Bournemouth and the Great Ann Widdecombe

With Conor Burns at the Town Hall

For a few weeks now, I've been trying to head down to Bournemouth. Saturday kicked off at the Town Hall to meet Borough Councillors to talk about local issues as well as the European campaign. The morning was extremely constructive. It was especially good as I also got to chat at length to the Tory MPs for Bournemouth East and West, Tobias Ellwood and Sir John Butterfill, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Bournemouth West, Conor Burns and the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Mid Dorset and North Poole, Nick King (who is also a Bournemouth Councillor).

The Rt. Hon. Ann Widdecombe MP was spending two days in Bournemouth and had supported a number of constituency events. I must say, she really is an inspiration to me - a 'tell it like it is' politician who exudes tremendous warmth. Parliament will certainly miss her invaluable contributions when she retires at the next general election. I joined Conor Burns and Ann Widdecombe at Kinson Conservative Club. The club has great facilities and a thriving membership. We took part in a panel discussion with Conor handling local issues, myself all things European and Ann, well everything else.

We then headed to the venue for a dinner hosted by Bournemouth West Conservatives at the Marsham Court Hotel in East Cliff. Ann was guest speaker and her speech on winning the next general election did not disappoint. She interspersed some extremely serious points (on the economy in particular) with some quite amusing anecdotes. You don't hear speeches like that everyday. She was marvellous. I was given the responsibility of organising the raffle. The prizes were some of the best I've seen - including Margaret Thatcher's autobiography (to be signed for the winner) and a signed copy of one of Ann's bestsellers.

The day was a great success as far as I was concerned. I spent quality time in the area, updated myself on local issues, informed people about our Euro campaign and left with a few extra dates pencilled in the old diary. I'm looking forward to revisiting the area soon. A huge thanks has to go out to Conor and the local Conservatives for arranging such a worthwhile visit.