includes the need for a cap and that all immigrants should speak English, so recent announcements now bring him in line with the party position).
Does it move a floating voter though? Who really knows, the polls would say yes, but then the polls say a lot of things. I titled this piece “are you thinking what I’m thinking?”, maybe though it should have been “are you thinking what they’re thinking?” The answer to that would be no. In this election we’re seeing a far greater divergence of positions and issues than ever before, campaigns are being fought on local issues in local areas, immigration will hit the button of voters in some areas, but in others it will be the economy, defence policy, schools, or healthcare.
So far the Conservative Party have been pilloried for not having a simple and clear set of three or four policies that relate what they stand for on a national level. What they have instead is a toolbox of ideas, policies and positions that local candidates can choose from to develop their own campaign on their own local issues. It’s a uniquely Conservative approach, the message isn’t being developed or pushed from the centre but devolved to the local level, where the local candidate knows best what is needed, not some faceless central office staff member.
Unlike in 2005, the party knows that you’re not thinking what they’re thinking, it’s understanding it’s own base principles and recognising that it’s their local candidates that are thinking what the voters are thinking, not them.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
David Cameron's Speech - Guest post by Nadhim Zahawi
David Cameron delivered big time today. I have spent the weekend at Spring Conference in Brighton, and was even on stage this morning, where I shared with the conference the experience of being selected in Stratford on Avon and how wonderfully warm the people of Stratford have been to me over the past three weeks. I explained that I was learning fast about the issues that concern people and that the great team that John Maples had built is now working hard, with me, to make sure we get our message across and win strongly come the Election.The reason I say David delivered is simple. He articulated precisely why it is time for change and why there will be a clear choice at the Election. The choice is between five more miserable years of Gordon Brown and his failed policies and a new energetic, honest and transparent Government lead by David.
David Cameron's analogy of Gordon being like a man whose credit card was maxed out, and instead of dealing with his crippling indebtedness, decides to just get a new credit card was spot on.
A Government lead by David Cameron would instead be ready to take the tough decisions now and start to balance the books immediately. It would create an enterprise economy that will result in real jobs being created and making Britain prosperous again.
He spoke about his values and his commitment to the NHS and his commitment to restoring the link between pensions and wages for pensioners, something that I know the pensioners in Stratford on Avon will be very happy to hear.
David repeated his commitment to capping immigration and to making sure that people who can work will and should work.
He is ready to govern and isn't frightened to tell the nation that he will have to be a salesman on behalf of UK plc. This struck a real chord with me, being a businessman by background, I am delighted to hear him say that when he will travel as Prime Minister his plane will not be packed with journalists, but with businessmen and women who will be selling British goods and services to the rest of the world.
I am convinced that if we keep delivering this message on the door step, if we repeat it confidently again and again then we will succeed. We will succeed in reminding people that there is a real choice - five more years of desperate Gordon or a Conservative government which is ready to take the tough decisions and ready to make our Country great again.
The polls have tightened, but the people know the difference between a genuine committed leader who is telling them the truth, and a desperate man attempting to hang on to power by borrowing more, more and more.
I can't wait for the live debates, because judging by today's performance David Cameron will wipe the floor with Gordon.
Nadhim Zahawi is the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency of Stratford-on-Avon. You can learn more about him and his campaign to become the next MP for Stratford-on-Avon at his website (www.zahawi.com)
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