Grant Shapps, Parliamentary Candidate for Welwyn-Hatfield 2024. A longstanding, hard-working, MP.

The Witchfinder will be voting for long serving, hard-working, local MP Grant Shapps and the Conservatives, not Reform UK, Labour, Liberals nor Green.

I’ve met a lot of politicians. I’ve been one. I was a Labour Student, Chair of my Labour Society at University. Later I was a Labour Councillor, and was a politician. I’ve been Labour Party staff and one of those be-suited people walking around behind Tony Blair during a local visit. I’ve been a Conservative and a blogger. I’ve been invited to eat at the House of Commons by Labour MPs and Conservatives.

My experiences on both sides are why I’ll be voting for Grant Shapps and the Conservative Party. I have the good fortune that is relatively easy in Welwyn-Hatfield, which has a had a genuinely good Conservative MP in Grant Shapps. Sadly, our society has lost its way. The so-called expenses scandal, now almost forgotten, revealed that much of Parliament was on the take. From moat cleaning, to pornographic movies, it seemed that almost the entire House of Commons was quite literally taking the mickey. Grant Shapps was one of the few Members of Parliament who was not – he was called an, ‘expenses saint’ (archive) even by left-wing paper the Independent.

Some Labour MPs I have met were spiteful and petty. One instructed me to exclude an annoying, un-telegenic party activist from events on an, ‘unofficial’ basis contrary to their own party rules. They were overruled on one occasion by redoubtable Labour (former) General Secretary Margaret McDonagh, who was organising a national event featuring Tony Blair and was able to manage the behaviour without needing to mess about with secret exclusions. The incident was memorable to me, because it was rare for a senior Labour official to do something non-sociopathic, leaving me with a permanent good impression of McDonagh. Sadly, she was the exception that proves the rule, in my experience.

Shapps shares some of McDonagh’s better traits. As a local MP, he is hard-working but not unkind. He has his flaws, but the worst attacks that have been on him are that (i) he used some pen names, like many authors (e.g., ‘Michael Green’) and (ii) he once, as national Co-Chair failed to act swiftly on conduct allegations – but I agree with Conservative Home’s opinion that the buck for that stopped with Lord Feldman. Others clearly share that view, because Grant was taken back into the cabinet as Defence Secretary.

Character is not the only consideration of course. The key problem facing the Conservatives is the government’s national performance. Here, I understand the doubts and why some people might vote for other parties, until you look at the alternatives.

What people want from Conservatives is social conservatism, low immigration and economic success. That is what turned the so-called ‘red wall’ blue. Sadly, we have not been as successful at that as we would like in recent years. We have backed an ill-considered war in Ukraine that the west is losing. In 2021, before Russia’s invasion, both the US State Department and Amnesty International (archive) expressed the view that there were human rights abuses in Ukraine on both sides of the conflict as it was then. We are backing torturers and the result has been devastating to the global economy. Unfortunately, the British government cannot truly be blamed for this. The reality is that we have been dragged into it by our alliance with Washingon – a valuable link that must be defended, albeit one whose values have diminished in recent years as the United States becomes more and more dysfunctional.

We have not been strong enough in fighting for free speech on social media or in society generally even when it is we Conservatives who suffer most when it is opposed. We have not yet succeeded on the issue of immigration. We have been slow to protect children from the recent spread of transgender ideology – although we have, it is to be hoped, turned the corner with the Cass Report and the ban on puberty blockers for children.

At a local level, there has sometimes been a complacency that was never there in the days of David Cameron and local leader John Dean. Although most Conservative Councillors are dedicated and conscientious, I have had several complaints about some not replying to emails or doing casework – even from members. One example is Fiona Thomson, who I wrote about in 2019. I have heard multiple complaints about Mrs Thomson from members of multiple parties including our own. Thomson lost her Borough Council seat to the Liberal Democrats this year, although she still holds a County Council seat. The loss was a very substantial swing – vastly larger than some other wards. My opinion is that Conservatives should not tolerate lack of activity from councillors. Each email from a voter left unanswered could be a vote lost to the Party, not just in council elections but in national elections. Thomson has earned tens of thousands of pounds per year in total, in allowances from her various council roles. In MHN’s opinion, Conservatives need to take a robust approach with councillors who fail to perform and remove them permanently from the panel of approved candidates.

That is not to say, of course, that Labour has not had problems with councillors failing to attend or do their duties – the public will find this a disappointing rediscovery now that Labour’s representation on the council is growing.

The problem at a national level for voters is the alternatives. Labour, no matter what they say, stand for fear and speech control first and foremost. Under the Blair government the greatest public sector sin was bad news, regardless of reality. NHS watchdogs were shut down (archive), and Labour refused to order inquiries into scandals involving thousands of deaths (archive). Be in no doubt that Labour’s first and last policy on the NHS, before anything else, is to silence critics (archive). People should remember Labour’s Day of Shame on the NHS (archive).

Child rape is another thing Labour empowered through silence, in Rotherham (archive). The Home Office under Labour knew about grooming gangs of non-Caucasians targeting white girls but people were afraid to take action or speak out – that they would have been accused of being racist.

Be in no doubt that Starmer is cut from the same cloth – he has not had his hands on the levers of national power yet but under his leadership, reactions to serious wrongdoing in the Labour Party have been similar (archive). The Forde Inquiry report into allegations of racism, sexism and bullying (archive) in the Labour Party was delayed and ultimately those who had engaged in serious wrongdoing were quietly re-admitted to the Party (archive). After speech control, Labour stands for higher immigration, wokeness, and all that entails. If Labour had been in power the Cass Report (archive) would not have happened. They claim that they have now accepted it (archive), in part due to a powerful feminist lobby in the Labour Party. It is to be hoped that the Conservatives have forced their hands permanently on this.

What awful people Labour are! A good example is set out in my article, Ellie Reeves MP and the Corpses of Children, an article about Ms Reeves’ refusal to join cross party attempts to oppose a web-site, Kiwi Farms, that targets children as well as her sinister political affiliations. The article was also notable for Ms Reeves’ attempts to suppress it. Deeply sinisterly, that included a failed attempt to get me a police harassment warning. It is to be assumed that barrister Reeves, apparently enraged, would have sued if she could. It is to be inferred that she could not, for two reasons. Firstly it is true. Secondly, I am legally qualified with an LL.M LPC (Commendation) and bitterly, deeply, experienced at defending myself in libel litigation.

As a Labour Student in 1997-2001 I met many members of the current Labour front bench. They come from a culture steeped in corruption and amorality. It was what Labour Students actively taught and promoted until it was abolished in 2019 (archive) (a new version of the organisation was later created). One of the great shocks and joys to me when I changed parties is that Labour’s culture of hate, corruption and lies is not normal. A short time after crossing the divide, I once saw someone got told off for a somewhat off-colour suggestion, made in private, because it was … reprehensible. Bad things are bad, y’all – it seems trite but it was never something I heard in Labour.

So, when I see the local Labour candidate’s glossy campaign video (I will spare you the link) all I think about is Labour’s emphasis on spin over substance with a heavy emphasis on fear of the consequences of speaking out.

The public knows this, the leaders of the two major parties in the UK both go into the election with negative approval ratings, Rishi Sunak with -51% and Keir Starmer well ahead with … -17%. This is not good for our democracy.

Which leaves us with Reform UK. I will not be voting Reform but I do not want to attack Reform or its supporters in a crude way. The party raises legitimate concerns, especially on immigration. It represents not just a disenfranchised Right but resonates with large numbers of people, including many Labour voters as well as Conservatives. The problem is that Reform is a new party with no representation in Westminster meaning no experience and no accountability. It is capitalising on discontent, and has avoided making binding promises by the novel strategy of issuing its manifesto in draft (archive). They have quite literally said that none of their promises are final (and by implication, they are not required to be kept).

Reform UK is a challenge to the Conservative leadership, which is viewed by many as having lost its way. It is unlikely, however, to win many, or any seats this election. More importantly, it has yet to make any promises in a form it can be held to. It is opportunistically seizing on the election and building its platform as it goes. Changing to a new party that offers radical change would be great if it was offering, y’know, radical change. Or anything, in fact, except a literally, ‘work in progress’ manifesto. All it can really offer for now is flavour and a world-view. We know what they think and feel, but not if they can convert that into meaningful change.

In practical terms, for now, a vote for Reform UK is a protest vote for a vague world-view and will, in our first-past-the-post system lead to a Labour supermajority. A vote for reform is, in practice, a vote for Labour.

Which leaves us with the Conservatives, who have at least had the decency to make some final, non-draft promises. It is just over 15 years since I defected from Labour to Conservatives and for all their flaws I am still happy I did so. The Conservative Party is at a low ebb but it is a serious party of government and it still deserves my loyalty – even the Cass Report alone would have done that, but it is not our only achievement. There are four million more people with a job since 2010. There are 32.8 million people in work in the UK, up by almost four million since 2010, meaning more people have the security of their own income as we grow the economy.

I saw Grant Shapps at a Facebook Q and A session he had organised a few days ago (a good idea). He seemed tired – he has been campaigning non-stop. If he wins, he will have earned and worked for it. If he loses, he will have done everything he can to win. Shapps has nothing to be ashamed of – the hard work he is doing now is not new – he has behaved the same throughout his term in office since he was first elected as an MP. The hard work has not been limited to elections – it has characterised Grant’s Parliamentary role and his time in government.

I will be voting for Grant, who deserves it as an individual, but not just for him – I will be voting for the Conservative Party.

[Edited by MHN 20 November 2024 to remove information relating to third parties]