Nigel Adams drove into Selby this morning in his Quattro – surely the must-have car this spring which he coincidentally owned – to launch his Conservative election campaign supported by an army of eager activists ready for action.
With blue balloons adding a festive touch and a cheering roar from his supporters, Nigel announced his delight at the election call and declared his determination to continue campaigning hard for constituents in Selby and Ainsty, a new seat in Yorkshire following boundary changes. Several well wishers passing by stopped to offer their support, including his former French teacher. The lunching ladies in the local cafe pledged their support too.
“You’re representing the right colour,” they told him, and “yes, we do need change,” they nodded in agreement.
It’s just as well that Nigel is there working for them as there was not a squeak from his Labour or Lib Dem opponents. A local journalist told me she had heard nothing about Labour’s plans to launch the election campaign, while the reporter seriously thought that the Lib Dem candidate was away on holiday after reading an automated response from his email which said he was away for a few days, and she later discovered he was at work, like it was just any other normal working day, regardless of being a parliamentary candidate contesting a general election!
There was a terrific sense of optimism in Selby, and the buoyant mood continued when Baroness Warsi arrived in the afternoon; she is Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and Social Action, and talked about how crucial it was to inject new life into local manufacturing industries. I forgot to tell her how much I always admired her on the panel at BBC Question Time. I asked her to pass on my best wishes to Janice Small who we all agreed was doing a stupendous job in Batley and Spen, knowing she might see her later that evening in Leeds with other Yorkshire parliamentary candidates.
“Pace yourself,” I advised Nigel, knowing how exhausting the next few adrenalin-fuelled weeks will be. That’s going to be the hardest part for all our candidates as they want to go out and give it their best shot.
What fun it’s going to be too, with lots of unexpected surprises and gaffes thrown in as well, no doubt.
*Here is a link to a video I made about the launch.
What a shocking and truly condescending comment about the Lib Dem candidate working today. Your comment ” he was at work, like it was just any other normal working day, regardless of being a parliamentary candidate contesting a general election!”, is truly petty and small minded.
So you and your friends in the Tory party have the money to take time off, bully for you. Some of us have to work for a living and some of us cannot simply drop everything because we work in caring professions or jobs which have a degree of responsibility to local people.
I read your blog because although you are political, you avoid this sort of rubbish petty political point scoring. If this is going to be the level of your blogging in the election I won’t bother again !
Nich, surely a parliamentary candidate should be making his presence felt on the day an election is called; it’s a very special day and one we have been waiting for so long. The local media really thought the Lib Dem candidate was on holiday, and I believe he was campaigning in David Davis’ constituency over the weekend if you read his twitter. It seems I struck a raw nerve here.
No, not a raw nerve, but you come across as extremely condescending and arrogant. I will repeat the point I made, some people do real jobs in the real world. We work in caring professions where taking time off impacts on other people and can cause real problems.
Lucky, lucky you that you seemingly don’t have that responsibility. But it says much for the Tories that you acn be so patronising to someone who, from his website, appears to work for local government, serving the people and local taxpayers.
It is astonishing that you are unable to descern the difference between weekends and working days.
Nich, Let’s compare what happened in Selby and happened in Cambridge yesterday. Our Conservative candidate in Cambridge, Nick Hillman, was out in the city with Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, they are pictured together in the Cambridge News and he was a very visible presence. Conservatives came third there in the last general election, but Nick is fighting tooth and nail, he does not regard a Lib Dem win there as a foregone conclusion. Politics should involve passion, and I’m proud that Nick is giving it his best and not hiding under a stone. You can read about the Cambridge election launch here:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Seven-Cambridgeshire-parliamentary-seats-are-dead-certs.htm
Knowing Selby very well I find it hard to believe that a Tory Lord ( who last year claimed over £50,000 in ” expenses ” and a rather rotund Tory PPC are going to make much of impression on the natives.
You need to remember that this was an area of coal and miners and they havent forgotten or forgiven the closure of the mines by that nutter Heseltine.
I also think you make far too much of the importance of yesterday .
It was only the first day of the next boring us all too death 4 weeks and by 10pm I turned off the tele as Id already got sick to the back teeth with hearing about it.
The LD was possibly sensible in waiting to come out when all the initial rubbish is over .
In a weeks time anything done today will be forgotten , its the last week that counts .
Actually I reckon people have already made up their minds , they did so months ago during the expenses scandal , whoops Baroness Warsi ( wasnt there also that business about her new husbands first wife , bet the good Yorkshire women folk of Selby know all about that story)
Again Ellie, you miss the point.
Some people cannot take tim eoff just like that because it affects other peoples jobs and lives.
You further make your point by re-iterating the story about the Cambridge candidate, but how about addressing my point ?
Disaffected, you say you know Selby well but you so obviously don’t. You inaccurately state that Selby is “an area of coal and miners and they havent forgotten or forgiven the closure of the mines”. Coal mining in Selby only had a 24 year history. If you knew anything about Selby, you would know that the Selby pits did not employ any significant number of Selby people but workers were drafted in from mines from other parts of Yorkshire. Most did not live in Selby and travelled into work and when the mines shut, there was wery little settling of miners in Selby constituency.It does help to have a basic grasp of the facts before posting on a particular issue (incidentally, you are probably not aware of this but, the Selby pits opened under the Tories and closed under Labour in 2004)
If theres one thing I cant stand its a clever Dick , so Selebian get your facts right.
In 1984 there were 170 mines in this country by 2004 only 12 remained .
The Selby Complex consisted of 3 mines one of which , Wistow, was the highest producer of coal ever.
When they closed the local MP stated ” this will cause problems across Yorkshire and the chairman of the Selby Chamber of Commerce begged for gov help.
It was the Tory gov who started the closers and Heseltine was the chap who put it all into freefall.
Scargill was a fool but the closure of mines full of coal, in many cases close to the surface and easy to work, was a disaster and never thought through.
Look at where we are now scratching around for energy reserves ( those damned wind farms )having to buy all that cheap useless muck from Eastern Europe whilst under our very feet we have reserves of high quality anthracite , enough to last generations. On writing this I remember why born and bred in Yorkshire ( very close to Selby ) and with a shop steward father I was a Labour supporter .The miners were good hard working men who were simply left to be put on the slag heap by the Tories.
But remember disaffected, the Tories will be the first to make comments about people working in the public services who have responsible jobs which they cannot take time off from at the drop of a hat.
The fact is that you don’t really matter if you aren’t loaded or the son of a Tory MEP !
disaffected, my facts are right, and your post fails to contradict any of them. If producing factual evidence means being a clever dick, then so be it. If you knew anything about politics in Selby, you would know that at the last election, many ex miners campaigned for the conservative candidate.
Thought you said there were no miners in living in Selby so who were the lot supposedly campaigning , were they bused in by Tory HQ ?
Were they REAL ex miners or actors !
Nich – I’ll have a go at addressing your point. I accept that the LD candidate may not have been able to take that particular day off – but that’s not the point. A local journalist emailed him for a comment about the launch of his campaign and got an auto-response saying he was ‘away for a few days’. That’s poor campaigning and gives the impression of indifference. I’ve been a candidate myself and you simply can’t afford to put up the ‘gone fishing’ sign at any time and certainly not once the election has been called. So, stop huffing and puffing and admit that your candidate made a mistake in allowing that to happen.
Chris, Thank you!! You are spot on. I would like to hear Nich’s response to your comment. If Nich was a parliamentary candidate, I wonder if he would lie low on the day a general election was called.
Nich, have you read about this Lib Dem candidate who did go away on holiday:
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/goldlist/2010/04/wendy-morton-gets-a-boost-in-tynemouth-as-her-lib-dem-opponent-goes-on-holiday.html