Archive for March, 2010
Lord King of Bridgewater
On Friday March 26 North East Somerset Conservative Party members attended what will probably be their last social gathering before the General Election – a dinner held in Farmborough Village Hall. Guest of honour was Lord King of Bridgewater formerly Secretary of State for Defence and for Northern Ireland – perhaps better known as Tom King. In a witty speech, he reminded the audience that politics was in many ways like practising to play a piece of music; it was necessary to keep on doing it till it was right and perfect. The Labour Party was now in a very different proposition from when Tony Blair was elected in 1997. Blairism in his view was now dead, and the present Labour Party had now almost given up. In areas such as defence, where there had been numerous defence ministers, none of whom had any previous background or experience in defence matters, he regarded it as scandalous that long delayed defence orders for new ships, helicopters and tanks were now being placed by the Labour Government in its dying days instead of when the troops had needed them years ago. Voters in the forthcoming election should exercise their right to vote – and vote Conservative.
The above was a Press Release we sent out a few days ago.
I’m very glad to have had the good fortune to welcome Lord King of Bridgewater to North East Somerset. As the communiqué mentions, this was our last social gathering before my election and thus probably the only visit we will have from a fellow Tory Grandee. I had hoped that Mr Cameron or Mr Osborne or anyone quite frankly would make the journey out here, but I’m still waiting to hear back. Ho Hum.
On the other hand, Lord King has always been more than willing to visit Somerset. In November I read that he visited the Bath Conservative Future Society (sadly I was not invited and only discovered the event after it had taken place.)
In fact, Lord King was the only Tory to come and visit my predecessor, Mark Prisk, in 1997. Though I was campaigning as a candidate in Fife at the time.
Response to the Budget
My most sincere apologies for letting this blogg go unattended for such a prolonged period of time. I made a rare trip to the constituency in Somerset this week; not to do any campaigning (I am not allowed to speak to ordinary people as it tends to upset them) but instead to stock up on cider before the Chancellor hiked up the price. Of course, I would never consume cider myself, but it serves as a decent pay-off for the gardener. After he has finished the lawn, not before!
This brings us on the the budget. You will undoubtedly be surprised to hear that in fact, I was rather pleased with what the Chancellor said.
Fellow Tories posing as the Labour elite. Most ingenious pretending to play for the other team!
You must now be asking why on earth would the most Tory candidate of all Tory candidates approve of a ghastly Lefty Labour budget. Naturally, the egregious Darling was still putting off the inevitable, avoiding making the cuts we so desperately need.
Therein lies my contentment. Labour has shirked from its responsibility to slash spending and services which means it will, as always, be left to the incoming Tory Government. Imagine how delighted I am to know it will also herald my first entry into Parliament! I can assure personally that Tory cuts will be much more severe and ruthless than Labour would ever dream of.
Labour need to learn that running the economy has nothing to do with providing services and encouraging debt, the budget is a tool with which we roll back the state, cut taxes and most importantly of all reduce debt immediately.
Lefties never learn.
Tags: budget, Darling, deficit, economy, recession, services
Kraft: Capitalism at its best!
One of the most important issues facing the North East Somerset constituency, after my election of course, has been the inevitable closure of the Cadbury’s factory in Somerdale.
This is a leaflet, generously funded by Lord Ashcroft, that we sent around Somerset in Autumn 2009, in which I praise Kraft to the rafters for indicating its intent to keep Somerdale open:
In addition, here is what I said on the matter in September, as reported in the Bath Chronicle:
“As an investment professional, it seemed to me that the business case for closing Somerdale had never been properly worked out and the cost savings were phantasmagoric. That Kraft intends to keep it open vindicates this view. It shows capitalism at its best. Hostile takeovers are a warning against management complacency.”
The news release from which this quote was taken has actually been removed from my northeastsomersetconservatives.co.uk website, I cannot for the life of me think why. Perhaps my local Tories are less techno-savvy than the man who does my typing for me.
I knew all along the plant was totally worthless and there was no point keeping it open and I have been proven correct, and you have the evidence from September to show for it.
Of course, in Somerset I am all in favour of raising my future-constituents’ hopes, which have been dashed several times over already regarding the plant, so I did not believe one more time could hurt. As I result, I decided to change my tactics and have suddenly become critical of Kraft, on the face of it at least, for their misleading statements:
Here is the explanation provided by The Week In :
Instead of putting the matter to rest, I remain convinced that a little bit more posturing will help me squeeze a few more votes. Let us hope my apparent change of tune resonates in the voters’ ears!
Tags: Bath Chronicle, Cadbury, Keynsham, Kraft, Somerdale
Please donate to my campaign
I am hesitant as to whether writing on one’s blogg is necessarily proper in terms of internet etiquette, but I suppose the circumstances today are extenuating.
It is deplorable that my début article after yesterday’s brief introductory piece should be on such an uncomfortable topic, yet I can safely predict that this blogg will aid me to broadcast my rebuttal without the press printing what I say ad verbatim.
Nonetheless, I’m rather miffed at the latest harassment directed against myself in the recent edition of Private Eye. A scan is enclosed thus:
Notwithstanding the actuality that everything the commentary is factual (excluding the point about Deirdre Horstmann; our local Conservative chairman would never touch an onion, that is a job for her cook) allow me to explain the main thrust of the article.
I the strictest terms, I did indeed send a letter asking for contributions to my campaign fund so that it would enable us to reach the £12,000 benchmark, which at present is still far into the distance. To date, we only have £150.
The reason for this is simply that it is awfully difficult to dispatch members to deliver leaflets in such a semi-rural constituency (I am more accustomed to the suburbs near Hyde Park, myself). For a start, we have a dwindling number of members who wish to participate in my campaign, and those Conservatives who do remain loyal tend to be of an elderly and somewhat “eccentric” disposition, rendering campaigning rather difficult.
As a result, we have to hire delivery professionals, who are unfathomably expensive considering the manual nature of their toil. I thought those ghastly Labour fools had introduced the Minimum Wage precisely to avoid this happening! The problem is that although Lord Ashcroft has kindly donated money to my campaign and provided us with some snazzy new leaflets; we need to create a reserve fund now that the owner of the Conservative party has encountered a spot of bother regarding his non-domicile tax registration.
Though £12,000 is indeed the amount of W H Smith vouchers I give my Nanny for Christmas every year (so she cannot spend it on spirits and such), you must understand that I have had to finance two of my campaigns in Fife and in Shropshire, as well as two other selection processes, in Surrey and Kensington, the lobbying of which requires trips to restaurants, ancient wines and so on. All of this adds up over time!
I hope the matter is now resolved,
Fondest regards,
Jacob Rees-Mogg
PS. Private Eye has written so many articles about me, I cannot for the life of me comprehend why they continue to misprint my name as Rees-Smug.
Tags: Campaign Funds, Lord Ashcroft, Private Eye
Finally a place to call my own
As the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North-East Somerset, I am elated and enchanted to be able to present to you my innovative new website. As part of a directive from the management of the Conservative Party I have been encouraged to construct a blogg as a component of our stratagem to make our Party appear modern and contemporary.
Me out campaigning; my gate at home is MUCH bigger!
From an individual standpoint, I am predominantly enthusiastic to commence writing as I perceive that it shall become a tremendous instrument which will enable me to connect with my future constituents without actually having to see them; in fact I no longer need to leave London on the weekends!
Admittedly, the Conservative Party leadership is in all probability somewhat discontent with my new digital exploration, as they have told me on several occasions to remain silent at all costs and do nothing until we return to power after 12 years of detritus. Nevertheless, I feel it is my duty as a Conservative and an Englishman to stand up and voice my opinions on whatever I judge worthy of comment.
The more quick witted of you will remember my previous site, which was full of spelling mistakes and typographical errors, and even my corporate on-line presence was criticised by the periodicals. I will ensure to avoid such a calamitous embarrassment this time around. Hopefully I will learn the finer techniques that come with owning a blogg very soon.
I look forward to you returning shortly.
Best wishes,
Jacob Rees-Mogg