Last day of campaigning

After three and a half years as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Keighley and Ilkley, we are now down to the final few hours of the General Election campaign.

And, like David Cameron, I do not intend to waste a single second in my quest to bring positive change to the lives of local residents across this wonderful constituency.

Unlike several senior Labour politicians I have heard in recent days who think they have a divine right to people's votes, I believe I have to continue to work hard to earn the support of the electorate.

But equally, I believe the Conservatives have the correct policies to deal with the many problems faced by our country after 13 years of Labour Government.

For example, the Conservatives will take action to get our economy moving and halt Gordon Brown’s planned National Insurance increase to leave seven out of ten workers £150 a year better off than under Labour.

We will increase spending on health every year, while cutting waste in the NHS, so that more goes to nurses and doctors on the frontline, and make sure patients get access to the cancer drugs they need.

Conservatives will not cut the state pension, will protect Disability Living Allowance for over 65s and Attendance Allowance for pensioners and keep the winter fuel allowance, free bus passes and free TV licences.

We will keep child tax credits and protect them for those families on modest incomes.

A Conservative Government will fight back against crime, cut paperwork to get police officers on the street, and make sure criminals serve the sentence given to them in court.

And we will introduce an annual limit on non-EU immigration, tougher tests for marriage and student visas, and create a national border police force.

One of the most enduring - not to mention disappointing - aspects of this General Election campaign has been the need to correct Labour's endless stream of lies about what the Conservatives will do should we have the opportunity to form the next Government of this country.

But we have been straight throughout and hopefully demonstrated that by voting Conservative tomorrow, you will be voting for positive change.

If you live in Keighley and Ilkley, I hope you will support me at the ballot box.

And if elected, I promise not to let you down.

William Hague in Ilkley

I had the great privilege of welcoming Shadow Foreign Secretary and former Conservative Leader William Hague to Ilkley earlier today where, unsurprisingly, he was greeted like the returning proud Yorkshireman he obviously is.

William has been to support my campaign in Keighley and Ilkley on numerous occasions since I was selected as the local Conservative candidate in 2006. And, each time, his presence has given everyone involved - myself included - a huge boost. This morning was no exception.

As well as meeting local residents, shoppers and local business people along The Grove, he also took the opportunity to address the hundred plus crowd which had gathered to see him and to catch a word.

He was very happy to take questions across the full range of policy areas including Afghanistan, pensions and the collapse of Equitable Life.

And from where I was standing (i.e. right beside him), William certainly seemed to satisfy every query raised on how a future Conservative Government would tackle each of these most important issues.

After almost an hour in Ilkley, he headed off to Leeds for a scheduled interview with the Yorkshire Post and a series of voter-centred engagements across the city.

As an aside, you may be aware that William recently joined Twitter and has already attracted almost 7,000 followers including former Republican Presidential candidate John McCain.

Here is how he Tweeted about this morning's visit:

"Good start to the day's campaigning in Keighley and Ilkley. On the way into Leeds and just saw some sheep trying to eat Lib Dem posters."

A marathon sprint

A General Election campaign is a marathon and, waking up this morning, it felt like I had run one.

The truth is a little less heroic although running was, nonetheless, the cause of my suffering.

Because yesterday I had the privilege, for the second successive year, of climbing into the famous Cliff The Castle suit to take part in the 2010 Mascot Gold Cup at Wetherby Racecourse.

And running with me was the Conservative Keighley West Local Election Candidate Chris Herd, as Sir Ian "Beefy" Botham. As a local butcher, Chris was certainly the right man for that particular role.

In the end, neither Chris nor I were in any danger of "troubling the scorers" with regard to our finishing positions.

But our collective endeavours did manage to raise almost £400 for Manorlands Hospice in Oxenhope, with some money still to come in.

Thanks to everyone who put their hands in their pockets to support this most special of local causes.

Lies, lies and more Labour lies

One of the most memorable moments of Thursday's second Prime Ministerial Debate, which like most people I thought David Cameron won comfortably, was when the Conservative Leader challenged Gordon Brown over Labour's lie-filled election leaflets.

Examples of these have, shamefully, been distributed in Keighley and Ilkley including one which falsely claims that a Conservative Government would put pensioners' benefits at risk.

As I have made clear every single day of this campaign but will happily do so again, the Conservatives will not cut the state pension but instead link it to earnings so that it goes up.

We will also will protect Disability Living Allowance for over 65s and Attendance Allowance for pensioners, keep the winter fuel allowance, keep free bus passes and keep free TV licences.

However, back to Labour's lies.

Yesterday, Conservative Campaign HQ produced an incredible 23 examples of Labour's scaremongering leaflets peddling lies about Conservative Party policies.

Amongst the large number of Labour candidates putting these out across their respective constituencies are no less than five Labour Minsters plus Gordon Brown’s own Parliamentary aide.

On Thursday night, Gordon Brown denied giving the go ahead for these leaflets.

But with his own ministers using them in their local campaigns, his comments have been shown up to be complete and utter rubbish.

So are these leaflets just the latest sign of Labour's increasing desperation to hold on to power? I think the answer to that question is obvious.

But no doubt local voters, in Keighley and Ilkley as elsewhere in the country, will have their own view.

Thankfully, they will also have the chance to express it on 6th May.

Campaigning in the Ilkley sun

Exactly two weeks until polling day now and yesterday, like most days of the campaign so far, it was nice to get out and about in Ilkley.

Yesterday afternoon I was very pleased to be joined, not only a number of local activists including well-known Ilkley Conservative Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, but also by several members of the national Conservative Party board.

As ever, the response on the doorstep from Ilkley residents was warm.

It was then on to Christchurch in the centre of town for the latest in a series of hustings across the constituency.

Very well organised by Churches Together in Ilkley, it was informative, lively and an excellent example of democracy in action - and quite right too.

Michael Gove in Keighley

I was delighted to welcome Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove to Keighley and Ilkley earlier today for a tour around the hugely impressive Keighley Campus of Leeds City College, due to open in September.

We preceded the visit with a short walkabout in Keighley town centre, accompanied by around 20 members of my campaign team.

Then it was on to the main event at the new £35 million campus where, in 2008, I joined the principal in formally launching the construction phase of the site.

It is a project very close to my heart, and not only because I am a former student of what used to be Keighley College.

But also because without the joint efforts of Conservative-led Bradford Council and the College to work together to locate, assemble and prepare the new 3.5 acre site adjacent to the town’s railway station, the dream could never have become reality.

The result is a modern, state of the art facility incorporating specialist vocational and general accommodation.

Despite the well-documented difficulties with air travel at the present time, we were able to buck the trend by boarding a plane – a "Keighley Airways" plane.

OK, in truth, it was just a mock-up, yet a very impressive mock-up which will shortly be utilised as a top-notch training facility for in-flight catering and attendance training.

As well as witnessing a remote-controlled robot do its stuff in what will be the hi-tech STAR Centre designed to encourage and stimulate interest in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), Michael welcomed the opportunity to meet and chat with members of staff and students.

And, if you’re in the mood for a chat, there’s generally no better company than hairdressers.

Before leaving, Michael expressed a willingness to return to the campus in September when it is fully operational.

By then I hope he will be playing a key role in a new Conservative Government.

Conservative Manifesto 2010

The Conservative Party today launched our General Election manifesto, imaginatively entitled An Invitation to Join the Government of Britain.

And the clue is in the title.

As David Cameron said this morning, for far too long politicians have behaved in a way which suggests that they and only they have the answers to the problems faced by this country. And clearly we don't.

The manifesto is therefore asking the country not just to vote for Conservative candidates on May 6th, it is asking people to become involved in delivering positive change on behalf of us all should a Conservative Government be formed on May 7th.

Have a look for yourself here.

Promoting Conservative plans to build a world class NHS

As my incredible team and I prepare for the first full week of the formal General Election campaign starting tomorrow, I would like to say a huge thanks to them and, most importantly, to the many residents of Keighley and Ilkley who have already indicated their support for our efforts come polling day on Thursday 6th May.

Yesterday marked a very special day on the campaign trail as we went out and about in Keighley and Ilkley town centres and beyond to talk to local people about what a Conservative Government would do to improve the NHS.

These plans include:

• increasing spending on the NHS every year over and above inflation
• ensuring the NHS focuses on the treatment of patients, not box-ticking
• giving patients more choice
• stopping the spread of hospital infections
• ending the scandal of mixed-sex wards
• increasing the number of single rooms in NHS wards
• making sure cancer patients get the drugs they need
• restoring access to an NHS dentist to a million people
• free dental checks for all school children and
• providing 4,200 more health visitors across the country

Under David Cameron, the Conservatives have become the Party of the NHS and I was delighted at the excellent and warm response our plans received from local residents.

The Shadow Home Secretary comes to town

Day two of the General Election campaign proper and, after an excellent start yesterday, we had another huge lift at lunchtime today with the arrival of Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling.

Following David Cameron's visit to Yorkshire last night, Chris was spending the day here including a stop off at the Worth Valley Police and Community Contact Point in Haworth.

And it was excellent to have him here in Keighley and Ilkley so he could see for himself what can be achieved when the community comes together to combat criminal activity.

But the efforts of local volunteers and partners should not take away from the fact that, over the last 13 years of Labour Government, police officers have been forced to spend 50 per cent more time doing paperwork than out on patrol.

Thankfully, a Conservative Government will ensure that the police are allowed to get away from their desks and back out on our streets tackling crime.

At last

After almost three years of dithering, indecision and trying to avoid the inevitable, this morning Gordon Brown was finally forced to call the General Election and to give the people of Keighley and Ilkley the chance to vote for change.

I have already been out and about in Keighley, in Silsden and in Ilkley handing out leaflets, hearing local concerns and shaking lots of hands.

But as someone who grew up in the constituency, who went to school here, who was educated here, who still works here and who has been the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate here since 2006, I believe I know what most local residents want.

And that is change.

There is a lot of hard work ahead between now and the close of polls at 10pm on Thursday 6 May.

But, with the support of my excellent campaign team, I cannot wait to get on with the job.

On reflection...

There will no doubt be lots of comment on the news tonight and in tomorrow’s papers about Tony Blair’s re-emergence on the campaign trail.

But so far, one quote from former Labour Minister Peter Kilfoyle - who ran Tony Blair’s Labour leadership campaign in 1994 - sticks out:

"I think he epitomises all that people see as wrong about New Labour. I do know that he's a great turn-off to a great deal of people."

Indeed, and yet he’s still more popular in polls than the current Prime Minister whose inspirational leadership has led Mr Kilfoyle to admit that he was “never a fan or supporter of Brown” and to describe the current Cabinet as “the least politically able” of his lifetime.

Mr Kilfoyle is due to stand down as a Labour MP once the General Election is called.

I hope, after May 6th, both he and Gordon Brown have very long and happy retirements.

Gordon Brown: In office, but not in power

Over the weekend, Alistair Darling confirmed he had threatened to resign from the Labour Government if Gordon Brown moved him from the Treasury in the last Cabinet reshuffle.

And, on the back of these comments, the Prime Minister was forced to offer a public assurance that the Chancellor would remain in post if Labour manages to cling to power after the General Election.

Back in 1993, former Tory Chancellor Norman Lamont famously accused the then Prime Minister John Major of being “in office, not in power.”

But at least Mr Major had the personal courage and political strength to sack his next door neighbour first, thus prompting Mr Lamont’s immortal and bitter line.

A cynical Budget from a cynical Labour Government

Today’s Budget – delivered by Alistair Darling but with Gordon Brown’s finger prints all over it – was a cobbled-together mess of cheap political gimmicks, stolen Conservative ideas and fanciful statements.

Meanwhile, our country remains saddled with a £167 billion budget deficit this year with no hint of a plan from this clapped out Labour Government for how to deal with it.

Thank goodness the General Election is now only a few weeks away – and counting…

It’s official - Brown DID mislead to Iraq inquiry

Yesterday finally Gordon Brown admitted he had misled when he told the Chilcot inquiry that defence spending had increased every year under Labour.

But, true to form, his “clarification” contained yet another untruth.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, Gordon Brown said that defence spending had fallen "in real terms" in "one or two years".

But the truth is that, under his watch, defence spending fell in real terms in FOUR years including during the height of the Iraq War. This has been confirmed by the House of Commons Library.

Sadly, nothing should surprise us about Gordon Brown any more – and yet it should.

Our country and, in particular, our servicemen and women deserve so much better.

Labour's union paymasters

On the day that super-union Unite moved a day closer to disrupting the travel plans of thousands of British Airways customers this coming weekend, it was timely of Conservative Chairman Eric Pickles and Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove to publish a document outlining just how dependent the Labour Party’s General Election campaign is on Britain’s biggest union.

The dossier sets out in detail the fact that, in the three years since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, Unite has spent more than £11 million of its members’ money on buying influence within the Labour Party.

This extends from placing a key union operative inside 10 Downing Street, to taking effective control of many cash-strapped constituency Labour parties and installing Unite activists and officials as Parliamentary candidates.

At the head of Unite’s operations is its Political Director Charlie Whelan best known for being sacked as Gordon Brown’s poisonous spin doctor when the new Prime Minister was in the Treasury.

Whelan’s influence over the now Prime Minister is, once again, all-enveloping and certainly not in the best interests of this country.

Have a look at the document published earlier if you need any further convincing:

http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2010/03/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/newmilitanttendency.ashx

And the award for best actor goes to…not Gordon Brown

I do wish Gordon Brown would stop insulting our intelligence.

After Alistair Darling’s complaints about the "forces of hell" – in the form of the Prime Minister’s aides - being unleashed on him after he warned the recession would be worse than feared in 2008, yesterday we were treated to two counter-lies from Gordon Brown.

First, Mr Brown went on breakfast television to deny any responsibility or knowledge of the briefings against his Chancellor.

And then at Prime Minister’s Questions, he made a point of snuggling up to Darling in a farcical attempt to pretend they were best friends.

As David Cameron aptly put it in the House of Commons chamber, “any closer and they will start kissing.” Quite.

At the risk of becoming desperately repetitive, I do wish Gordon Brown would finally find some courage and call the election. Please?!

Shallow attempts at Durham-ing up support

I see Gordon Brown’s and his Labour party pals are in Durham on the latest leg of their General Election campaign tour of Britain – paid for by you and me.

Today is the ninth so-called “away day” where, following a short Cabinet meeting and a stage-managed Q&A session in front of a sympathetic and stage-managed audience, individual ministers will fan-out on a series of visits aimed at attracting more votes for this breathtakingly bare-faced Government.

Each of these all-day stunts costs the taxpayer something in the region of £200,000 a time – and that’s before you add in the amount lost to the public purse as a result of paying Cabinet members a full-day’s salary whilst they are not doing their jobs.

On the day we discovered this Labour Government became the first in our nation’s history to borrow money in January - £4.3 billion of it – and increased the total bill for UK borrowing this year to £4,800 for each and every family, it does leave something of a bitter taste in your mouth.

Not that it will bother Gordon Brown and his cynical band of political opportunists one little bit.

Time for transparency

In the midst of a flurry of other high profile political stories this week including the Labour Housing Minister saying he believed that, for some people, having their home repossessed could be "the best option," you may have missed Conservative Leader David Cameron launching the Transparency section of the party's draft General Election manifesto.

As people in Keighley and Ilkley are very well aware, billions of pounds have been wasted by this Labour Government through costly bureaucracy, public sector non-jobs and an explosion of unelectable quangos. We can't go on like this.

The Conservatives have therefore committed to introduce change that will do more for less.
This means transforming the way the state goes about its business, using decentralisation, accountability and transparency to reduce dramatically the cost of Government.

And we will also committed bring the operation of Government out into the open so that everyone can see whether you are receiving good value for money.

A David Cameron-led Conservative Government will therefore:

• Put all national government spending items over £25,000 online.


• Put online the salaries and expenses of the 35,000 most senior civil servants.


• Abolish any quangos that do not: perform a technical function; perform a function that requires political impartiality; or act independently to establish facts.


• Open up Government data and publish datasets in full and online.


• Call a moratorium on the creation of new Information Computer Technology (ICT) projects; no ICT project will be commissioned without first seeing if it can be done for free or at very low cost.

These are very sensible but necessary changes that we need and which will, hopefully, receive the support of residents across Keighley and Ilkley.

And, remember, they will only be introduced if you choose to elect a Conservative Government.

PR for GB

Gordon Brown’s “death bed conversion” - as others have described it – to the need for a revised voting system takes his cynical and shallow approach to self-preservation down to an entirely new level. Not that we should be surprised, of course.

The 1997 Labour manifesto promised a referendum on ditching the current first-past-the-post system – before this commitment was ditched in the wake of their landslide victory. And the idea re-emerged in subsequent manifestos before, again, not being delivered.

And now, with only weeks to go before Parliament is dissolved and a General Election is finally held, Mr Brown has arranged for MPs to have an urgent vote on the matter.

So why now? Well, as ever with our illustrious Prime Minister, it is because he senses an opportunity.

Despite the Conservatives continuing to hold a multiple point lead in all the weekend polls, the fact that the current electoral system is skewed against my party means a hung Parliament is obviously possible.

And, how might Gordon Brown be able to persuade the Liberal Democrats to prop up a minority Labour Government should no party win an overall majority?

You’ve guessed it - with a promise to have a referendum on their pet project of a new method of electing MPs.

It’s pathetic really, particularly given the huge list of problems he has created – such as the largest budget deficit in history – and should be seeking to put right.

But forget your problems and my problems – it’s the Labour Party’s problems which matter most to Gordon. As ever.

Twisting the facts – and twisting my stomach

I was opposed to the war in Iraq and said so publicly before the first missile was fired.

But given the “facts” on WMDs laid out by Tony Blair in the days and weeks leading up to the conflict, I can understand why others – including my own party – took a different view.

However, as we now are all now very well aware, there were no WMDs, meaning British troops went to war on a false premise.

You might think that former Prime Minister Tony Blair would since have displayed a bit of regret and contrition – embarrassment, even – at what he had done.

But, of course, Tony Blair doesn’t “do” regret, contrition or embarrassment.

What he does “do” is fine lines in arrogance and bare-faced lying, as his performance at the Iraq Inquiry – which is still going on as I write – is clearly demonstrating.

Early this morning on the radio I heard the mother of the first British soldier to die in Iraq speak of her love for her son – and her understandably less warm views on Tony Blair who sent her boy to his death.

I genuinely don’t know how this man gets to sleep at night.

Change urgently required as national debt continues to mount

Figures released today show that the Labour Government borrowed an eye-watering £15.7 billion last month – an all-time record for December.

And it gets worse.

Because it has also been revealed that total borrowing for the first nine months of the 2009/10 financial year was an incredible £120 billion – the highest since records began in 1946.

The theme of my campaign to be the next Conservative Member of Parliament for Keighley and Ilkley is “Change.”

These figures underline why.

New Year, New Crisis for Labour

I hope you had a relaxing Christmas and have since got off to a positive start in this New Year.

Someone who clearly hasn’t got off to a good beginning is Gordon Brown who has begun 2010 in much the same way as he spent large parts of 2009 – dealing with yet another crisis over his leadership.

I was as surprised as everyone when I first heard that previously loyal ex-Labour Ministers Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt had plunged the knife into their long-time Cabinet colleague in the expectation that several members of the current top team would do the same.

But, like Gordon Brown himself and the General Election that never was in 2007, they bottled it.

Be in no doubt - this is a Labour Government in total meltdown. There has to be an election by June of this year – even Gordon Brown can’t get out of that one. And many Labour MPs are fearful over their own futures.

Indeed, self-preservation is clearly much higher up the personal agendas of Labour MPs than the problems faced by the people they claim to represent such as the economy, jobs, the NHS and schools – not to mention the difficulties faced by our troops in Afghanistan.

Political opponents of this dying Government, such as me, can chuckle at the damage Labour Ministers and MPs do to each other on what now seems to be a daily basis.

But I can assure you that it brings me no pleasure whatsoever when the damage being inflicted is to our country and, more specifically, to local residents in Keighley and Ilkley.

The sooner we have that General Election, the better it will be for us all.