Why I Am Standing For Parliament

Today's Telegraph piece, on which comments are welcome over there as well as here:

I am going to do it. Right here in North-West Durham. There is even a Facebook group. And the local Labour Party (the Tories and the Lib Dems are nowhere here) had already as good as collapsed even before the imposition of an all-women shortlist. That has caused all hell to break loose, not least, though by no means exclusively, over abortion in this largely Catholic constituency. Pluck some North or West London princess out of the typing pool and give her this seat as a present for her coming out ball? We don’t think so round here.

But I am not about the Opposition. I am about an absolute commitment to the monarchy, the organic Constitution, national sovereignty, the Union, the Commonwealth, the countryside, grammar schools, traditional moral and social values, controlled importation and immigration, and a realistic foreign policy. And a no less absolute commitment to the Welfare State, workers’ rights, consumer protection, strong communities, conservation (not environmentalism), fair taxation, full employment, proper local government, a powerful Parliament, and a base of real property for every household to resist both over-mighty commercial interests and an over-mighty State.

I am Independent by name, answerable to no one but the voters. I am independent by nature, with a mind of my own. I have lived in this constituency almost all my life. I never went to school anywhere else. I went to university within five miles of here, even if it did take a Parish Council seat and a school governorship in my third year to bring me home even twice a month. Come on, you’re only young once.

I have real principles. Pro-life, pro-family, pro-worker and anti-war. An economically social democratic, morally and socially conservative British and Commonwealth patriot. One Nation politics, with an equal emphasis on the One and on the Nation. Conservationist, not environmentalist. Far too left-wing to be liberal, far too conservative to be capitalist. Practising Catholic.

I have real conservative and patriotic policies. Restoring the supremacy of British over EU law. Returning to preventative policing based on foot patrols. Making each offence carry a minimum sentence of one third of its maximum sentence, or 15 years for life. Restoring grammar schools, restoring O-levels, restoring excellent secondary modern schools, and defending and restoring special needs education. Introducing a legal presumption of equal parenting, restoring the tax allowance for fathers, and allowing paternity leave to be taken at any time in the first 18 years of the child’s life. Helping farmers and small businesses through a windfall tax on the supermarkets. Defending village services, saving shooting and fishing, repealing the hunting ban, and making Gypsies and Travellers obey the same planning laws as the rest of us. Preserving the historic regimental system, rebuilding the Royal Navy, and saving the Royal Air Force.

I have real social democratic policies. No one’s tax-free income to fall below half national median earnings. Abolition of prescription charges, and restoration of free eye and dental treatment. Employment rights to begin on day one of employment and apply regardless of the number of hours worked, as promised by John Smith. Saving council housing, and bringing all council services back in house. Renationalising the utilities and the railways, and building a national network of public transport free at the point of use.

I have real common sense policies. Nuclear power and clean coal technology. Restoring British overall control of our defence capability. Docking Ministers’ pay if either spending or outcomes are lower here in the North East (and therefore also in any other region) than in Scotland or the South East. Immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq (still not achieved) and Afghanistan. Total opposition to lap-dancing clubs.

In all three of these categories is the removal of all nuclear, radiological, chemical and biological weapons from British soil and waters, in the spirit of everyone from Gaitskell’s Campaign for Democratic Socialism to Enoch Powell, and going all the way back through the entire just war tradition.

And I have a real chance of winning. In 2005, this constituency’s Independent vote, one third of the Tory vote, half the Liberal Democrat vote, and one third of the Labour vote added up to more than the remaining two thirds of Labour support. The sitting MP is retiring. Her would-be Labour successor will never knowingly have done any campaigning work, since that would be beneath her. There is really no one left to do any for her. The Liberal Democrats are hardly going to fight this seat. The Tories are not going to fight this seat at all. In short, this seat can be taken. And I intend to take it.