Parking, Planning and Protests

I spend a week last Wednesday at a residents meeting in New Costessey and last Thursday at a similar one in Chapel Break, Bowthorpe, both about the same issue - parking. Now I've done a lot of public meetings in my time and very few issues, outside of election time, get anywhere near a crowd but both of these meetings were very well attended. I had done the week before a public meeting about the bus service in the West of the City with considerably fewer people. (Off the point, but it is a shame that people don't make more of an effort because all the meetings I have done have seen good debate and an excellent array of public speakers.)

Both Costessey and Chapel Break have blocked roads, inconsiderate parkers and issues wth blocking roads and driveways. Each time all the authorities can say is that neighbours should work together (this was nearlly word-for-word the answer that came back from the Labour executive when I raised the issue in Full Council some time ago). Sadly though, relations are not what they could be, and these residents need help to work through their differences including influencing the planning process and designing out some of the problems. One of the great tings about the SNAP is the fusion between the elected councillors and the police. Being able to help shape police priorities has been a great way of affecting change in our areas.

In both cases, the police are now working high profile shifts to help the situation. A senior council officer is persuing the adoption of some of the roads in Chapel Break to make enforcement easier and we as Councillors have been able to bring together different groups of people and different councils to get a result.

Parking is clearly a big issue and we have to sit up and listen to the concerns of local people.

Post Office struggle with the big question: Why not close Castle Mall?

Last week I sat as part of a Scrutiny panel that looked in detail at the work of the Post Office and their plans to shut multiple branches across Norfolk. My questions focused heavily on the support that PO Ltd. was giving to branches and the business plan of the Post Office (I would venture that they don't have one). Credit to the PO for turning up (and doing the later Public Meeting at the Puppet Theatre) but their information, analysis (and excuses) were pretty thin.

Although they spent much of the meeting on the ropes - and credit there goes to the Sub Post Masters rather than most of the timid councillors - it wasn't until the end that we got to one juicy mater. The Chair of Scrutiny, Cllr Stephenson, asked if giving the criticism of that branch Castle Mall would be considered for closure. The PO guys looked a bit shocked; it was a crown Post Office, they sluttered, and anyway it made a profit. I could resist asking if they thought that instead of migrating custom into the Castle Mall, if closing the branch culd lead to the emigration of custom out to smaller branches, such as Queens Road (New Lakenham), Vauxhall Street, Rosary Road and the like. Another flipsy excuse later, and I had to ask the blunt question - if eveyr other PO in the county and city is up for review, would they conceed that Castle Mall could be closed if it was proved to be the best option? Yes, or No? I think the answer was "no"; but at the later public meeting the same topic came up again and the PO seemed even less sure a few hours later. And I am grateful to a resident for writing to inform me that Norwich has lost 2 crown Post Offices in recent years.

So, come on Post Office let's have a real debate about the future of the Post Offices in Norwich, starting maybe with the Castle Mall.

UPDATE: I notice from last night's Evening News that Charles Clarke is on the attack too; this issue won't go away.

Don't do it, Boris, don't do it

Perception, especially in politics, is as important as reality. The way people feel and what they see really counts.

So the news that Mayor of London Boris Johnson is to carry on writing his Telegraph column worries me. I've said I think he should stand down as MP for Henley ASAP (especially given the disasterous LibDem candidate selection decision) and let another fight the by-election. I don't think he should write newspaper columns regularly either.

It doesn't matter if he has the spare time to do it on a Sunday or otherwise. It's the message it sends.

He wants to say, "I'm a full time Mayor, I am working all day to make the City better for you." This move doesn't say that. Come on, Boris, speaking as someone who has read your column year after year, it's time to hang up the pen and get on with enacting your excellent manifesto.

Norwich Tories Cut Crime!

In my second bizarre incident of the week (I may tell you about the first later on), we managed to get caught up in an attempt to defraud Norwich City Council of a car parking fee.

I have attended the farewell party for the outgoing Lord Mayor, Cllr Roy Blower, and on leaving headed to the St. Giles Car Park to give a lift home to my new ward colleague, Niki George.

As we got out of the barrier, the car behind shot out under with us. I thought this was odd, and looked in the mirror to see him waving at the security guard; but on second glance the security guard was chasing him as he had just got out without paying. I did an emergency stop to block their exit; the security guard finally caught up with them. Now that might have been the end of it ... so we went to pull off again and the car behind shot around St. Giles Street, trying to pull around us. It takes more than that to stop a pair of Tory Councillors, so we pulled across the single lane road to block them. Luckily, the bollard on the other side of the pavement stopped the other escape route.

Finally, having been blocked for a few minutes, they got their number plate taken and it all finished. The easy thing would be to drive off and let it happen; he could have got stroppy with us and the whole incident. It could have been nasty. But we couldn't let people get away with ripping off the people of this City and I am glad we did our small bit to do that.

I still wonder what will happen to that motorist. Does anyone know the penalty?

MEP tells truth shock!

I mentioned the case of Independent MEP for the East of England, Tom Wise, a few days ago when Mr Wise was caught admitting how much he was enjoying milking the EU cash cow for himself. Now Mr Wise, who was first elected under a UKIP banner, has said he is pleased to have been caught because it would show up the problems in the EU.

Well done Mr Wise; a good point, well made. You have been honest in an odd sort of way that others wouldn't have been. Now emerge from politics with at least some dignity by resigning as our MEP.

More from the Norwich Evening News here.

It's good when you're growing

I can't pack up for the night without saying that tonight I Chaired the first Conservative Group Meeting since the election. Tails are up, the opposition are in our sights and the feeling in the camp is good. We sorted out committees and the new shadow cabinet. We started to discuss political tactics. More to come on that, but we are probably sharing the same good feeling being experienced by a lot of Conservative groups in the country.

The 10p Row Gets Worse

Never before have we witnessed such a mess as a Chancellor trying to get out of a political hole by carrying on digging. Yet today that is what we saw today from Chancellor Darling as he tried to put the 10p tax rate debate aside by putting up the tax allowance on the basic rate. This will cost £2.7 billion but ...

It is a one-off payment, a one-off solution to a problem created by Gordon Brown.

It is being paid for by borrowing! We'll end up paying this back one way or the other.

22 million better off, but only 4.2m of those were impacted in the first place and Darling still misses 1.1 million people!

It may have caused a humiliating backdown from Frank Field but it won't pass the opposition or the media test. The news is pretty damaging and the papers will say so. Darling will always have this U-Turn around his neck and the issue will become attached to Gordon Brown too.

Am I the only one who thought Darling should have started with an apology too? I also thought that both Osbourn and Cable did very well ... but they did both have an open goal, I suppose.

Poor old Darling; the unluckiest Chancellor attached to the unluckiest Prime Minister ever.

What now for Frank Field?

When I got up this morning, I was under the impression that Frank Field, the former Welfare Reform Minister under Tony Blair, was placated and that the crisis over the 10p tax band cut was put to one side. However, when I got home from Climate Change Panel at Norwich City Council tonight, it had all seemed to blow up again. Cabinet Minister Ed Balls (hate figure of our staff room) has told him to shut up and Mr Field says he'll be surprised if Brown is still in his job in 2 years time.

Putting aside the disasterous split in Labour, you have to ask what the future holds for Mr Field. He is either right and has large numbers of the PLP behind him, in which case Brown is dead in the water and he will be heralded a hero. Or ... if he is a "one man band" on this, then he has surely lost the confidence of the party and definitely the whips. He may not care, but can he stay within the PLP? I don't think so; for me, its just a case of when he joins a growing list of MPs in the cold - joining the likes of Clare Short and Bob Waring.

Go now, Boris

There is a lot of speculation that Boris Johnson, newly elected Conservative Mayor of London, will step down immediately as MP for Henley, Oxfordshire, despite a Times claim on polling day that said he would cling onto both jobs.

I think this would be a mistake and that Boris must step down immediately. The public are very suspicious about politicans, and more so when they appear to hang onto jobs for the sake of it. The news that Independent MEP for the Eastern Region Tom Wise has been recorded saying he is surprised how much money he can screw out of the EU should shock, but not surprise us. If you have the time and energy to do both - for example, a county and district councillor - then that is fine (although you'g have to have very nice constituents to manage that and hold down a full time job!) but you cannot possibly represent a constituency as an MP and be Mayor London.

Do it, Boris, resign. Go out on a high, give the people of Henley the chance to vote for new Conservative representation. It'll look good on you, on the party and on politics itself.

It's Cruddas vs. X (where X is any moderniser)

Gordon Brown is not going to resign; no matter how low they go in the polls, or how much local or by-elections they lose or how much he destroys the country. He slogged through the Blair years, yearning for this job and he will not go down in History as one of the shortest serving and most useful Prime Minister's ever.

However ... if he were to fall under a (political) bus, what is clear is that it's Jon Cruddas who will carry to flag of real Labour forward. His excellent showing in the Deputy Leadership contest - coming from nowhere to winning on first preferences - plus the dignified way he has handled himself since has put him in poll position. With all of the other Deputy Leadership candidate pretyt much humiliating themselves (including the eventual winner), he still holds a place in the heart of the Labour Party membership and the Trade Union movement if not the PLP.

So, if its Cruddas then who will he be against? I believe that the deal will be done to ensure only one candidate emerges from the Blairite right of the party; they won't want to split the vote and will want to be seen to be united. They may find themselves against a self-styled "unity" candidate like Jack Straw, but the Milliband-Balls-Burnham-Purnell alliance will be at work.

If I were in that alliance, I'd be working out who is going to be doing the challenge in the next 2 years - because they'll need all the traction they can get to beat Straw out of the traps and beat Cruddas to the votes.

Tories take lead in Norwich South, say pollsters

The Conservatives have taken the lead in the new Norwich South constituency, according to respected political pollster "Electoral Calculus". Reflecting massive Tory poll leads and victories at last week's local elections in the City, the latest poll puts the seat at:
Conservative 30%
Labour 29%
LibDem 25%
Green 15%

I check the site regularly because of the seat-by-seat breakdown of its poll findings and this is the first time and suggests a win for the Tories (albeit with a majority in the hundreds) for the first time. It also shows the lack of impact of the LibDems, who continue to decline across the City.

I take some comfort from this but think things may change between now and polling day; I think the Greens for example will do better but at the further expense of Labour and the LibDems; but it does suggest that our campaigning locally and nationally is working.

Interestingly I was talking to a friend of mine, staunch Labour, today who said that for the first time his vote was up for grabs. He thought Labour had lurched into one too man disasters and that Clarke's time was up. If I vote tomorrow, he said, it would be for you. But, he added carefully, it isn't tomorrow so things might yet change. I can handle that caveat to his support; because it's my job in the next 2 years to give him a positive reason to vote for Cameron and myself.

Hot, Hot, Hot

Armed only with four gallons of water and a vat of suncream, we all headed to the Garden Show at the Norfolk Show Ground this morning. The weather knocked both of the girls out (pretty much) although Emily shot back into life when she saw a giant flower that you plugged into the garden tap and it squirted randomly around the place a high volume stream of water. Unfortunately, after parting with a fiver, we got home and the damn thing exploded at the plug end and the flower ended up drooping with a disappointing dribble coming out of one end. I felt rather more crushed than Emily, who soon moved on to the next fad, but it played on my mind for the rest of the day.

The show was very, very good and was incredibly diverse; more than just plants, equipment and garden furniture, it also included charities and community groups from around the City and I enjoyed the chance to talk to some of the organisers and businesses about how they views the current situation. Many spoke about increasing burden of red tape, from all quarters including national and local government, and the fact that such problems put people off volunteering.

One advantage of having fought the parliamentary seat before and having a high profile in local government is people knowing who you are and coming over to chat. That was helped today but a rather flattering piece about me in the EDP and also a letter in the Evening News which dug down deeper into the election results which showed the strenght of the Tory vote in Norwich.

We then came home to clear up the garden and set up the kids toys; sadly after about 5 minutes my back went and I was forced to watch my poor, long suffering, wife did all the work (!!!) although I never get away with it for long.

This evening, up until this blog post, I have spent writing our "thank you" leaflets and rather splended they look too.

Something Achieved

By 8.30 this morning I was at the Norwich City Council Group Leader's Meeting - I wish I could say more, but the issues involved are largely confidential - but it is a method by which all the players on a hung council can work together constructively and honestly; it usually works. This morning was a long one and we seemed to go round and round a bit followed by deciding on a volley of reports.

By this afternoon I was at a Norfolk Conservatives Meeting; a forum by which senior representatives of the party can get together and work together constructively and honestly; it usually works. This meeting was, too, a long one.

If you spend a long time in politics, sometimes you leave meetings and wonder what you did when you were then and what was actually achieved. No, come on, we've all been in them.

In between these two meetings I did achieve something; a very tricky housing problem that took a great deal of time and a visit to the Customer Service Centre at City Hall. It took a while, but we got a result - a decision that will make a great difference to the life of one family. I thought little of it at the time but as I sit back blogging tonight, and wonder what I did today it was this act that stood out.

I got back home to spend a few hours in the sunshine with the girls ...

A 4 party solution for Norwich?

For those out of the loop the current situation on Norwich City Council is:
Labour 15 (n/c)
Green 13 (+3)
LibDem 6 (-5)
Cons 5 (+2)

Hence nobody has anywhere near a majority and with a coalition not functioning, the Green Party has finally spoken about the elephant in the room - who will now run the council - saying they want an executive "of all the talents" with a 4 party administration. This idea has been shot down in flames - certainly by 2 of the parties involved - amongst a big debate about the future of the council now.

Does Labour have the strenght amongst their 15 strong group to support a talented 8 man Exec plus fill 3 key committee chairmanships? How far will the opposition Councillors fill jobs within the political system? I don't know (for once!) but I do think it's odd that we're almost a week after the poll and we haven't yet really thrashed this through.

Norwich people have voted for a patchwork quilt of political parties in the City, we now have to make it work. How we do that is vitally important and we ought to get down to working out how sooner rather than later.

Back into Action

Whilst the local elections are really the one concerted time you get on the streets meeting and talking to local people, it does have a sense of artificial reality about it.

I have spent the last few days simply doing the case work I have built up from a few weeks on the doorsteps!

Bank Holiday was a fantastic family weekend away, with Lou's brother in London - very relaxing although the toll of limited sleep in the last week did impact on me! It was, though, great to be at the center of the Boris earthquake that took the capital by storm. I found myself watching another election count (the Mayoralty took about 24 hours to do!) and it almost (and I mean, almost) felt as good as winning in Bowthorpe.

By Tuesday night I was back chairing the Bowthorpe & Costessey SNAP Panel; an extremely well attended meeting it was too and the people there certainly made their feelings about the policing situation in the area clear. The Evening News report is here and we came out with 3 priorities - cutting crime in one area of Clover Hill, tackling parking in New Costessey and working on a youth centre for Bowthorpe. I am most determined to make sure that these priorities become realities and expect results; the people who put their trust in the democratic process deserve it.

Also that day the news broke about the apparent fiddling of crime figures by the Norfolk police, who were told in a leaked memo that they should be sure a crime was committed before recording it. They admitted that they were being driven by targets set by the government. So if a car window is smashed, that wouldn't count as a crime because you couldn't assume it was done on purpose without evidence.

No wonder people don't have faith in government crime statistics withthis happening. Labour are saying crime is falling but people know it isrising in key areas. Every crime needs to be reported, every crime needs to be invetsigated and every crime needs to be logged as such. Just because its a neighbour dispute or petty vandalism, doesn't mean it isn't a crime. This is outrageous. The Chief Constable needs to make a statement at once, reassuring people that every crime a policeman comes across and every crime that is reported is logged. We need to know we can trust the crime figures. I did an interview for the lead story on Look East for the BBC which went out at 6.30pm; certainly made an impression given the amount of response to it.

After that I then got to a residents meeting in Bowthorpe to discuss more anti-social behaviour issues.

Wednesday night was then a residents meeting in Town Close; interesingly those there weren't shocked by the LibDem collapse in the polls both locally and across the City. I knew a couple of party supporters there but most I was meeting for the first time. So many said that the LibDems were now out of the race to be our next MP and they knew that Cameron could beat Brown (hence a 26% poll lead) but that Clegg would keep Brown in power. Interesting stuff and a line we need to push harder. The meeting was very successful indeed.

I then went on to a party meeting / celebration drink at The George in Arlington Lane with a dozen or so of the key party activists. We did a lot of planning - more news to come - and there is a real feeling of momentum now. One said to me that he couldn't wait to get back on the streets campaigning given the political backdrop. We are raising money, getting money and winning support faster than ever before.

And tonight? Admin, marking and lesson planning - oh the glamerous life of the PPC!

Clarke's PO U-Turn

Although all support for saving our Post Office's is welcome, you have to be amazed at the cheek of Charles Clarke who calls for a review of Post Office closures whilst at the same time voting in parliament to carry on the closures. Saying one thing to the people of Norwich and doing another in London - just like Ian Gibson. No wonder neither of them showed up to support the "Save Our Post Offices" rally in Norwich recently.

Is it too cynical to wonder if this has anything to do with a 26% Cameron poll lead; a poll that would mean Mr Clarke losing his Norwich South to the Conservatives on a massive swing? I do hope not; I hope this is a genuine coversion so welcome to the campaign, Mr Clarke!

Morph does it again

A friend draws my attention to serial election-denier Steve Morphew.

Last year he said that Bowthorpe was robbed of a Labour Councillor (it elected a hard working Conservative instead) because of some obscure unitary leaflet.

Now apparently he writes in the Evening News that the people of Bowthorpe and Catton Grove must have woken up to wonder what they did by dumping failed Labour (and electing hard working Conservatives instead).

Elections are tough stuff; why can't we just accept the verdict of the electorate without claiming they had got it wrong or didn't know what they were doing?

A Judge who has it spot on

In times when the judiciary are often criticised, it is welcome when such senior figures of Judge Peter Jacobs breaks him silence to speak out against problems with the community sentence programme.

The government have so badly mishandled the criminal justice system that we now have prisons full to bursting; so their clever new plan to deal with this is to extend community services to more and more crimes to keep down the prison population.

Community services was originally designed to deal with minor crimes, especially ones where there could be a “restorative” element to their work – such as, for example, cleaning walls or tidying communal gardens.

Now the government has put us in a situation where people who have been involved in theft, physical assault and burglary are given community sentences - crimes that used to warrant a prison sentence. But, now under Labour, they are downgraded. Of course, some of these do work, but when people refuse to complete their sentence, give the authorities the run-around and end up bouncing in and out of court with judges trying to make them comply with their original ruling it makes a mockery of the system.

It ends us costing more in court time and police paperwork and detracts from catching more criminals. Judge Jacobs should be applauded for making this front page news and now the politicians must do their part in making the system work.

More prison places, a greater police presence on the streets, more preventative work (especially when drugs are involved), a proactive youth service and restorative justice must all play their parts.

But most importantly, people must be safe and know they are safe. They demand the right to know that justice has been done, and has seen to be done. People that flaunt community services undermine the whole system and fundamentally remove faith in the police, the judiciary and the legal system. Only by getting tough on this problem can we restore that faith.

Big Shake Up in Norwich

I will summarise the results below (I'm really too tired to even think at the moment) but some clear themes emerged from the night that I think the media may miss.

Theme 1: Positive campaigning won - Conservatives and Greens stayed positive throughout and both made net gains. Some of the Labour literature was shocking during the campaign and the stories we have heard of LibDem canvassing were next-to-vile.

Theme 2: Labour's been robbed of a frontbench. They've lost Housing Executive Member Julie Westmacott - to be fair, one of the few members with a real grasp of complex Housing issues - and also Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Culture Brenda Ferris. I know Steve Moprhew wants to reshape his top team but I cannot see where the talent is coming from.

Theme 3: The true scale of the LibDem collapse. Yes, they lost Mancroft, Town Close, Mile Cross and Thorpe Hamlet. But the true scale of their loss comes in the study of the results in detail. They came FOURTH in Bowthorpe, Catton Grove and Crome. They lost the seat and plunged to FOURTH in Unviersity, Mancroft and Wensum. They went from first to third in Mile Cross; they also went into third in Nelson. In Sewell Ward they came FIFTH. The Conservatives came second in Mile Cross and Crome and came third and above in all but one seat.

Bowthorpe: Con GAIN from Labour, removing Labour Deputy Brenda Ferris on an 8% swing and with a big majority.
Catton Grove: Con GAIN from Labour, with roughly the same majority as last year
Crome: Lab HOLD but with a much reduced majority
Eaton: LibDem HOLD with a good majority but a much increased Tory vote
Lakenham: LibDem HOLD, a surprise result but caused by a collapse in the Labour vote
Mancroft: Green GAIN from LibDem with a big majority
Mile Cross: Lab GAIN from LibDem, with a sizeable majority
Nelson: Green HOLD, even with losing a thousand votes this was safe Green territory
Sewell: Lab HOLD with a much, much reduced majority over the Greens
Thorpe Hamlet: Green GAIN from LibDem, with the irony of turning a 1 vote LibDem majority into a 501 Green majority
Town Close: Green GAIN from LibDem, easy result with big majority
University: Lab GAIN from LibDem, but with the Greens in a keen second place
Wensum: Green HOLD, easily.

Another day, another Lib Dem defection...

Yesterday the LibDem Group Leader on Sedgemoor Councillor quit and joined the Tories; a pretty impressive move for a group leader in many ways. Apparently he wasn't happy with the way that the LibDems were moving nationally.

Then Richmond Councillor Marc Cranfield Adams announced he was defecting to the Tories during a full council meeting (what a show off!). And now we hear that Cllr Janet Hedges, of Epping Forest, is Cameron's newest recruit.

Does all this matter? I used to think not, but a friend of mine pointed out that Thatcher's political base in 76-79 was built upon defections because people move towards the winners. The Sun is now backing Boris (the first Conservative endorsement since before 1997) and now the Telegraph is openly talking about the first parliamentary defection to the Conservatives (we've had a couple of MEPs but no MPs as yet).

Picking off LibDems, who are let's face it, struggling to say the least, is the easy bit - can Cameron start to lure Labour?

Happy St George's Day

Well, it's been a while ... Sorry for the lack of posting and even the lack of putting up comments but a mixture of frantic campaigning and then putting my back out has really done me in. Last Tuesday I stood up too quickly in church and couldn't move - literally. I've never had any back problems before and since then the doctors have been trying various combinations of drugs to try and help me. Things are looking a bit better now (I've motivated myself to blog) but the only time I'm not in pain is when I am walking - standing and sitting are both pretty painful and even getting in and out of bed is a problem! But enough of that, it's St. George's Day so let's celebrate!

Norwich City Council: UEA Students need not apply

Every now and again you hear of a story so sad that it explains why so few people give up their time for local democracy.

I have just spoken to a resident who lives in Eaton and who had been canvassed by the Liberal Democrats for the election. On telling the canvasser that he was voting Conservative, she told him not to vote for "the student" and he was "21 and would leave soon".

Apart from the fact that UEA Student and Conservative candidate Niall Baxter has made Norwich his home, including finding a house and a job, it is really rude and patronising to suggest that UEA students cannot be councillors and fully contribute to their adopted-home City.

Maybe this LibDem canvasser - actually, a very senior Councillor as it happens - thinks I should never have stood? Maybe she doesn't want UEA Students to stand full stop ... I wonder what UEA Students who are currently having their votes courted by the LibDems would think of this?

We already know that the LibDems have a problems with teachers serving as Councillors - they made that quite clear (see here), but now they are ruling out students too. Maybe they want civic responsibility to be the preserve of the wealthy middle class housewives with a lot of time on their hands?

We need a diverse council representing our whole City - students, teachers, young, old, black, white, male and female. I am proud of all of our candidate; I just wonder why the LibDems can't be more positive and honest in their campaigning?

Actually, I think this shows how much they are running scared at the moment - I hope the people of Eaton see through this shabby, shallow trick and the student voters around Norwich now know who isn't worthy of their support.

Bizarre Tax Changes

Thanks to Brown's last budget I, as a middle manager and teacher on post-threshold pay, am significantly better off because of his tax changes.

Thank you, Mr Brown.

However, my wife, as a part time primary school teacher, is significantly worse off.

Together I think we do end up better off, but why? Why is the lower income earner hit whilst my tax goes down? And why if income taxes are to fall should they do so on us?

This was a topic of conversation in school today; a lot of the teachers were much better off whilst many of our support staff colleagues - admin, cleaners and dinnerladies - were down in the dumps. Many of them swearing they won't vote labour on 1st May.

Who is Samir Jeraj?

Apparently he is the Green candidate for Town Close Ward, where I live, and must be odds-on to be our next councillor, especially as the LibDems seem to have given up on a ward they used to regard as safely theirs.

However, I do chat to a lot of my neighbours and nobody knows anything about him. How long has he lived in Norwich? What does he do for a living? What's his background?

He could just be a political newcomer, and you can't be criticised for not having a political background if you are new to the game, but it is noticeable that their newsletter which was delivered today makes no reference to who he is or what his background is.

I should, of course, delcare an interest. Of the 4 candidates going for this seat, the Conservatives have by far the most well known - businessman Tak Man-Li, who went to school at the Hewitt and whose family still live and work in the ward. I think people should know about their candidates and the Greens, who are normally very good at this, don't seem to have given out much information. People want to know.

Anyone got an answer?

I have just been passed this email from Niki George, our candidate for Bowthorpe, who recieved it from a constituent. This is not the first person to mention this - in fact I had a resident wave his card at me whilst out canvassing yesterday.

This moring I received my free bus pass in the post from the Cuty Council, a bit late maybe but no real issues with that. What is concerning me is the apperent free blantant advertising of the Labour party within the design.

Not only the red ribbon but also the red rose in the top left corner, it might be argued that this is just a design, but in my view it is too close the the labour colours and motiff to be anything else but advertising the labour party.

Is the delay in bring these cards out so close to the local elections anything to do with the so called logo or am I being cinical (nothing unusual in that), I take this logo and design extreamly personal I am concerned that money has been wasted yet again, and has this money been spent illegally on pre advertising prior to the elections.

Anybody know how or why this rose got there? If it isn't for something specific then Labour have some real questions to answer. Already they are in trouble for launching a massive government advertising blitz - on Safer Neighbourhood Teams and tougher immigration rules - in the lead up to the election. This could be serious.

Labour's Growth Agenda: Concrete the Countryside

I understand that Labour have had to admit that their planned growth agenda around Norwich and Norfolk can no long be contained within brownfield sites and greenfield sites would have to be used to hit govenrment targets. This is both a disaster and totally unacceptable. We were always sold on the growth agenda on the basis it wouldn't mean concrete on the countryside. Conservatives in Norwich have been critical of the plans - not least challenging the finances for the infrastructures, concerns over water supply and worries about employment for the new population. This latest news could be the death knell for the plans.

Of course, the weak-willed may claim that there is nothing we can do about this, but why must councils always be complicit in doing the government's dirty work? I look forward to Labour Councillors joining us in this. Why don't councils - of all colours, blue, green or whatever - stand up and say no. Our residents deserve nothing less.

My Union Journey

I was extremely saddened to hear of the death of NUT Leader Steve Sinnott; not least because of the human tradgedy of passing away at what is really such a young age. However, I am not surprised to hear that the strike planned for 24th April will go ahead.

The NUT is a union that I'd like to be a member of, but can't quite bring myself to do it. When I first started teaching I joined the ATL because people said it was the union for Tories; because of their no-strike policies. I don't have a no-strike policy - I reserve the right to strike but under extreme circumstances, and I mean "extreme". However my local branch of the ATL seemed totally uninterested in campaigning for the rights and conditions of teachers. They were good at being a union and legal backstop but failed on the proactive stance I wanted.

The NUT is more of the kind of thing I wanted - taking the government firmly and loudly to task for their education failings. I liked the idea of being a thorn in the government's side (whatever the colour). However, when I switched schools and chose to switch unions the NUT was opposing the government's workload agreement. Now, the workload agreement wasn't a great document but made a start in putting the professionalism back into teaching. Hence I joined the NASUWT which I saw as being a halfway house between the extremes of the ATL and NUT. I have since become the union rep. I don't know how much long I'll do that job because I do get the impression it is holding back my career progression but I have enjoyed the work involved.

So why are the NUT striking? Over their demand for a 10% pay increase. Now, I'd be the first in the line for a 10% pay increase but it just is so far away from financial and political reality as to be unbelievable. We all enjoy some "aspirational goals" but shouldn't our unions be drawing the line in the sand over fights we can win?

So I will be supporting any moves to improve our pay and conditions but this strike is just damaging to our pupils welfare. I anticipate a union climbdown before the 24th. At least, I hope so.

UPDATED: City Elections: Nominations revealed

Yesterday was the last day to get your nomination paper in for the City elections. You can get a full run down here but I thought I'd just summerise the situation. The main 4 parties are contesting every seat - Conservative, Labour, Green and LibDems - plus there's UKIP in Lakenham and Norwich-over-the-Water in Sewell.

In terms of interesting candidates;
For the LibDems its all change; the talented Gordon Dean is relgated to an absolute thrashing in Catton Grove, whilst his former Councillor Colleague Chris Thomas takes on Mile Cross - the LibDems say this indicates how seriously they are taking the ward, but I didn't know Chris was that keen on getting back on the council. Nelson stalwart David Fairbairn now ends up defending Hereward's old patch in Lakenham, whilst Judith Lubbock takes on Eaton. Interestingly former Heathersett Councillor Jackie Sutton - who lost her seat in the South Norfolk Tory landslide of 07 - reappears as candidate for ultra-marginal Thorpe Hamlet. Lastly I suppose is the decision of another former Councillor, Ian Williams, to take on Sewell. The NOTWP candidate will I'm sure shake this seat up and any party who effectivly harnesses the anti-Labour vote may do well. Williams has been, in his (and my) time, a formiddable candidate and this could now be the ward to watch.

Labour have had an easier time of candidate selection. Their sitting Councillors have a tough time - Mick Banham in Sewell, Brenda Ferris in Bowthorpe and Julie Westmacott in Catton Grove all have the fights of their lives. Deborah Gilwahi (Mile Cross), Brenda Arthur (University) and Bob Sanderson (Lakenham) all hope to step into LibDem shoes and the hopes of the party will essentially rest upon their shoulders. Dvaid Bradford, a real champion, stands again for Crome. The most interesting candidate in many ways is Steph Clark - standing in Wensum - incidentally standing against a LibDem called Brian Clark. Labour feel they have a real chance here and have certainly done a lot of work. And, of course, we have to mention the gallant Phil Taylor who is leading the Labour chances in Eaton.

The Greens have a full slate again; one switch is being made with Adrian Holmes leaving Wensum and seeking election in Mancroft leaving his old ward to UEA student Ruth Makoff. There are also some relationship candidates this time. Adrian Ramsay's girlfriend is their candidate in Bowthorpe and Janet Bearman's husband is standing in Eaton. Stop-the-War campaigner Peter Offord leads their charge in ultra-marginal Thorpe Hamlet. In Town Close the unknown Samir Jeraj is standing (more of this later).

Please feel free to post your predictions

All Sorted

My thanks to all those who text, called and emailed regarding my issue with a little political harassment. I have to say that the person involved has now admitted it, apologised and resigned from his position within the Liberal Democrats; an honourable decision and I think that draws a line under it. He made a mistake and paid for it with his job - I hope he learns from this and when he makes a comeback never acts the same way again. I think his resignation and apology signals he is a decent guy who made a mistake.

Look East couldn't get it more wrong

"The Greens are the largest opposition party at City Hall with more than 20 Councillors."

Spot the errors. The Greens are not the largest opposition party and they have exactly 10 Councillors. Indeed having 20 would anyone the majority party with an overall majority. So who could have spouted this nonsense? An A Level politics student? No, step forward BBC's Look East.

Tories announce local poll candidates

The Norwich Conservatives have announced the 13 candidates who will contest the local elections on 1st May, ensuring that everybody in the City has the chance to vote for a Conservative candidate.

Conservative Group Leader Cllr Antony Little said: "Everyone in the City now has a chance to vote for a hard working, common sense ConservativeCouncillor who will put tackling anti-social behaviour, cleaning up the streets and fighting for our Post Offices at the heart of their work."

"The Conservatives are a very different political party for Norwich - the only party that spoke up against the millions wasted on the unitary project and the only party that voted to freeze council tax levels this year."

"Last year we won the same number of wards as the LibDems and gained as many seats as the Greens. Every year we win more votes and more Councillors. This year could be crucial, and every new Conservative Councillor will mean we have a better chance of a value-for-money council that puts residents first."

The full list of candidates is:
Bowthorpe - Niki George
Catton Grove - John Fisher
Crome - Ernie Horth
Eaton - Niall Baxter
Lakenham - Eileen Wyatt
Mancroft - Andrew Wiltshire
Mile Cross - Clive Smith
Nelson - Malcolm Chamberlin
Sewell - David Mackie
Thorpe Hamlet - Matthew Davison
Town Close - Tak Man Li
University - Paul Wells
Wensum - Mike Gillespie

The Police & Political Harrassment

Yesterday I called the police.

A few days ago I wrote this post about the behaviour and maturity of a number of members of the National Committee of the Liberal Youth. A day later, during a council meeting, I recieved an extremely rude text message from an unknown number referring to that post. I also rejected a number of very, very abusive comments on this blog.

The next morning I recieved a number of calls from various companies saying I had requested information on their services. These calls were taken by my wife and we were both a little bit shaken by them all coming so close together. In each case, my name and mobile phone number were given. I enquired further and discovered that each internet log was made within minutes of the text message arriving.

I absolutely reserve the right to pass comment on my political opponents as they would about me. We then thrash out differences in a debate and then a vote - ironically we were doing just that, with myself and Brian Watkins locking horns for the first time, when the text arrived. However, I do not and will not tolerate abuse nor the abuse of my name and contact details. Or indeed anything that brings my family into it.

It was very immature, deeply disturbing and not knowing what was to come I phoned the police and gave them these details. The police phoned the number of the texter and they were warned about their behaviour and told not to do so again. All this was done in half an hour (remarkably kind, sensitive and polite service it was too.)

Whoever it was, and I do not seek to point the finger, but the link between the post, the text and the calls is too obvious to miss. But whoever did it has absolutely no concept of the way a democracy works or how to conduct themselves in public life.

I am writing this post not to "name and shame" them but to lay down a marker for everyone who is fed up of the mindless, childish behaviour of a few people in society.

All this talk of second preferences...

The moment Jack Straw blurted something out about the use of AV at elections, against the current political backdrop of the SV London Mayoral election, you knew that political hacks would spend more time wondering about the use of second preferences rather than solving any political issues.

I would hate the concept of being elected on the back of second preferences, particularly if I had not won at least a plurality of first preferences. You become the least disliked candidate rather than the partially popular one.

But true to form, I found myself talking to an old school friend who still lives in London today. Naturally the conversation turned to politics and knowing that she had never stuck with the same party for two elections running, I asked which Mayoral candidate got her X,

"Well, Boris, of course..." came the reply. OK then, I enquired, what about your second preference?

"A second preference? I don't have one because Boris is going to win."

Of course, I thought, you only think of the second preference when your candidate is obviously going to lose. So the sight of Ken, Paddick and the Green candidate all slogging it out for second preferences amused me greatly.

Comments I Won't Publish

As a great believer in freedom of speech, there are few things I won't allow to be published as comments on this blog. If you look through the comments you will see that I like debate, I encourage feedback and have a very thick hide!

However, if your comment is a string of abuse with absolutely no intellectual comment whatsoever, expect it not to be published. I guarantee you that I will take less time and effort deleting it than you will writing it in the first place.

How could a Minister be so stupid?

Margaret Hodge, a Culture Minister, has found herself in the middle of a most bizarre row over free entry into Norwich museums. The MP was drafted into the City in order to support Labour's re-election bid and they used the chance to announce a headline-grabbing pledge to make entry into museums free. However, there is always a catch ...

... The pledge is only if Norwich gets unitary. And even then, only if Labour gets control (increasingly unlikely - the Council will be Tory is the boundaries are wide enough). So, Norwich Labour are now writing the budget and service plans for a council that doesn't yet exist. And poor Cllr Ferris says that the unitary council won't need the funding from the museums. How on earth does she know this?

And despite these rather obvious flaws in the plans - obvious enough for most people - the Minister insisted on welcoming the ideas, despite knowing they can't fulfill the pledge.

Typical Labour, but it says a lot about one Labour Councillor who'll do anything to be re-elected and one Labour Minister who'll say anything she's told.

Worrying side of the Liberal Youth

I had been entertaining myself tonight with the lighter side of politics - browsing through the new website of the Liberal Youth, formerly LDYS. However on reading some of the profiles of the people involved it has worried me a great deal about the type of person getting involved on the organisation.

The new Chairman, Mark Gettleson, claims he most wants to be like Chancellor Palpatine - the eveil Emperor in the Star Wars films, who committs mass murder and genocide. He plunges the universe into an imperialistic state and dominates by force. Hmmm, not exactly a Liberal icon?

The Campaigns Chief, Adi Smith, chooses his historical hero as Nikita Khruschev - I'm not even going there with this one, but this seems a bizarre choice for anyone, let alone an aspiring LibDem MP.

And then there is the "hilarious" Jon Massey who idolises Papa Smurf ... please do not let this man near any actual political power.

Bearing in mind that other members of their Exec chose Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, David Lloyd-George, Roy Jenkins, Gladstone or Elizabeth I then it shows that decency does have its place in Liberal Youth!

Now, I'm no old fart and I know that political youth organisations will contain people who are a bit wacky, but these choices made in a public arena must make you question their judgement. And the fact that one of them is Chairman makes it worse.

If I were the LibDems, I'd want this brand new organisation sorted out from the beginning - or its gonna make for some bad headlines for Nick Clegg, who has personally associated himself with them.

If Gordon Brown doesn't want to be seen as a ditherer, he better stop dithering

The government climbdown on the embryo bill will be seen as 2 things - firstly a triumph for David Cameron who has used PMQs to personally association himself with the call for a free vote, and secondly another dithering disaster for the Prime Minister who has once again been forced into a retreat, this time by his own side.

But, I say, if you are are doing to dither then only do it once. The PM's ill-fated compromise may not yet be enough - he's only promised Labour MPs a free vote on 3 clauses of the bill and he will then whip them on the third reading. So if any of the morally controversial aspects stay in the Bill, then any Labour MP who opposed them before will have to vote for them at the end. Oh dear ... how can they vote against it one minute and then for it the next? Not good at all, so I expect the PM will be forced into another climbdown before the vote is taken. And he wonders why people think he dithers...

Watkins is new LibDem Leader

Congratulations to Cllr Brian Watkins for taking the leadership of the LibDems on Norwich City Council. Brian is a hard working, positive and decent man who has made a big impact on the Council; he is taking on the toughest job in Norwich politics at the moment and I do hope that the impending slaughter of LibDem candidates next May won't reflect on him personally. I look forward to working with you, Brian!

UPDATE: According to an impeccable source, at least 2 other LibDem Councillors are annoyed to have been passed over - one is "a little peeved", the other is "fuming". I wonder if there was a contest election? As the LibDems claim to be so honest and open I'm sure they'll tell us!

LibDem one trick pony looking increasingly desperate

A while ago I argued that the LibDem foxes were one-by-one being shot and the party would end up clinging to Iraq as their last desperate piece of political populism. Nick Clegg must have thanked his lucky stars that so much time and media coverage has been dedicated to the "5 years since the Iraq war" stuff, because its the only way he's made headlines since being elected (well, positive headlines anyway ... he got those ones about the EU Referendum, remember!).

The Iraq war is something that the electorate seems to have moved on about (judging by the response on the doorsteps in Norwich and from other colleagues around the country) and yet the LibDems don't seem to have.

So instead of formulating a really exciting policy idea - like removing failing schools from LEA control - they launch a website reminding people who voted for the war (see here). The sad thing is that it pretends not to be a LibDem front and no matter which MP you have or how they voted, you are encouraged to print off an anti-Tory poster to display in your window to remind you about Conservative support for the war, rather than the government who led us into conflict. So, they've managed to achieve a very rare political double act.

They've managed to look utterly irrelevant AND shown how desperate and scared they are of the Cameron resurgance.

LibDem Leader (plus 5 of his Councillors) quit

The worst kept secret in City Hall is that a volley of LibDem Councillors are to quit before the election on 1st May. Along with departing Leader Cllr Cooke (Lakenham), out go Cllrs Mayhew (Mile Cross), Hume (University), Hartley (Town Close), Surridge (Thorpe Hamlet) and Lowe (Mancroft).

Of course all have served the council well - as Lord Mayors, Executive Members and in council and on committees.

Of course, there are some cynics wandering around the place commenting that EVERY LibDem in a marginal seat is quitting, perhaps before they are soundly beaten.

I say this is, of course, not true.

After all, Judith Lubbock is staying on to be beaten!

UPDATE; Hereward tells the EDP he still expects his party to do well. I wonder if he'll make a prediction on how many seats they'll win!

Full Council: Too Litte, Too Late?

Rather like a football team stuck to the bottom of the league who suddenly get 3 points on the last day of the season, the LibDems used the last full council meeting of the year to good effect; in fact, from their point of view, it is a shame that few people will appreciate their strongest performance since I was elected.

We experienced a sustained attack on the Labour executive from 3 members of the public, all of whom put down questions regarding traffic calming on Mount Pleasant. I thought they did extremely well - some people don't like taking on Councillors and others waffle for ages, but this trio of residents made poor old Cllr Brian Morrey (Lab, Catton Grove) look like an idiot and made their point very effectivly. How, they asked, would the 20mph zones be enforced? Don't know, said Morrey, ask the police. So how much money is put aside for traffic calming on Mount Pleasant? 25k says Cllr Morrey - but thats for the consultation! Hang on, say residents, how much traffic calming could that buy in itself? I'd love to see more of these intelligent, articulate residents taking on a political establishment that seems to be totally divorced from reality. Well done to all of them.

We then formally nominated the BBC's Roy Waller as the new Sheriff.

I'm sure that the Treasury Management Strategy Report is vital and needs to be debated by full council, but from the general standard of questions and answers you have to wonder why. The only decent questioning, if I might be so bold, came from the Conservatives. Cllr Eve Collishaw (Con, Catton Grove) tore through the figures - actually probably so well that the breadth of questions was lost. Cllr John Wyatt (Con, Bowthorpe) asked how the council balance the ethical and financial nature of investment and I asked about the £80m debt that the councilo has and what would happen to it under unitary - "is this Norwich's final legacy to the districts around us?" Even super-clever Labour Cllr Alan Waters (Crome) couldn't answer and so an officer did. The trouble is that the political back-and-forth you could have with an Exec member isn't really possible across the chamber with an officer.

Chair of Scrutiny Cllr Stephenson (Green, Nelson) then reported back on the Year of Exercise & Sport Motion that said we didn't have the time, money or resources to complete. It was all plodding along fine, including the LibDem Brian Watkins (Eaton) who originally proposed the motion accepting the verdict when his ward colleague Judith Lubbock lept up to declare that if we stopped spending money on other things - such as the works on Unthank Rd - then we could afford this. Sadly, of course, Cllr Lubbock misses the point about budget streams but she does have a point regarding waste as council level. How curious the LibDems should discover this so close to an election!

We then turned to yet another one of Brian Morrey's hobby-motions - this time World Water Day. If it is a good cause, add the word "hour, day or week" to the end and Cllr Morrey will propose it. Of course it is right and proper to talk about water usage and supply, but as Cllr Lubbock made the point forcefully, it is barking that the council doesn't monitor its use or try to save money by cutting down. This turned from a fluffy motion, as hoped by Cllr Morrey, into a political bunfight. However, step up again Cllr Watkins who made a blistering attack on the envrionment policies of the government. If this was a pitch for the LibDem leadership, no other candidate need apply. It was excellent - well pitched and timed too. Luckily, with all this excitement, we had the other Cllr Little (Green, Town Close) to give a speech so dull some of us forgot what the motion was. Three cheers to the Lord Mayor for being so accurate with his allocated time slot...

Cllr Hereward Cooke's last motion to council - on Restorative Justice - also found cross party support and he spoke passionately for the concept. The Conservatives raised a few objections, and a few realities, but it still managed to find its way to the executive ok.

Cllr Lubbock stepped into the fray at the end of a long meeting to ask for council's support in opposing the HGV usage of the Newmarket Road bus lane. Well done her but she looked vaguely surprised when I suggested that one solution to traffic in the city was building the NDR...

It was, overall, a fun and boisterous pre-election meeting. We have another one on Wednesday to hear a damning government verdict on our accounts. 7.30 in City Hall if you are free!

Cameron's Family Values

In what was meant to be an aside to the launch of the Tory families policy, the political story has appeared to move onto the decision of Leader David Cameron to invite the ITN cameras into his home to film the family at work and play (read more here). Actually I believe this can only add to the news coverage of what are set to be an excellent set of policies.

So should Cameron have done this? Undoubtably the answers is that this is a personal choice. Tony Blair played the family card really well and benefited; clearly Brown isn't going to, and thats his choice. I actually think Cameron is right about one thing - the British public want to know what makes him "tick" and if we are to have this man as our next Prime Minister we'd want to know more about the kind of man he is.

I have never used my wife or family on any party political campaigning (although we did get our picture in the paper when Emily was born - a media hit that wasn't reproduced for Olivia, may I add) but I do talk about my children both on this blog and on the doorstep - because they shape who I am and what my political beliefs are. People ask if I have a family and I always reply to them, normally in gushing terms!

Louise is ultra-shy when it comes to publicity and politics; she married me, not my career. She stays out of everything; occassionally coming with me to a fundraiser or even but her focus in life is being a great mum and a great teacher. She isn't a trophy Tory-wife and I don't expect her to fawn by my side at events and suchlike. If she ever chose to get involved, I'd support her, but I don't think it's likely! She supports me 110% - by keeping my feet on the ground, telling me when I'm being an idiot and occassionally smacking me with reality. That's more important to me than anything else.

So, if Samantha Cameron was fine by it then why shouldn't Cameron open his doors to the news, and thus by extension the nation? That's what personal choice is all about; I may not do it, but I admit I was fascinated by the news coverage.

Random Thoughts on QT

Is it me, or is Charles Kennedy on Question Time roughly every few weeks? Or does it just feel like it? Or do they have so few decent speakers they have to recycle them so often!

Question One: Budget
Fantastic start by George Osborne; attaches budget with fluency; big clap.

BTW, John Denham is very good and George Osborne seems to be playing a blinder! Big claps for the Shadow Chancellor and for tax cutting too!

Kennedy - a slow start; says Darling is hitting rock-bottom.

Woman in audience blaming Tories for everything (is it me, or was the ERM a long time ago now?)

Wow - lady in audience slates Labour and says they must take responsibility and stop blaming the Tories - biggest clap of the night so far.

Denham says Labour have done some good; starts listing "tractor production" style figures. Says he wants to be accountable for record.

Leading businesswoman Louise Horlicks says that the East is financing the debt of the West; she is very much on top of this brief and comes across as clever and rational.

Lady in audience says Chancellor is hypocritical for saying "stability" 22 times despite poor predictions of worse for the future!

Man says that politicans should agree and stop bickering; I totally disagree with this - we need debate in politics. If we all agreed, it wouldn't be democracy! I hate this glib statement that people throw out.

Salmond says Scottish parliament is all about agreement; Osborne says he gets on better with Darling than Brown; Osborne cites education reform as an example of cross-party co-operation.

Second Question: Swearing oath of allegance to Queen
Salmond says its daft; its all Monty Python! Good line to take IMHO. Ruins it by saying he won't take allegance to Britain - makes him look petty and rudely nationalistic. A mistake now.

John Denham says it won't work - causes division. An innovation too far, suggests DD - quite, says Denham. Says he wants debate about Britishness. Attacks Salmond - good on him - for not wanting to see Britishness.

School leaver in audience calls for pupils to be taught about monarchy/political system.

17-year-old in audience says that we should unite around sport rather than monarchy.

LibDem Kennedy says he doesn't agree with idea; says he is only British third - and then European! Deafening silence from audience - another blunder. Kennedy not on good form. Calls for a debate (standard answer from all palenists now).

Audience member says Queen is irrelevant. Horlick says sport is a good way to integrate; calls for more money to be spent on sport; Osborne says all these issues are part of the answer. Osborne is fluent and sensible - but dull on this question. Osborne quoting a Rabi. Gets a good clap from those still awake.

Question Three: Cameron's use of his children as Tories prepare to launch childcare policies - a publicity stunt?
Horlicks says its his personal choice - got his wife's OK for it. It's good if politicans show another side to them.

Kennedy says that he has never featured his son in this way, but he wouldn't attack Cameron because its his decision.

Audience member says it gives the media free reign now.

Salmond responds that it is a choice for Cameron, but that he wouldn't put his family forward. Attacks on family always upset politicians.

Denham says its personal choice too - Tony Blair did it. Says he used his 5 year old daughter in election leaflet in 1992, but says he regrets it now. Now challenges Cameron on Tory childcare policies in the past. DD says that Denham must be pleased that they've changed - Denham looks slightly awkward.

Osborne says that Leader of the Opposition is different because people want to know more about them and thus there will be more interest in their families. Osborne says real issue is the policies. Says that this will motivate people to know more about Cameron and help the choice of the next PM.

Audience member says that although it is detailed to policy, it is a gimmick. Another says that the children have no choice.

A clear win for Osborne, but Denham did very well. Both Kennedy and Salmond made good points but slipped up whilst neither of the other 2 did.

Why the Tories are making the running on tax again

The issue of the total tax take in the UK is set to become one of the cornerstone issues at the next General Election. When the economy was good, people shrugged off Labour's various tax hikes with a sense that at least they were paying for the investment in "schools 'n' hospitals" that Blair told us all was vital. The new electoral rule was that tax cuts were a vote loser; because any tax cut could be expressed not in pounds and pence but in the number of schools shut or nurses sacked. And it worked.

Now the chickens from the last 10 years are coming home to roost and improvements in public services are clearly not coming fast enough, people are starting to query all this tax. Residents on the doosteps are starting to ask a few harsh questions of the government - why are we paying so much tax, why has it had to go up so much and ... more importantly, can I keep more of the money I earn?

Because without better public services, people are finally challenging the last reason they had for putting up with tax rises year-after-year. I hope Cameron does put the focus on the reform of public services rather than just the funding of them.

I now think the conditions are right for the Tories to talk about tax cuts without being accused of being service-slashers. The rules of the game have changed. Labour convinced people that tax cuts mean service cuts. Cameron now needs to convince people that tax cuts mean a fairer society and reform leads to better services.

I think that residents are now willing to listen to Cameron and the arguement is on our side.

Former LibDem Candidate defects to the Conservatives

The most interesting thing in the decision of one Cllr Sloan, a LibDem Councillor and former parliamentary candidate, to defect to the Conservatives is where he is from.

When a Manchester LibDem Councillor moved over to the Tories recently I said that it made the news because it suggested that Cameron was making moves in our big cities.

Cllr Sloan is from Hull; hardly a Tory stronghold and shows that people across the country are looking again at the Conservatives. I'm glad the people of Hull have a new Conservative representative and I hope Cllr Sloan does them proud and works hard.

Another Con Gain

So despite claiming he quit, it now turns out that Castle Point MP Bob Spink was sacked by the Tory Chief Whip tonight for trying to blackmail the party into saving him from a de-selection vote. Although we are sad that he has done this, it does open another winnable seat up and will join Grantham, Croydon Central and Bexley as definite "Con Gain" seats at the next election.

David Cameron has spoken about wanting a parliamentary party that reflects the country; I wonder if I could, tonuge-in-cheek, suggest that some sitting MPs are doing all they can to give him the chance by vacating their safe seats in new and interesting ways!

The Budget View from Earlham

As a political activist, the Budget is one of the great parliamentary set-pieces of the year. I could have gathered my A Level students around to watch it live and then spend the way bouncing from media outlet to blogs watching the reaction unfold.

However, given the utterly dull performance given by the Chancellor, Mr Darling, I am rather glad that didn't and I instead spent the evening with a team of campaigners in West Earlham. Amazingly, not a single person mentioned the budget on the doorsteps at all; but then, there wasn't much to mention.

So, the government got is figures wrong (again), booze and fags are to be taxed more and Darling cops out of any real reform at all. I suppose he was boxed in by the previous Chancellor - one, Gordon Brown - but still he could have done better than this, in terms of presentation if not actually policy changes. He was humiliated by David Cameron's strong, assured and detailed analysis and a few parliamentary speakers could learn something from Cameron about how to deliver a speech!

So given the budget was such a dud, I am pleased to have spent time on doorsteps rather than glued to the TV. We had a fantastic reception tonight, in roads that have traditionally not been good for us. What was marked is the number of people that said they would consider voting Conservative. I canvassed for the party in the mid-1990s; back then, barely more than a third of the country could ever see themselves as voting for us. From tonight, things are now very different. I'm sure Labour won't believe me, and because of their arrogance they wouldn't do anything even if they did, but they ought to be very worried indeed about the polling results in this community. Earlham believes Labour has failed them, and is actively looking for an alternative; it is now up to the Conservatives to step into the role of champion for the community.

Don't Take On Basher

David Davis is currently proving what an asset to the Conservatives he is, appearing on BBC's Question Time.

He crushed lil 'ol Ed Millband over ID Cards, and I'm sure the link "Orwell was meant to be a warning, not a template" will be recycled after tonight.

Good on him for taking on idiotic celebrity Marcus Brigstoke and his arguement that we shouldn't have a referendum on Lisbon because people hadn't read it. He concluded: "Are you honestly saying that we shouldn't get a vote because people can't understand it; are you saying the people in this audience can't cope with it? What a ridiculous conclusion."

And best of all, his attack on the utterly shameless Shirley Williams for her fence-sitting over Europe. She came out fighting OK, but being loud and rude doesn't make up for lacking an arguement. Then Basher asked her if it was "unimportant beause it doesn't need a vote" or "so important three of your frontbenchers had to resign over it". Williams blubbed for a few seconds, then he went for the throat again. Williams looked intellectually feeble, out-of-touch and just a little bit absurd for the whole programme; and her knock about with Davis just made it worse for her.

Warning, as if a warning is required, that you take on Basher at your peril!

Says it all, really....

Don't ask why but I am currently enjoying the repeat of Defence Questions from 3rd March on BBC Parliament and one thing is very evident. The Commons enjoyed packed Tory benches, one or two LibDems and others ... and a mere smattering Labour MPs (curious as they have 355 MPs in total so as a percentage. It says a lot about the seriousness with which Labour MPs take defence issues I suppose...

Is Clegg planning to make LibDem frontbench smaller as one silver lining of the Euro-fiasco?

One of the points I raised below was the massive size of the LibDem frontbench; roughly half of their parliamenarty party hold "senior" positions. It is notable that Nick Clegg has reshuffled his team by effectivly removing the jobs of the quitting MPs; Tim Farron's Countryside brief will move the Environment Spokesman Steve Webb, David Heath's Justice portfolio now moves to Home Affairs Spokesman Chris Huhne and Scottish/N.Ireland Spokesman Alistair Carmichael has his jobs moved to International Development Spokesman Michael Moore.

Firstly, this is fast moving - Clegg did this within an hour of their resignations, meaning he knew about them and has made these decisions before the ink was dry. I think that looks bad on him as a leader. Secondly this could, I'm informed, be part of a plan to slim down his top team in the future to ensure that less MPs can drag his party down by opposing his whip - after all, you can live with awkward backbenchers, but not with maverick frontbenchers.

Obviously Clegg will have to re-appoint a Justice Spokesman but Countryside, Scotland and N.Ireland are likely to be extra part time jobs for some poor unsuspecting LibDem MP. And when he does have the full reshuffle expect a bigger cull.

Nick Clegg: Utterly Useless

If the Liberal Democrats had any powerful men-in-grey-suits they should be striding towards Mr Clegg's office tonight to give him the roasting of his political life. His populist position on the Lisbon Treaty has failed on all fronts and now he must face the public backlash and the political crisis within his own party. How has it come to this?

Well, for reasons best left to Mr Clegg he decided against sticking to his 2005 election committment and backing a public poll on the Lisbon Treaty. Quite why is beyond me, but never mind. He then thought up a huge wheeze - go for the big referendum on the "in-out" question; he'll look mildly euro-realistic, it'll be an elephant trap for the Tory right and gets him out of his Lisbon hole. One problem - it was a rubbish plan.

Immediately people like me, who want Britain to say in Europe but don't see the need for a constitution/treaty would be disenfranchised. It's like saying if you won't play football then you won't play any ball game at all. Europe-with-Lisbon or no Europe at all. Actually, Mr Clegg, I want to be in Europe but without Lisbon. I want to play Rugby (if you follow my point).

Now Mr Clegg could have hidden behind political obscurity and hope nobody noticed this blunder, but then a dozen or so of his parliamentary party promised their electorate they'd vote for a referendum and this blew the lid off the plan. Again, Nick Clegg could have dealt with this - but he insisted on having a massive LibDem frontbench (half his party count as such) and so consequently a few of them held important posts and so having them resign looks bad.

He might still have escapes, but then he went on Newsnight last night and totally humiliated himself; firstly by being savaged by Paxo and then saying that Brown was u-turning but, of course, he wasn't at all... And then he chose the most barking of views; that he should three line whip his MPs into abstaining! So he's prepared to force his own side to resign over not making up their mind!

And today three senior members of his party quit and, from what I hear in Norwich, his party grassroots are in uproar. Not helped by the fact that 63 will be his magic number - the number of votes that the referendum was defeated by and also the number of MPs in his party.

So, Nick Clegg is utterly humiliated in a political crisis entirely of his own making. He could have avoided this at several points and didn't.

This issue is no longer about Europe, it's about Clegg's judgement. He should go home, learn the lessons, make up with his own party ... then start working on his reshuffle. Because I'm pretty sure a few LibDem MPs will be going to home to think about their future under Clegg.

Back on the Streets

Apologies for lack of posting about the campaign trail, but its so hectic at the moment there is so much to write that I don't know where to start! (So I didn't start ... you get the picture ...)

Yesterday a big group of us went to Clover Hill in Bowthorpe; and we found a fantastic reception on the doorsteps. One of the big problems in working with Niki George is getting him from door-to-door - he just wants to talk to people and they want to talk to him! Niki has managed to involve a lot of new people in his campaign and all they saw of him was the occassional glimpse whilst we canvass the rest of the street!

The campaign so far has seen a fair amount of "shadow boxing" with Labour; they've been saying some rather interesting things about us (as a party) and about me in particular. I'm sure this won't do them any good; the last time they tried this was against Eve Collishaw in Catton Grove last year and it spectacularly backfired. It did again this time - the voter said that because of Labour's attitude, she was willing to think about voting Conservative this time.

The issues that were raised were mainly centered around anti-social behaviour, road safety and recycling. Interestingly the bus lane was raised a fair few times and so was the whole unitary mess.

A good day out all-in-all; Bowthorpe Ward's shaping up to be another cracker!

Mother's Day!

We've had a great day in our house and I am rather pleased to say that Louise had no idea what we had planned for her in the morning!

After the complusory lie-in and breakfast in bed (at which she wasn't prepared for a two-girl fight over a pain-au-choc - Emily won, but Olivia gave as good as she got) came the present. Now Daddy really wanted to buy Mummy a smoothie maker, but as he has foolishly promised a nearly-3-year-old that she could choose, Mummy instead got a ...

... toy sweet shop. Well, the shop was a toy but the sweets were very much real. Emily loves playing shop - she has a great imagination - but Olivia seemed to be more into shoplifting than paying for her goods. Oh well ...

Then after this I managed to completely pull the wool over her eyes by arranging a surprise lunch at a new restaurant in the City, complete with family and friends on standby. Louise was totally stunned; more so for the fact she almost managed to walk past everyone she knows! The food was amazing and service very good; the restaurant was heaving and I don't think I've seen anywhere that busy in a long time - but newly opened restaurants and Mother's Day seems to attract a lot of people! Then from there, back to ours...

A really fun day out; the girls have been non-stop so we're both shattered. Now settling down for an evening working on election material. A great end to a great day!

Just another night at full council...

Well, the fact that the first news tonight was that all of the Conservative Questions to Council were sucked into the giant IT black hole at the council kind of set the tone of what was to come.

We kicked off with the installing of Judge Jacobs as an honourary recorder. Cllr Morphew, Leader of the Council, did a very bland speech and Cllr Cooke, LibDem Leader, did an almost too political speech. I feel they should have aimed somewhere in between. However the speech by Judge Jacobs was pitch perfect and brilliant to listen to - actually one of the best efforts in a very long time. If he judges as well as he speaks, then the City has a great new ally.

We then had an interesting question time with the public; a representative from Amnesty really took Cllr Ferris apart over charges for stalls in the City - her defence was pretty poor and it is evidence that the public can really make a point at these question times. My favourite part was one lady who listened carefully to Cllr Morrey's craefuly crafted answer about the danger to cyclings of glass on the road, only to respond: "Errr, does that mean you are actually doing to do anything?"

Then community campaigner Niall Baxter submitted our congestion charge petition. Niall did very well - speaking to council is a nerve racking experience and I rememer shaking with fear when I first used a question to then-Council Leader Ian Couzens about the threat to Ellacombe Care Home in Thorpe Hamlet. So Niall managed to get through his speech with clarity and purpose (which is more than some Councillors do). Some LibDems, accepting the implict criticism of them, didn't manage to stay for the whole thing. I know he's an opponent and I shouldn't say this by Cllr Morrey did a very good job in responding; with one factual slip - the Norwich Conservatives opposed the C-Charge before Labour, remember my motion of June 06? His joke at the end about facing both ways was well timed and really bought the house down. About time Cllr Morrey put in a good performance. It almost makes up for his normal pisspoor efforts at Question Time.

Talking of which ... this was spectacularly dull ... Cllr Wright (LibDem, Eaton) asked about the No. 25 bus stop at Castle Meadow, Cllr Read (Green, Wensum) asked how up to date the electoral maps were and Cllr Jago (Green, Mancroft) asked when the old elections office in City Hall would be re-let. Cllr Wyatt (Con, Bowthorpe) asked again about the relationship between the UEA and her neighbours. Nothing really to report; sadly.

Then, a really rare sight - the next motion was to make the wonderful Cllr Hooke (LibDem), Thorpe Hamlet's one-vote wonder - the Lord Mayor elect. This movement at great speed and shockingly I hadn't made it from my seat to the water cooler back to my seat in time and totally missed the vote. Bugger! Because I had planned on voting against him! ;-)

Cllr Bearman (Green, Town Close) then moved a very worthy motion about allotments, which was supported by Cllr Brociek-Coulton (Lab, Sewell) - in remarkable amounts of detail - and also by Cllr Lubbock (LibDem, Eaton) - in a bumbled speech she clearly hadn't prepared - and Cllr John Wyatt (Con, Bowthorpe) - allotment holder-in-chief of the council who somehow managed to blame the government for overgrown weeds. Well done him.

The up stepped Cllr Morrey to ask us to join the rest of the world in switching our lights off for an hour 8pm-9pm on 29th March (a Saturday). Cllr Cooke (LibDem, Lakenham) made a classic speech urging us to door more interesting activities in the dark - a superb piece of oratory and the like that the council will be poorer for when he leaves. Needless to say it got passed.

Finally the awarding of the Freedom of the City to RAF Marham. Again Cllr Morphew made the dull-but-worthy speech in favour and left the really good stuff up to LibDem Deputy Leader Cllr Watkins (Eaton). Cllr Watkins was passionate, informative and thoroughly decent. We had the pleasure of several excellent speeches tonight and this was one of them. I followed up by suggesting that although this was the FotC for the RAF it should be taken as indicative of our support for all of our armed forces. I suggested that Norwich was proud of the RAF - which didn't recieve support across the chamber. Whilst Labour, Conservatives, LibDems and some Greens voted in favour it was notable that Cllrs Stephenson (Nelson), Llewelyn (Wensum), Read (Wensum) and Gledhill (Nelson) all abstained. Are we not backing the RAF then, chaps?

All in all not the most important meeting and certainly no worlds were set on fire. But we did experience some really good speeches and no real foul ups tonight. Maybe, actually, council at its best?

The Budget Debate

Yesterday was the longest and hardest council meeting of the year; both physcially in terms of the lenght and stress of the meeting but also because of the issues involved. Nobody in the council is an expert on every section of the budget and, despite our claims, no party leader has a total grasp even given all the extra meetings we've had on this recently. Our meeting saw some robust exchanges and some honest views being set out - given that most of the budget was thrashed out well in advance, god knows how long we'd have been there if we hadn't of done that!

Firstly the Leader of the Council, Cllr Morphew, moves the budget framework; that is the high level strategy direction that the budget will follow. Cllr Morphew couldn't resist turning it into a kind of two-year review of his administration; incuding battering the poor LibDems - the first of many batterings and their party must have left the chamber feeling very down indeed. Cllr Morphew set out changes to the financial regime, improvements in housing, CCTV extension ... in fact, I accuse dhim of sounding like a Stalinist Minister reeling off the tractor production figures. Outgoing LibDem Leader Cllr Hereward Cooke took an open shot at Cllr Morphew but seemed to be leaving his best fire for later. LibDem Cllr Carl Mayhew (Mile Cross) joined us in abstaining on this item, against his own party decision to vote in favour.

Then the budget itself is moved. Cllr Alan Waters, Executive Member for Finance, made a decent and amusing stab at justifying the budget - including some very amusing powerpoint slides and a pre-emptive attack on other budget amendments. My only feeling was that Cllr Waters spent too much time knocking the alternatives rather than saying why his budget was the best. Then came the LibDem budget amendment...

... they wanted to have a council tax rise of 2.95% and give an extra £32,000 to Visit Norwich Ltd - and to pay for it, they'd cut the wardens programme by £92,000. I have to say on first hearing this I couldn't believe our political luck. The wardens are popular, hard working and successful - the LibDems wanted to sack some of them in favour of tourism???

Cllr Cooke seemed like a man who knew his time was up and hardly flourished on his last big occassion. He put forward the amendment but did so in a quiet way, almost hoping this might take the edge off the atatcks from other parties. A shame - Cllr Cooke is, despite his party's difficulties, one of the best orators on the council. This should have been his moment to really make one last stand before standing down. It feel flat; not a disaster but without any spark. The same can't be said for his Deputy, Cllr Brian Watkins (Eaton), who led with a clenched fist in a passionate defence on VisitNorwich. Cllr Watkins has long been an advocate of a strong tourist strategy and he clearly had the bit between his teeth. However, a good speech went bad when he slipped and said the LibDems wanted to give "32 million" to VisitNorwich rather than just £32,000. Oh dear.

The LibDem amendment cut little ice with other parties; I'm afriad I couldn't sit by and watch all this go through without making a fuss. Whilst I'm sure Labour would be happy just to let the votes roll through, Cllr Ramsay accused the LibDems of "throwing good money after bad" and suggested they were writing "a blank cheque" for VisitNorwich.

I was rather less kind. I said it, "looks like a visionless effort from a leaderless party ... it has the desperate smack of a party who knows its time is up ... we're dealing with a failing organisation who don't seem to be able to fulfill their purpose, wandering lost and trying to find some measure of support (that's the LibDems, not VisitNorwich) ... perhaps this is about undercutting Labour, well I tell you they aren't going to undercut the Conservatives; we'll deliver tax cuts because we believe in tax cuts ... thousands raised, thousands spend, thousands wasted but only now do the LibDems realise that tax is too high ... no ideas, no vision, no leadership and quite frankly, no hope!"

Cue LibDem groaning and plenty of cheers; I'm told even clapping from the public gallery. The LibDems lost their amendment 7 votes to 17 with 11 abstentions; including their very own Cllr Mayhew.

Then came our amendment. We would have;
Reduce spending on Unitary by £500,000
Use £300,000 to reduce council tax
Use £200,000 to support community projects through the People's Fund

In my speech, I said that this "was not an attempt to de-rail unitary - believe me, we've tried that - ...now is the time to say that the project has gone on long enough and cost more than enough ... other districts will be paying out just £300,000 so why can't we just spend what everybody else will ... this isn't about unitary, it's about unitary without the waste, it isn't about council tax, it's about a signal that this council won't accept ever higher bills, this isn't about extra funding for community projects, it's about the best use of our limit resources."

I have to admit to not knowing quite what the opposition arguements were. Cllr Waters was so nice and charming that I totally lost what he was saying. He did use a typical Labour trick of plucking a figure out of the air and claiming we'd cut service. Errr, no. There's only 2 cuts - the unitary budget and then everyone's council tax bills. We were then told that council tax bill cuts would only benefit the middle classes. I'm sorry, does everybody else not pay council tax? Finally Cllr Waters assured us that the rise was only 3p per week anyway. Well, that's OK ... if it wasn't my 3p in the first place and I can still spend it better than the council can.

The other-Cllr Little (Green, Town Close) made an incoherant and bizarre speech of which I can remember little (no pun) other than being accused of electioneering. I'm surprised that Cllr Read could contain himself, but it took Cllr Collishaw (Con, Catton Grove) to come to my aid. I then surprised the council by revealing that I am a conservative, favour a small council and tax cuts; one mans electioneering is another man's political principle.

After our sound defeat (31 votes to 3!) Cllr Ramsay, Green Leader, clearly felt his own side had missed their chance so tried to come back to our amendment which, needless to say, I had to stop using a Point of Order. Come on, chaps, let's do this right!

In the final vote on the budget, it was left to Labour and the Conservatives as the other groups chose to sit it out. The final result was 13 votes to 3; we voted against Labour's 3.7% tax hike.

A good debate, well natured and largely good fun. We all had our say, votes were taken and I suppose the will of the city was heard. Roll on next year...

... one pleasing footnote was that during another topic, I managed to force te delightful Cllr Lubbock to storm out of the chamber. Half a dozen other councillors congratulated me afterwards, saying they had always wanted to do the same thing!!!

More tomorrow ... a friend in the galery wrote some pen portraits which I will publish.

Norwich Tories 0% council tax rise bid

Norwich Conservatives will today launch our alternative budget ahead of Tuesday’s crunch council meeting. The budget will see more investment into key areas such as recycling but will trim the unitary spending of the council to deliver an overall freeze on council tax.

Taxpayers in Norwich have been hammered by Labour year after year. Once again we are looking again at inflation busting rises that will see senior citizens and low income families suffer.

That’s why, as Conservatives, we believe in keeping council tax low. Conservative run South Norfolk Council has led the way in setting a freeze on council tax and now we hope to do the same in Norwich.

Clearly much of the spending is good, but unitary stands alone as being Labour’s great white elephant in the City. We’re picking up the bill for Labour’s political vanity.

It is ridiculous that when services are in need of extra investment and people across Norwich are being told there is no money available, we are planning to spend £800,000 of taxpayers money on Unitary. This brings the bill for Unitary well into the millions for the people of Norwich.

Clearly the council needs to do some preparation work so we are suggesting a compromise – that £300,000 be taken out of the unitary budget and be used to cut tax for thousands of hard working people across the City.

However, we would go further than that – trimming another £250,000 off Labour’s unitary bill and putting that money directly into future community projects, making the lives of people around our City better.

The unitary debacle has gone on long enough and cost more than enough. It’s time people knew that at least one party is willing to put them, their families and their services first in all this. The Conservatives are willing to take tough decisions and say that tax is too high and must now come down.

Residents can also use the elections this May to send Labour and the LibDems a message – if you want to pay less tax, spend more on services and less on political bureaucracy you have to vote Conservative.

Safe Play Teams - meaningless jargon or something better?

The news that Bowthorpe's parks are to be covered by a Safe Play Team is clearly to be welcomed. There is so much more we can do to make these areas safe, clean and attractive for families. Very good news in fact, because this formed a central plank of our election manifesto in the last few years.

Yet, drilling down on what this actually means leaves me rather disappointed. It means linking the wardens and lottery-funded play rangers. Well, erm, why hasn't that been happening and also why does this require a new name and a media launch?

Local Councillors have been doing this work, on the ground, for some time. The real improvements made in the Three Score Park, between Caddow Road and The Runnell, has ben achieved thanks to work of the police, PCSOs and wardens. Isn't that the same as the Safe Play Team?

Or is there something else we don't yet know about the work of these teams? There is a lot of scope for these teams, and I suppose that development will tell us if these teams are there for headlines or actually improving life.

Come on Council - what's the vision?

Should a Tory candidate have to do his own gardening?

The lack of posts this week says something about the pace at which the parliamentary campaign has taken off. Between ward work, the media and canvassing there hasn't bene much time for blogging. However this week is Half-Term and Louise has forced me to address the total disaster zone that is the garden.

Hence, this morning I could be found in old jeans and scruffy top lugging whole sections of my garage and garden into a skip. As I was pulling one of my least attractive faces, pushing the last of what once passed as a buddleia into a tiny crack between a brick and a plank of wood with nails sticking out, a friends who lives at the end of the road passed by.

"Ey, what have we here?" he proclaimed, as if it wasn't blatantly obvious enough. "Our local Tory candidate doing his own garden? Can't see Mr Clarke digging his own plot!" - no, I thought, launching a plot or whispering one, but never digging it. I then took a few moments of abuse before he finished with, "at least I can vote for somebody who knows how to get their hands dirty!".

I didn't know what to be more shocked about; that he was voting for me after admitting previously to being a LibDem, or the fact that he was genuinely amazed I did my own DIY and gardening.

Do other candidates get away with this? I also wash clothes, clean baths, put out the bin and even go to work. Is the land stalked with other PPCs who don't do this sort of stuff anymore? Or has the public's perception of politicans now moved so far from the truth that we are all tarnished with the nose-in-trough stereotype of the worth excesses of the Westminster MP?

Iain Dale is Human

The wonderful Iain Dale's Diary, probably the most readable and important Tory blog going, is fast becoming an all-in-one, one-stop-shop Iain Dale website; promoting the many facets of the talented Mr Dale, including his blogging, speeches, TV and radio work. In fact, it seems like Iain is beocming the media friendly Tory.

So it is fantastic that, on clicking to read about his writing, the first thing he does is make a spelling mistake! Thank God he's human too...

Iain is attracting a reputation as one of Britain’s most informed an incisive political writers.

Frank Field: Right theory, Wrong practice

Labour MP Frank Field has had to put up with a lot over the years - not least being ousted from Blair's first government for being too radical and since then being treated by his own side as if he's about to defect to the Conservatives.

Well, today Frank launched rather interested reform plans that would charge people who earn over £150,000 a year an extra 10% tax which could be offset totally through donations to charity. You can read the BBC report here.

I am a great believer in charity; that some things are beyond the state and that people working together can do wonderful things for society. Much lamented US President Herbet Hoover once remarked that a single dollar given by free will was worth ten dollars given by the government. I happen to agree, and I think thats one of the aspects that makes me a Conservative. The act of giving is as much an important act as the amount itself.

So, anything which encourages greater giving has to be good - especially as this type of giving normally goes to projects ignored by the government. However, to force rich people at a financial version of gunpoint to give to charity rather defeats the point. I'm sure that, if introduced, this would net the government no money at all - most rich people would still rather give to a favourite charity than this unpopular goverment.

Frank Field is spot on in asking how we get more people, particularly the rich, to give to charity - but this plan is not the answer.

Challenging Clarke

On Friday night I was honoured to have been selected at the new Conservative parliamentary candidate for Norwich South - it was a packed meeting, much larger than for the 2005 election and I have to say that the overall quality of candidate was very good and I hope that both Martin and Will go on to find good constituencies.

Everybody who wants to become an MP, I think, dreams of doing so in their home City. I live here, work here, my kids go to school here ... I have a real stake in this community and am dedicated to making it working better. Norwich is a fantastic City and, above all, I am going to run a positive campaign. I think that this City and its citizens are really going places and above all, I want to be a part of that; hopefully as our MP. I reserve the right to highlight failure and criticise, but when I do so I will always offer a positive alternative for people.

The Norwich Conservatives go from strength to strength locally; our canvass in Chapel Break, Bowthorpe, and also in Eaton yesterday show us that more people prefer a new Cameron Conservative government to the old failed Labour one under Brown. People weren't just anti-Labour but they were becoming pro-Conservative again.

Why is this? Because whilst we may getting richer as a City in material goods, there are still real concerns when two local High Schools are under OFSTED scrutiny, when our flagship hospital doesn't have enough beds and when anti-social behaviour still impacts on our estates. I've written in detail about my response to those problems here and I hope that when Cameron launches our manfiesto, it tackles those issues. And, before you ask, I won't be employing my wife or any other member of my family - mostly because the girls are too young to be of any real help and I don't think Louise would want to spend that amount of time with me!

So now's the time to get on with the job - I've got a campaign team to put together and a plan to create. I like to think I have shown the dedication to this City and have the experience to really make a difference. Given the positive reaction of friends in the City and party members, I think this may well be a really fun election to fight!

So Mr Clarke, who has this week been worrying about a Conservative revival, ought now to be worrying about the Conservative revival in his own back yard!