My candidacy for Devizes

Euro Extravaganza, Devizes (Nov 2008)

I'm thrilled and honoured to announce that I've reached the final stage of the Selection Procedure to be the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Devizes Conservative Constituency Association. The successful candidate will be replacing the great Michael Ancram, who retires at the next General Election and who has held the Devizes seat since 1992.

So why Devizes?

I am a firm believer that anyone applying to be a political candidate needs to have an affinity with the place they seek to represent. Until June of this year, I was one of the Conservative European Parliamentary Candidates for the region, with special responsibility for Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. I believe that I am already in a strong position to represent the best interests of the constituents of Devizes.

My time visiting the area over a two and half year period, supporting councillors and local candidates standing in the 2009 unitary elections, knocking on doors and meeting many residents and organisations face to face and attending local events, has given me a great many insights into the concerns that local people have about many issues.

People will have seen me out and about in the constituency and in neighbouring constituencies over a two and half year period, or received European campaign literature with my face on it or seen my name listed as one of the candidates on the ballot papers in every polling station in every ward in the Devizes constituency - I think that matters too. It matters for building public trust in today's age of political apathy and to show, yes, you do care and have stood up for local interests. As a Euro candidate, I stood up for farmers and spoke up for British sovereignty. I spoke at the Ladies Luncheon Club in 2008 and attended an event to raise money for the local village hall in Burbage, a November 2008 Euro Extravaganza held at a local school and spoke at the public hustings for the European elections organised by the Marlborough Brandt Group (picture below).

Euro hustings, Spring 2009 - organised by the Marlborough Brandt Group

I already know and care about constituency and I have a good working relationship with people in neighbouring constituencies.

I understand the needs of a rural constituency like Devizes because they mirror those where I live. The Forest of Dean is a community of villages, market towns and breathtaking landscapes, with farmers, small businesses and commuters to Bristol, Swindon, Cardiff and London and home to the 1st Battalion The Rifles at Beachley Barracks.

I’m not going to pretend I am an expert on everything local, because that would be preposterous. But I know I can represent the interests of this constituency well. I believe I can relate to local residents.

My pledge to the people of Devizes

1. I will move to the constituency - this is a wonderful place to live and I can see myself raising a family here;
2. I will work hard. I will be accessible, listen to the needs of local residents, follow up matters and be visible within the constituency;
3. I will have regular face to face contact with local residents and will support local events throughout the constituency;
4. I will use the internet and new media to build up links with voters;
5. I will promise transparency and accountability. Part of my integrity pledge will be to publish all my expenses online, as well as an annual report of my activities and a monthly newsletter;
6. I will not shirk away from addressing the tough issues;
7. I will never promise what I cannot hope to deliver;
8. Once elected, my priorities would be my constituents first and my party second;
9. I would hold weekly surgeries throughout the constituency and will try and reach as many residents as possible by having regular 'street stalls';
10. I will guarantee that all letters and emails are acknowledged and answered promptly.

Having been one of the regional Euro candidates, I am campaign ready. My first 3 priorities if selected will be to:

1. Move to Devizes as soon as possible;
2. Draw up a campaign strategy on a ward by ward, working closely with local councillors and association members;
3. Within the first month of being selected, I want to have: (a) knocked on doorsteps across the entire constituency; and (b) met representatives from local schools and colleges, farmers, businesses, charities, health professionals and other key stakeholders.

My vision for Devizes

My key policy priorities if selected would be:

• Local economy and a growth agenda - Working with local businesses, the Council, schools and colleges and voluntary groups to see how we can pull through this recession together and secure future livelihoods. Given my expertise in youth matters and education, I want to look at how we can ensure the best quality education, training and employment services for our young people;
• Campaigning for a fair deal for rural communities - this includes all the issues faced by a rural constituency: standing up for farming and countryside issues, helping small businesses, securing good public services (improved transport infrastructure, securing affordable housing without damaging our physical landscape and character of local towns and villages and ensuring the survival of local shops, pubs and post offices);
• Health - we do need a minor injuries unit or urgent care centre in the constituency and I will be fight for improved access to dentists and better maternity services and palliative care;
• Armed forces - I will be a champion of the armed forces and I will push to have elements of the Royal British Legion manifesto made into law;
• The Elderly - we need a holistic look at different policy areas and see if they are meeting the needs of this ever increasing segment of the population. I will produce a Dignity Charter for the Elderly based on respect, dignity and recognising the contribution they have made to society and to get it adopted nationally;
• Addressing the tough issues - given my background and experience in the voluntary sector, I will not shirk away from addressing the tough issues (e.g. social inequality, welfare dependency, Europe, immigration and the protection of British values and traditions).
  

I have very clear views on what I would do as a prospective MP in Devizes. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by leaving your comments in the comments section of this article or contacting me via my website at http://www.zehrazaidi.org.uk/.

A Cutie?

Imagine this. I get a call from a friend saying I'm in the Mail on Sunday. You what? Surely some mistake?

Then the texts and phonecalls start. The facebook inbox gets swamped. Finally around lunchtime, I see what they're talking about....

THERE IT IS: CAMERON'S CUTIES - a double page spread with me listed in the bottom right hand corner. I almost dropped my cuppa!

All I can say is, don't believe everything you read in the papers!

David Brooks acknowledges the UK's reality moment

David Brooks is an American columnist with the New York Times who has long admired the direction being taken by David Cameron. Earlier this year he contrasted Cameron's style with that of Obama and the GOP:

"we now have two models. We have the Obama model, which is technocratic, sending teams of experts to solve problems. Very centralized, actually. And then if you want the alternate model -- the Republicans in this country unfortunately have no model because they haven’t thought about it, or they haven’t thought productively about it.

But there is another model. And that is David Cameron, the British conservative leader in Britain. And he says if you’re going to be the centralized state, I’m going to be society. Capitalism is not good enough. It needs to be embedded in institutions. And you’re going to champion the technocrats in government; I’m going to champion every other institution in society, whether it’s family, career associations, every other -- the church -- every other association you can think of. I’m going to be the society party and going to make you the state party"

Today, he writes about the reality moment i.e. "That which can’t continue doesn’t. A nation can spend and spend, pile debt upon debt, but eventually there comes a reality moment when some leader emerges to say enough is enough and when decent people, looking around at themselves and their own best nature, respond by demanding a return to responsibility." Britain has reached its reality moment he says, and he praises George Osborne for a sensible and honest conference speech, setting out a series of austere measures to deal with the country's huge public debt. He also notes that the Conservative Party has "treated British voters as adults for a year now, with a string of serious economic positions".

"The key is that Osborne is not merely offering pain, but a different economic vision — different from Labour and different from the Thatcherism that was designed to meet the problems of the 1980s.

In the U.S., the economic crisis has caused many to question capitalism. But Britain has discredited the center-left agenda with its unrelenting public spending, its public development agencies and disappointing public-private investment partnerships.

Osborne and David Cameron, the party leader, argue that Labour’s decision to centralize power has undermined personal and social responsibility. They are offering a responsibility agenda from top to bottom. Decentralize power so local elected bodies have responsibility. Structure social support to encourage responsible behavior and responsible spending.

If any Republican is looking for a way forward, start by doing what they’re doing across the Atlantic."

We live in difficult economic times where the future of my generation will be determined in part by how effectively we manage to balance our public finances. In Osborne and Cameron, we have credible, incisive and strong leadership at the very top who have a vision for this country and who did not shirk during Manchester's conference from telling the British public the harsh truth about just how bad it has got and the tough measures needed ahead to bring our economy and country back into shape. It's very easy to tell people what they'd like to hear. Leadership is what I witnessed in Manchester: informing people about they need to hear and co-opting them to be full participants through the responsibility agenda.

Conference in Manchester - roll on the general election

Another year, another conference. But this really was the conference not to miss as in six months time (or less), the country will go to the polls. Delegates were looking forward to a possible Conservative victory at the next general election - indeed one of the best and well attended fringes I attended was on "What the first 100 days of a Conservative Government should look like" - but there was a real seriousness running through the entire four days. Everybody, simply everyone you spoke to or listened to, was aware of the immense challenges that an incoming Conservative Government would face:

• Rebuilding our broken economy, tackling unemployment and restoring the public finances;
• Restoring public trust in our broken political system gravely damaged by the expenses scandal; and
• Mending our broken society (anti-social behaviour to the cycle of welfare dependency).

Last year, many of the fringes I went to and was involved in related to Europe (as I was standing as a Euro Candidate) and I chose to feed some of my specific political passions: supporting the rural community, freeing up business from red tape and promoting enterprise and foreign affairs and defence issues. This year, I continued to support the European delegation - their reception on Monday was brimming with people, some former candidates and friends, and I was honoured to be introduced to Michał Kamiński, the Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Grouping in the European Parliament. However, this time I didn't go for any particular themes as such. That said, looking at my well thumbed and annotated Conference Guide, I feel I got a lot out of the fringe nonetheless. Some of the most interesting and informative events I attended were:

• The First 100 days discussion as mentioned above;


• An excellent panel discussion organised by the Conservative Middle East Council on how a Conservative Government should approach the Middle East;


• A deeply moving and informative session run by the National Council on Palliative Care on raising public awareness about death, dying and bereavement; and


• A panel discussion relating to the "Every Disabled Child Matters" campaign to ensure that services meet the additional needs of disabled children and their families. The panel of disabled young people were joined by my own MP Mark Harper who is the Shadow Minister for Disabled People and Tim Loughton MP, Shadow Minister for Children; and


• A rather, fun interactive session on "Lucky Number 10" where Julia Clark from Ipsos MORI and Mike Smithson from http://www.politicalbetting.com/, Guido Fawkes and Eleanor Laing MP debated possible outcomes at the next general election, voting trends and the key issues for voters.

Now, I dare say that I've saved the best for last. You see, like last year, I was involved in a few fringe events. For the second year running, Simon Richards and his team at the Freedom Association have put on the fringe of fringes - the Freedom Zone - and this year it was even bigger (involving the Taxpayers Alliance, Conservative Way Forward and Conservative Home) with a very varied programme. There is a real feeling of camaraderie within the Freedom Zone, you hear a wide spectrum of views in very open debate and the additional pluses of a Feeding Zone, a Blogging Zone and an array of stallholders to visit, make the time spent there immensely worthwhile. On Monday and Tuesday, I chaired two discussions on the future of the BBC. The discussions were lively as one can imagine and we had fantastic contributions from the likes of John Whittingdale MP, the Chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee of the House of Commons; Alan Wright, the Conservative Candidate in Hartlepool and a former BBC journalist, founding member of the Advisory Committee for England for Ofcom who now runs his own media strategy consultancy; Debi Jones, the Conservative Candidate in Sefton Central who is a successful broadcaster and presenter; Tory Bear and Alex Deane, a barrister and Director of Big Brother Watch.

From left to right: Alan Wright, me, John Whittingdale MP and Debi Jones

Another aspect of the Conference was the socialising and networking. Monday in particular was packed with some fab receptions. I particularly enjoyed catching up with friends and Conservative from around West Country at our regional reception.

Conference finished with a superb speech by David Cameron. It was quite simply prime ministerial. He set out his vision for the country and what he believed in - family, community and country. I'm so glad I made the cut off of queuers to hear the speech in the main hall! There were more than a few standing ovations - none more so than the attack on Labour's record on poverty. But one key promise for the British people stuck in my mind:

"I can look you in the eye and tell you that in a Conservative Britain: If you put in the effort to bring in a wage, you will be better off. If you save money your whole life, you’ll be rewarded. If you start your own business, we’ll be right behind you. If you want to raise a family, we’ll support you. If you’re frightened, we’ll protect you.If you risk your safety to stop a crime, we’ll stand by you. If you risk your life to fight for your country, we will honour you. Ask me what a Conservative government stands for and the answer is this, we will reward those who take responsibility, and care for those who can’t."

Post-conference and good news - an ICM poll giving the Conservative Party a 19% lead, producing a Commons majority of 170. Not a bad week at all. Nope, call that an excellent week!

Mutual Aid in Worcester

Today I spent the morning in Hallow, near Worcester, canvassing votes with Harriett Baldwin, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for West Worcestershire, and her team. A by-election is being held on September 3rd as a result of a resignation in Hallow Ward on the Malvern Hills District Council.

The Conservative Party has a great local candidate in Nancy Doyle. I really enjoyed myself today and plan to return once more closer to the date of the by-election.

The Centre for Social Justice does it again

Last night I attended the annual Centre for Social Justice awards ceremony in London, which rewards innovative and effective British poverty fighters. It was inspiring and in the words of Amanda Platell who presented one award, very humbling.

The work being undertaken by these organisations is truly remarkable: fighting drug and alcohol addiction, getting young people who have fallen out of the education system back into work, rehabilitating ex-offenders into the workforce, addressing behaviour problems in children and young people (who are at risk of developing anti-social or criminal offending behaviour later in life), combating gang culture and running courses for young mums and dads to be (and this is just the work covered by those organisations that won awards on the night!).

Information on the charities that were recognised can be found at http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/client/downloads/CSJAwards%202009%20Brochure%20FINAL%20LOW%20RES.pdf.

A weekend in Stourbridge

When the European campaign ended, I like (many candidates) took some time off from campaigning to focus back on work, family and social life. Those of us involved in politics do so because we want to bring change for the better for our community and the country. Given the fact that the general election is now less than a year away, all across the country over the coming summer months, Conservative activists will be delivering leaflets, canvassing and supporting local community and Conservative events.

Last Saturday, I returned to Stourbridge to help Margot James and her incredible team in one of her Saturday campaigning sessions. The canvassing session went really well and it was lovely to catch up with the old team over a drink at the excellent Crabmill Pub on Hagley Road. I laughed a lot. With so many local councillors in attendance, we talked about numerous issues affecting local residents. It was also good to hear about Margot's many campaigns and events. She really is such a superb lady, really committed and very compassionate - I have learnt so much watching her in action over the last two years.

Then on Sunday, I joined thousands of people at Himley Hall to commemorate Armed Forces Day. A whole range of activities had been planned - I enjoyed the military vehicle display, the exhibition of wartime history and the concert by the Mercian Band immensely. It was also very touching to see the award of badges to war veterans by the Mayor of Dudley, Pat Martin. I felt really proud of those men and women. We owe them a huge debt.

I'll be back in Stourbridge in a few weeks time to help again.