Local. Active. Positive.

Local

I believe any elected representative should put people before party politics. He/she should put the needs of his/her constituents and local communities first before anything else. Definitely first before his own personal political ambition and before the dictat of his political paymasters.

Active

I’ve actively campaigned with many other local people on issues such as :

• for there to be a People’s Vote on whatever terms for Brexit the Conservative government, supported in the Brexit process by both the DUP and the Labour Party, can negotiate – I was at the local 2016 EU Referendum Count and campaigned hard on the streets and on doorsteps for a ‘Remain’ vote so I’m very aware of the depth of local people’s concerns about Brexit;
• appropriate development, especially affordable homes for our children;
• local services delivered by local people, such as children’s centres (which both the Conservatives and Labour wanted to close in April 2018), older people’s day centres, theKenilworthCentre (where I am a Trustee), local leisure centres and swimming pools and open spaces by creating the online ‘Friends of..’ groups for Kenilworth’s local play areas;
• more efficient and more open local government, particularly reducing the layers of local government and better use of local authority reserves;
• local bank branches being kept open;
• getting the station in Kenilworth opened on time as promised by the local authority, and
• the Fairtrade town status for Kenilworth.

Positive government

Liberal Democrats have shown peacetime coalition government can work, bringing sensible and stable responsible government which would otherwise be led by extreme policies from either the right or left side of politics.

I believe passionately in open government, where power is not abused and money is not wasted nor left idle in reserves. I want to help people reduce inequality, participate in democracy and have access to free markets. I want to give people more power, reducing the power of an ovetbearing state. I want Britain to fulfil its international responsibilities on the global and European stages.

I believe the role of government is ‘to do with’ people. Not ‘to do for’ people in some benevolent Tory way. Nor ‘to do to’ people as the socialist Labour Party tried unsuccessfully many years ago and now wants to repeat.

I’ve got experience across a variety of private, public and not-for-profit sectors and, if privileged to serve you as your MP in Westminster, I’ll always put you my constituents first, ahead of both my party and my own career ambitions.

I’m proud to have been a child of the 1960s. I was born in Warwickshire and, at least before being sent away to school by my parents, was educated in the county.

My political youth was shaped by the chaos caused by Red Robbo and the winter of discontent, the mouldbreaking Dimbleby lecture of 1979 and a yearning, as part of my faith, to be involved in social justice, freedom and peace.

My family was and still is actively involved in the local community. I came back to live in Warwickshire 27 years ago and I’ve also spent time working in various parts of the Midlands, the Home Counties and in London.

After working for 20 years in the business world, for the past 14 years I’ve worked in the not-for-profit sector, initially spending some time visiting overseas community projects in some of the most deprived and yet most inspiring parts of sub-saharan Africa and South East Asia.

I’ve  been Chairman of the Governors of a local Primary school, when we had to pick up the pieces after a very messy school merger, I’ve been a churchwarden during an interregnum, and active socially with the local Round Table and the Fairtrade group as well as a trustee of both a local international charity and an older people’s day centre whose business model has been successfully changed so that it can continue to operate free of any public sector funding.

I have three daughters each of whom I’m so proud of and each of whom has been brilliantly educated in local state schools.

There are also a few things that I tend these days to be a little less vocal about but which, since I’m asking you to vote for me as your representative, you need to be aware of. These include my ongoing struggles to complete the annual Two Castles Run in less than one hour and my love of the words and music of Leonard Cohen.

The people of Kenilworth and Southam deserve a representative who will give them a real voice in government. I hope that you will trust me with the privilege of this responsibility. Above all else, however, I hope that you will consider the issues seriously and that, for the sake of yourself, your neighbour and your children, you will take part in the democratic process for which our parents and grandparents made great sacrifices. I shall be conducting a positive campaign focusing solely on what I can offer as MP and what Liberal Democrats can do when in government.