Political credibility relies on displaying good judgement

At a time when politics and politicians are widely discredited it is vital that those seeking to rebuild the reputation of politics demonstrate good judgement in order to prove to the electorate that they are capable of representing them honestly.

I met up with Jackson Carlaw MSP and Bill Aitken MSP yesterday with every intention of taking part in the STUC's march and rally against racism in Scotland. Make no mistake, after our participation in the impromptu march against the BNP a fortnight ago, Scottish Conservatives are more than willing to stand up and be counted in the political coalition against racism. However, on our arrival in St Andrews Square it became apparent to us that many of those attending had their own very personal agendas that had little to do with protesting against racism in Scotland.

In particular my comment relates to a banner displayed for all to see at the front of St Andrews Square stating "Boycott Racist Israel" (seen being carried as part of the march between 1 minute 8 seconds and 1 minute 11 seconds of the STV news item at http://news.stv.tv/scotland/140593-anti-protest-rally-takes-place-in-glasgow/). This had nothing to do with the advertised purpose of yesterday's march and rally, as explained in the glossy literature distributed by the STUC to political parties and community organisations, and has everything to do with a political agenda pursued by people who are far from engaged in seeking peace between an Israeli state able to live within secure borders and a viable Palestinian state. Indeed it is often possible to directly link this sort of public statement to anti-Semitic activities in the UK by the minority of mindless idiots who pursue hate based on the Jewish religion or the existence of the State of Israel.

So without hesitation Jackson, Bill and I decided that participation in yesterday's march and rally was inappropriate as it would fail to register our objection to this banner and the sentiment it expressed.

Imagine then our astonishment as we watched the Secretary of State for Scotland and the General Secretary of the STUC set off on the march not 6 feet from, and with a clear view of, this banner - for me an astonishing lack of judgement from the Member of Parliament who represents the largest Jewish community in Scotland.

And that is not the only demonstration of a lack of judgement from our erstwhile MP over the past week.

The Internet is a wonderful forum for communication but must, as with the electorate, be treated with respect.

Today we find that Jim Murphy has had to remove comments from his website after receiving a letter informing him that if he did not remove the item, or if he repeats the claim made in it, he will face defamation action, (read more at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6936891.ece)

By making statements about your opposition that are untrue all you do is bring politics into further disrepute and the claims Mr. Murphy was making about a split between Tories on schools admission policy could not have been further from the truth.

The truth is you will not find any difference between Conservatives on the issue of St Ninians admission policy. We believe the Council, with a view to future expansion of East Renfrewshire, is right to redraw the catchment area and that this should preserve the principle of East Renfrewshire schools first and foremost for East Renfrewshire residents children. After all it is the East Renfrewshire council taxpayer who paid for the school to be built and who pay for it to be maintained. So committed to this position are we that we included this issue as part of a full page advert in this weeks Eastwood Today before Mr Murphy's claim was made.

But instead of stating his own position, so that the electorate can judge him accordingly, we found East Renfrewshire's MP claiming a split by deliberately misattributing a statement made by Paul McBride QC who represents the Conservative Party in Scotland on law and order issues.

Far from having stated it was "completely unacceptable" to redraw catchment boundaries Paul actually used the words in relation to the way the consultation exercise has been instigated and conducted having been asked for his professional opinion on the facts. Paul is senior counsel to a number of Scotland's newspapers and his opinion, as well as that of another non-partisan QC who has reviewed the legality of the Council's position, is that the process has not been conducted in line with our Council's own policies and guidelines and that this has left the Council taxpayer of East Renfrewshire exposed to potential financial loss. Paul's concern is that consultation should be fair and that the taxpayer should not be asked to waste money settling expensive legal action where it is entirely predictable and avoidable. East Renfrewshire Council has already had to back down on one Court of Session action and I am informed settled legal costs at our expense. This is surely unacceptable at a time when our Council is having to look for voluntary redundancies and COSLA are warning of even deeper cuts and financial hardship to come.

So let's be clear, Conservatives support the case for redrawing catchment boundaries for St Ninians in anticipation of East Renfrewshire's increased population as developments like Greenlaw are built and inhabited but this must be done properly and it would be "completely unacceptable" if this was done by exposing the Council taxpayer of East Renfrewshire to financial loss.

Demonstrating good judgement in the way we live our lives and in the campaigns we fight is the only way for politicians to excite and reengage the public we seek to serve. I hope to demonstrate I am ready to serve the people of East Renfrewshire by the decisions I take and the campaigns I fight. Whether the same can be said for my principle opponent only time will tell, but until then I think the evidence of his lack of judgement is clear for all to see.

Cameron speaks Direct to East Renfrewshire

Watching David Cameron speak to 187 East Renfrewshire residents at the Carmichael Hall yesterday was a truly uplifting experience.

Without notes, David fielded questions from an audience made up largely of people who returned my recent constituency survey and who identified themselves as undecided voters, (oh and my Mum and Dad). Our audience included school children from across the constituency as well as a number of pensioners who had put the cost of living and fuel poverty as their top priority in their survey returns.

With questions including those best described as hostile, I am sure no one left able to accuse David of ducking a question or lacking substance. I am not sure that everyone got the answers they were necessarily looking for but I am sure they got the truth.

One moment of fun came in the form of a request rather than a question with a young man who came along with his father asked David to call his mother and wish her a "happy birthday", although he refused to divulge which birthday. As it happens I was with David later in the evening at dinner and he took time out between the starter and main course to call this lady and to wish her a happy birthday. I hope that made her day!

Bringing politics back to ordinary people is something I am sure would be welcomed by most local residents if they genuinely believed it was sincere. Yesterday I watched a man who believes in democracy and who is not scared to let people test his principles or his resolve. Cameron Direct is a blueprint for politics of the people in the 21st century and I am delighted David brought it to East Renfrewshire and proved its worth!

Why Glasgow East Means It's Time To Make A Positive Case For Our 'UNION'

I suppose it is only right to congratulate the SNP on their win in the Glasgow East By-Election.

Although I do so through gritted teeth, and with a heavy heart, it is true that they fought a positive campaign in the face of Labour propaganda that was almost entirely negative, ill-judged and without any heavyweight support visibly deployed to the constituency.

In contrast, the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party fought a positive campaign led by a positive candidate supported by a very positive Annabel Goldie MSP. Annabel's cancelled her holiday to stay in Scotland and coordinate our campaign and that our vote was not squeezed as you would normally expect any party in third or fourth place to be, (just ask the Liberals), is a testament to her efforts, alongside those of Davena and all our Scottish Conservative Central Office team.

I spent 10 years heading up the national sales team of a PLC operating across the whole of the United Kingdom. In that time I learnt that it was much more important to sell your own positives than to try and trash your opposition, with negatives about their brand, if you hoped to win any sizable business from the British people.

People want you to tell them why they should buy from you, not why you should not buy from someone else.

That is why Unionist Party's must get away from focusing on why Scotland should not be independent and concentrate instead on the many social and economic reasons why we should all remain together as a happy and harmonious UNITED Kingdom.

How Not To Help People With Chaotic Lifestyles!

East Renfrewshire Council's decision to open a hostel for "young people with chaotic lifestyles" in Council owned housing on Anderson Drive, Mearns Village, is now surely doomed to failure following its 100% rejection by local residents.

At a 'Public Meeting' held tonight in the Fairweather Hall around 140 people from the Mearns Village area turned out to voice their complete opposition to Council proposals to refurbish two blocks of housing on Anderson Drive, to install CCTV outside the complex and to put a 24 hour warden service into the buildings because the Council simply have not done anything to reassure local people that the people these blocks will house will not create even greater public disorder than they currently experience.

Councillor Jim Swift, Conservative Group Leader, rightly pointed out to local residents that he proposed extra policing for 'Hot Spots' in the evenings, 7 days a week - 52 weeks of the year, in his Council budget amendment and that this would have been a first step to addressing local concerns on crime, anti-social behaviour and youth disorder. The other three Councillors present tonight who voted against this amendment, without proposing any alternative to crime management, should hold their heads in shame for asking local people to give them suggestions as to what to do about anti-social behaviour emanating from Anderson Drive when they had the power to do something about it only weeks ago by voting for Jim's amendment.

Tonight we saw a exercise in local democracy that proves the people of East Renfrewshire still care about their local area. Well done to the people of Mearns Village - they can be assured of the support of their local Conservatives as they fight a bad plan for the wrong location!

Glasgow East - A Battle For Hearts And Minds

Over the past week or so, Scotland's political elite have descended on the East end of Glasgow as never before. Having spent some considerable time there myself, I find myself contemplating all I have seen and heard in a by-election that could shape the country we live in forever.

If Glasgow East abandons the Labour Party and goes SNP it sounds as if it is highly likely Gordon Brown would be forced out of Downing Street. After all there are not too many Labour MP's with majorities of 13,500+ and given this basic arithmetic the Parliamentary Labour Party would surely rebel in fear for their own job prospects should Labour lose in the Prime Minister's own backyard.

Should the SNP win the Glasgow East By-Election I think this would also have a major impact on the mood and feeling in Scotland, with nowhere immune to the mantra of the separatist administration at Holyrood. David Cameron and the Conservative Party in England and Wales have shown that once you have positive momentum and an appetite for change amongst your electorate a lot of what you wish for becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Opinion polls move in your direction, your core vote become motivated to get out and vote and even people who traditionally vote for other Party's look to you as the place to lend your vote if you want to see change.

The truth in Glasgow East is that local people are looking for a candidate and a Party that can give them the one thing they believe they have been denied for generations - HOPE! They want to be able to drag themselves, and their area, up without government interference and they want to have a representative to the UK parliament who will be a positive force for change on the issues that really matter to them.

Unfortunately this is not the message our national media wants to portray. All they seem to want to talk about is independence, Iraq and Wendy Alexander. In contrast, the people of Glasgow East want to talk about their standard of living, jobs, tackling drug misuse in their communities and better policing of local streets to tackle crime and youth disorder.

I credit Annabel Goldie in particular for being one of a very few voices in this by-election campaign who is actually addressing the concerns of local people; and rightly so given her recent record at Holyrood.

After all it was Annabel, and her MSP group, who delivered a new drugs policy for Scotland based on abstinence, who delivered an additional 1,000 police officers and who ensured our small businesses benefited from lower Business Rates now, instead of at a much later date.

Annabel is leading from the front for the Scottish Conservatives at this by-election and is even phoning round Party activists to ensure every last door is canvassed. We have already delivered to every door in Glasgow East, at least once, and with twelve days left to campaign it is clear to me that it is the Scottish Conservatives who are speaking the same language as local people.

Politics is like football. It's a funny old game! On any given day anyone can beat a favourite and in Glasgow East it appears we still have no clear favourite. I never bet on politics, but if you asked me today for a prediction I would tip Labour to hold, despite an 8% swing to the SNP, and as I have yet to meet anyone who admits to voting Liberal I would make my bet a double predicting the loss of the Liberal deposit.

So on this occasion I am prepared to accept the reds will very probably beat the blues, (even though they don't deserve it). One thing is for sure, Annabel will come out of this by-election campaign with her reputation much enhanced having guided us through a difficult campaign with energy and determination!

Helping Zimbabwe To A Prosperous Future

With Zimbabwe's Presidential election run-off scheduled for 27th June, Robert Mugabe is literally murdering people to stop them voting in order that he can cling on to power.

The UK has let the people of Zimbabwe down before and I believe we are letting them down again, right now. If Gordon Brown and his government won't intervene, it is surely time the people of Great Britain took matters into their own hands and did something proactive to help the people of Zimbabwe to enjoy freedom and prosperity through their democracy!

Even though this election is so vital to the Zimbabwean people, and the Southern African region, only 200 SADC election observers are approved to monitor proceedings and with most not even in the country to monitor events, latest reports put the number of people dead at more than 65, with hundreds missing, thousands injured and tens of thousands dispossessed. Inflation is around 1,000,000%, more than 85% of the population is unemployed and food production in what was once the bread basket of Africa is almost non-existent.

I cannot sit back and let Mugabe's murderous regime survive because my government did nothing. That is why I am making a donation to "Friends of Zimbabwe", so that they can invest resource into trying to ensure this election follows SADC guidelines and reports a result that is accurate and truly reflective of the will of the Zimbabwean people!

Please visit: www.friendsofzim.com if you would like to find out more or to make a donation!

A Beautiful Day for an Action Day

Not a cloud in the sky and a full squad of Conservative leafleters hit the streets of Newton Mearns, in 70 degree plus heat, to spread the word. 'No complacency here' is today's mantra from my campaign team, so our leaflets are fronted by Councillor Barbara Grant and Councillor Jim Swift telling everyone what the Conservative Council Group proposed to do in its cost neutral budget amendment earlier this year.

Two new 'Campus Cops'; Four additional Police Officers on the beat patrolling trouble spots in the evening - 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year; a 50% increase to the budget for resurfacing and patching of our crumbling roads and pavements network. Those are the priorities of the people of East Renfrewshire and those are the priorities of local Conservatives too.

For my part I am disgusted by the decision of the Community Health Care Partnership not to provide a Health Centre to Newton Mearns and the back page of our leaflet outlines my reasons in some detail. Newton Mearns is the largest commuter suburb in Scotland and the largest conurbation in East Renfrewshire and yet it is the most remote place in Scotland when it comes to accessing the NHS. Combine the lack of local NHS facility with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's decision to move hospital services from the Victoria Infirmary to the Southern General and the people of Newton Mearns truly are the people who pay most and get least when it comes to the tax they pay providing them with an accessible NHS. Oh and when you get to a hospital now you also have to pay their 'car park tax'.

Finally, we are giving formal notice of my intention to launch a campaign to take graffiti "OFF THE WALL". Yet more survey returns this morning from the Clarkston area place 'Youth Disorder/Graffiti' as the number one priority of local people so it is vital we are proactive in improving our local area.

It's a beautiful day to have an Action Day and a great day to be a champion for East Renfrewshire! I really cannot thank all those who have turned out today enough for their loyal support and I look forward to repaying the trust they are showing in me as we campaign towards the next General Election.