Brighton Pavilion – ensuring that ‘Open Primary’ is closed to outsiders

There is a lady living in Crawley who is really fed up with Digby Scott. On his website, the candidate who professes to be local didn’t get the dialing code for Brighton correct. Rather, he lists a Crawley number on his website, Crawley being 01293 as opposed to 01273 which, as locals will know, is the Brighton code.

Digby, you owe her an apology and perhaps a bunch of flowers.

The number given is supposed to be the one needed to book a place at the Open Primary meeting for Brighton Pavilion this Wednesday evening. I tried the 01273 version, but it just rang and rang. I tried to reserve a place at the Open Primary using the email address published in the Argus, but all that produces is the following Mail System error -  “This Message was undeliverable due to the following reason: Each of the following recipients was rejected by a remote mail server. The reasons given by the server are included to help you determine why each recipient was rejected. Recipient: <pavilionopenprimary@hotmail.com> Reason:    Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable”. 

Great work. One might begin to wonder how ‘open’ this selection process actually is. Is it that Digby and Conservative Central HQ only want carefully handpicked attendees?

Scott Digby trying (and failing) to convince us he is local to Brighton Pavilion

Scott Digby just doesn’t get it. Clearly he is concerned that he may be (actually, will be) seen as a candidate parachuting into Brighton Pavilion. My post last night Scott Digby: A here today, gone tomorrow politician pointed out how he is exposing himself as so unlocal by commenting so badly on Brighton.

Today he has posted two articles on his blog that compound his insensitivity and shows why, inspite of his clear ability, hard work, and real nice-guy image (for which I can vouch), he is not suited to be the candidate in Brighton Pavilion.

In one post he comments on “how many people make Brighton and Hove their home – a whole city of newcomers it seems”. He has disregarded the majority of residents who were actually born here, but then he is not mixing with them, spending as he does most of his time at Bill’s, in the Lanes, and with the local Conservative Association. “With so many newcomers whether you have been here a year or a month it seems you are in good company”. Dig, Digby, dig.

In a second post he puts his finger on one of the most pressing issues for Brighton and Hove – property prices. “The issue of rising houses prices which despite the recent economic climate have increased nationwide by 1.2% in October (the sixth consecutive rise) are really hitting city workers in Brighton and Hove. With the average wage in the city around £21,000 a year, the average city house price bucks the trend at £268,000 compared to an average national level of £199,303″. This is good but shows a lack of touch with reality when promoting a scheme in the London Borough of Hillingdon where he is a councillor.

One major cause of property prices in Brighton being as high as they are is the number of people moving from London to Brighton. Demand for Brighton properties by those currently owning homes in London, resulting in the higher than average property prices locally, is one reason why so many local people can’t afford to buy here. Mary Mears, Tory leader of the Council understands this.

I wonder how she feels about a Londoner, who optimistically claims to qualify as being local (“the time I have spent in Brighton since 2001 probably qualifies me as equally local, on the ground pretty much 4 days a week at present and before the selection opened I was working down here on events”), moving to Brighton from London with the hope of taking the prize of Member of Parliament for Brighton Pavilion.

Scott Digby: A here today, gone tomorrow politician

Why are the Tories bothering with their Brighton Pavilion open primary’ (or what Jason Kitcat argues is, in fact, an ‘open caucus’)  given that Conservative Central HQ operative, Scott Seaman-Digby is so far in front of others that his selection is almost a formality.

Scott has busied himself around the constituency on official Party business well before the announcement of the shortlist. He has become well networked and opportunities have been created for him to meet with community leaders, the police and others. If I was one of the other five, I would be totally pissed off.

To his credit, he has been very busy meeting with councillors, Association members and others, and he has created a comprehensive website in record time, having launched it well before the shortlist was announced.  It was as if he had been tipped off about the shortlisting in advance. He is clearly very talented, and I have no doubt that he would be a diligent and hard-working Member of Parliament.

But for all his preparation and the launch of his website ‘Digby4Pavilion‘, a review of his ‘My Brighton Blog’, launched on 23rd October, reveals how shallow is his knowledge of Brighton and Hove. He refers to meeting with “Michael and Simon, the two selected Brighton candidates”.  I think the Michael being referred to is Mike Weatherley, Tory Parliamentary candidate for Hove & Portslade. Anyone with any local knowledge knows the uneasy relationship between Brighton and Hove, actually, and would never refer to Hove as Brighton.

His repeated, folksy use of life in ‘Pavilion’ is most strange. For example, he says that he met “local Pavilion councillors”. I know of no one who ever, ever uses the term ‘Pavilion’ as if it is a recognisable community or geographical area. Kemptown, yes, but Pavilion, no. And his reference to going to “the coast” and to “the seaside” suggests someone who sees Brighton as a fun day out, a bit of recreation, rather than a complex mix of communities.

Follow his itinery recorded in his blog. He discovers Bill’s in North Road, visits the North Laine, the Lanes, the County Hospital, Brighton College, Preston Manor, Withdean Stadium and Waterhall. He has lunch with Association members at Withdene. At the Open Market he meets a stall owned by the family of Councillor Mary Mears, the Conservative Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council. Yet he is still to meet working class Mary Mears (and here we return to the class divide within the local Tory Party – visits Brighton College, lunches in Withdean, but has yet to make the acquaintence of  Mary Mears).

In an earlier response to this blog he says that “the time I have spent in Brighton since 2001 probably qualifies me as equally local, on the ground pretty much 4 days a week at present”. (What does that say about his commitment to his constituents in Hillingdon?).

Given his itinery to date, he has barely scratched the real Brighton.  Sadly, his commitment does not run deep. In his blog on 27 October he says that “if I am not successful then the site winds down with a thank you to everyone I have met in the process”. He is a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ kind of politician.

 

All new Tory Party: only investment bankers, Lloyds brokers, and management consultants need apply

There has been an unprecedented response to yesterday’s blog regarding the Conservative shortlist for Brighton Pavilion. This blog was accused of taking ‘cheap shots’ at the six prospective candidates.  I promise not to take any cheap shots at them in this post.  I’ll leave them to do that themselves, by quoting from their own blogs or those that will have their blessing.

Charlotte Vere is the ‘Chairman-elect’ (sic) of the Conservative Women’s Organisation. On the CWO’s website is a report of the launch of the Richmond Park CWO which was, you will be relieved to hear “a resounding success”.  The report says “With 30 ladies in attendance and after a sumptuous buffet lunch, the group heard from the Association Chairman, Cllr Pamela Fleming, who organised the lunch, then from the Chairman-elect, Charlotte Vere. Lady Annabel Goldsmith has agreed to become President of the CWO Committee”.

Scott Digby has made the most impressive start, having launched his own website  he appears to have the most professional campaign.  Well, why not.  He is a management consultant.  “One of my clients is the Conservative Party where I act as their Commercial Director, managing their procurement processes, suppliers and the commercial side of the conference activity”. He has already engaged with this blog, providing a robbust and amusing response to last night’s blog which commented (took a cheap shot, actually) at him changing his name from Scott Seaman-Digby to plain Scott Digby. He signed his comment “Scott Whatever-you-wish-to-call-him”.

Mary Weale is joint MD of Lloyd’s Insurance Brokers, and clearly a candidate in search of a constituency having been included on the Hammersmith shortlist. In 2004 she was beaten by Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former foreign secretary, when trying to become candidate in in Kensington. After that selection meeting one of the younger members of the association, Paula-Ann Hawkins said she was impressed by the youthful Ms Weale. “The average age in there was about 70. You could say Mary has youth on her side and she is so good she has time to get another seat. You could say that he [Sir Malcolm] had age on his side tonight,” Ms Hawkins said.

Last night I reported that Anna Firth has been described as “a leading campaigner” for better early years education. However, she started off her career in the City where she worked as investment banker for two years before changing to become a Barrister. She was called to the Bar in 1991 and specialised in medical negligence law (although it is unclear whether she represented victims or insurance companies).

Douglas Chirnside, as reported last night, is a TV producer. Does anyone know what else he has produced other than “Sex and Shopping”? (That is a cheap shot, BPB).

Finally, there is local Tory Boy, Andrew Wealls. Well not that local., having moved to Hove in the last couple of years from London. “Andrew Wealls worked in the investment management industry for almost 20 years, most recently at Barclays Global Investors where he gained experience in portfolio management, client relationship development and business planning and management”.

Investment bankers, an insurance broker, a barrister, a management consultant, and a lady who does scrumptuous lunches (while not forgetting Sex and Shopping) – this is David Cameron’s new Conservative Party, opening up the selection process to all comers. Thank goodness it doesn’t look like the old Tory Party that was made up of investment bankers, Lloyds brokers, and management consultants.  Nice one, David!

Brighton Pavilion shortlist reveals Tory class divide and prejudice

The Conservative Party has announced a shortlist of six candidates for the General Election campaign in Brighton Pavilion.  And in so doing it has revealed what a class-divided Party it is.

First there is Scott Digby (or is it Scott Seaman-Digby?), the national Tory commercial director.  Why would he possibly have wanted to drop the Seaman from his surname.  It hasn’t held him back when becoming Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Borough of Hillingdon.  Then we have fellow London Tory councillor, insurance broker Mary Weale, who represents the good folk in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

No 3 is Charlotte Vere, a former finance director, now chief executive of Big White Wall, a charity for those with mental health problems.  She is joined by Anna Firth, who has been described as “a leading campaigner” for better early years education, and by Douglas Chirnside, a TV producer.  There was a TV producer called Douglas Chirnside (a common name amongst TV producers, I am sure) whose finest work was a series called “Sex and Shopping”.

Finally, there is someone from Brighton (you remember Brighton?  This election is for a Brighton seat!). Andrew Wealls was the Tory candidate who was beaten by Alex Phillips in Goldsmid in a by-election in July. I know Andrew and like him.  He is a decent, hard-working chap.  If selected he could put in good effort, but is hardly going to set the campaign on fire, especially against Nancy Platts and Caroline Lucas.

More interesting is the absence of Mary Mears and Maria Caulfield, two very strong female candidates, well-known and well-respected.  Either could out-flank Nancy and Caroline, not least on the Council estates in Brighton Pavilion.  Their omission from the shortlist is evidence of the deep class division that runs through the local Conservative Party. This division exists on the City Council where Mary Mears (Open Market) defeated Geoffrey Theobald (Brighton College) for the post of Tory Leader and, consequently, Leader of the Council.

From my point of view, the omission of Mary and Maria is great news as their selection would have almost guaranteed a Tory gain. The Conservative Association, led by the hapless Carol Ramsden, has handed Nancy and Caroline a head start, first by selecting Dr David Bull who then stood down, and now possibly Scott Seaman-Digby-Weale-Vere-Chirnside-Firth IV of the Royal London Borough of Uppity Class, as its candidate.

It may yet be a straight fight between Nancy and Caroline.  Bring it on.

It’s the Sun Wot Got it Wrong

The furore over Gordon Brown’s letter, generated by the Sun, appears to be turning in favour of the Prime Minister. Most people now know that GB is blind in one eye and largely blind in the other, and they know that he writes personal, handwritten letters to the bereaved.

The fact that the phone call was recorded suggests that he has been set up by the Sun.

Callers to BBC phone in programmes and those who have sent texts and emails, have been “overwhelmingly sympathic” to Gordon Brown. This view is shared by Labour and Toties alike.

It is great to see the tide turning in favour of GB and strongly against the Sun.

Brighton Pavilion and the ‘art of blogging’

Us bloggers are a strange breed.  There is nothing we enjoy more than really getting up people’s noses.  In the last week I have been delighted to get some particularly damning comments about this blog.

“kemptown”, who appears to be a Labour supporter, commented: “You really are a bit odd and this blog is not really very good. Come on do some real blogging for a change”.  I responded that I felt “chastened to the core by this cutting analysis. I’m not sure if I’ll ever recover”.  Well that was last night, this is now the morning after and I feel inspired by the encouragement I have received from “kemptown”.

Nikki Bayley, a Green supporter, writes about me, “The more I read your tweet the more annoying it becomes”. She says that she is “irked” by my blog and accuses me of taking “cheap shots”.  Such recognition is always welcome.  Thank you Nikki. She has commented that she doesn’t like my use of phrases such as “What I hear from …” or “Many say that…” ,  She says that I say things with “absolutely no back up at all”.  She goes on “Fortunately, I benefitted from good editors & was never allowed to crowbar in my own views as those of others and have learnt that doing things like that is awfully lazy (& inaccurate) journalism”.

From what I hear, people seem to like what I post, not because they necessarily agree with what I say.  Indeed, many say that they read it because it isn’t what they believe in.  (Actually, I made the last two sentences up, can’t back up these statements, and was being lazy as these are, in truth, my own views).

The serious point about blogging is that it can be ones own views; it can be opinionated and does not have to pretend to be up to normal journalistic standards.  Love it or loath it, you don’t have to read it and you certainly don’t have to rely on it.  What I try to do through this blog is to comment on political issues and events, mainly local ones.

In Brighton and Hove we have one of the most interesting political fights in decades, between Nancy Platts and Caroline Lucas. I have consistently made my views clear: the prospect of the first ever Green MP is exciting and I want to see it happen.  I fear that Caroline Lucas is not proving to be a good local candidate and the campaign has yet to be ignited.  Nancy Platts on the other hand is a good local candidate who is working hard, but who is standing for the wrong party.  Unless there is a massive swing back to Labour, she will not win.

My fear is that a split vote between a defeated Labour Party and a lacklustre Green campaign that should have, but did not, maintain momentum after the Goldsmid by-election, will allow the Tories to win (and they don’t yet have a candidate, for goodness sake).

What should be the most interesting political fights in decades may yet have the result that Nikki, “kemptown” and I really don’t want.

Terrible medical condition afflicting Labour and Green councillors in Brighton

Many years ago there was a Labour Party activist in Brighton called Chris Stanley whose partner, Hilary Metcalf, was one of the Poll Tax rebel councillors.  In his younger years Chris had been a councillor somewhere in Kent.  He made an observation that there was a medical condition that afflicted decent, ordinary individuals in quite amazing ways.  Their speech would be affected, they gained a sense of their own self-importance, a sense of grandeur. They isolated themseloves from others, tending to socialise only with those afflicted with the same condition.

That condition, according to Chris Stanley, was known as ‘Councilloritis’. Yes, ordinary men and women, who previously showed no symptoms, would be afflicted almost immediately after they had been elected as councillors.  Take speech, if the victim served on the Council’s Planning Committee, where previously they may have said, “Those windows look a little bit pokey”, they would suddenly use a strange language, “I believe the detail of the fenestration on the southern facade requires further examination”. Where they may have once referred to “puddles in the road”, they began talking about “excess surface water on the highway”.

As for their sense of self-importance, they believe themselves to have somehow become superior to the rest of us. A tragic case involved the secretary of the Brghton and Hove Anti-Poll Tax Union who, on the back of his campaigning against the Poll Tax, was elected as a Labour councillor in Moulsecoomb in 1990. The very next day he paid his poll tax.  When challenged on this he repied, “Now I am a leading citizen of the town I have to set the right example”.

What about today’s crop of councillors? I am sad to say that the condition is rife in the ranks of Labour councillors with few, if any, showing signs of normality.  I don’t know many Tories so it is difficult to make any conclusive diagnosis.  The Greens have seen an outbreak amongst their ranks although some appear not to have been afflicted at all, able to live totally normal lives (if you regard the wearing of Stasi-style tabbards as normal, which clearly Green Amy does!).

Other Green councillors, sadly, are showing extreme symptoms and should be witdrawn from public life.  The good news is that one can recover, either through sheer determination or total abstinence from engaging in councillor activities.  But first the inflicted have to acknowlede the condition, and overcoming denial is the hardest part.

Jean Calder would be an asset to the Blogosphere

I’m at risk of being accused of misogyny – not only did I forget to mention Green Amy in my initial review of local political blogs (I realised my mistake straight away), I was rebuked by greenkemptownben for not reviewing the blog of Caroline Lucas (an error I rectified yesterday). Today it was pointed out to me that I missed the blog of a third woman, former Argus columnist, Jean Calder.

In my defence I can point to a link on my Blogroll and the fact that her blog doesn’t appear to have been updated for some time.  Her blog consists mainly (completely?) of her much missed column in the Argus.  Some people say it was the only reason to buy the Argus! While she is not an active blogger, a visit to her site is well worth reading.  If you read this, Jean, make a comeback.  A regular blog from you would be worth reading.

Caroline Lucas, as local as the Isle of Wight

Ben Duncan, or greenkemptownben as he is known to his nearest and dearest, has commented in his blog about my blog about other people’s Brighton blogs (if you follow).  Who said us bloggers are a sad bunch of anoracks (or in the case of Green Amy, tabards)? Anyway, he said that I omitted to review the blog of Caroline Lucas.  He writes: “He’s missing one of the best political blogs though for a local take on national issues, that of Caroline Lucas, local MEP, Green Party Leader, and parliamentary candidate in Brighton Pavilion”.

So I had a look at the blog of the Great Leader (apologies to Andrew Neil).  Of the ten latest posts, how many provided the “local take on national issues” referred to by greenkemptownben of this parish? None, actually.  The nearest we get to Brighton Pavilion is the Isle of Wight.  What she writes about is all good stuff, but the focus does reflect a common view that she is aloof (I know the old joke, the world needs more loofs). There is a feeling, and this is why a Green victory in Brighton Pavilion at the General Election is not certain, that she she sees Brighton Pavilion as the next step in her wonderful career. What a shame when, with a candidate focused on local campaigning (like Labour’s Nancy Platts), the Greens could have made history in Brighton Pavilion.

As for Nancy, wrong Party and the wrong time. As for the Greens, wrong candidate, could have been the right time.