Statement of Persons Nominated

Here is the list.

And, here is to a fair & clean fight!

Game On

A writ has been moved and a new Member of Parliament for Feltham & Heston is required after the very sad passing of Alan Keen.

I am fighting the seat for the Conservative Party again and the date of the election is 15 December.  More info here.

Third time lucky, I hope!

Constituency Boundary Proposals

One of the pledges from the Conservative Party at the previous General Election, and since adopted by the coalition Government, was to reduce the amount of constituencies in the UK.

Here is a link to the proposals published yesterday.  A minority of constituencies are unchanged.  Some have minor changes.  Others are major and the current Feltham & Heston constituency is carved up in a major way, even greater than I expected.

In summary, here are the local changes proposed:

Brentford & Isleworth
* Hounslow Heath ward will move to the constituency of Teddington and Hanworth

Feltham & Heston
* Bedfont, Feltham North and Feltham West will be included within the Feltham and Hayes constituency
* Cranford, Heston Central, Heston East, Heston West and Hounslow West will be included within the Southall and Heston constituency
* Hanworth and Hanworth Park will be included within the Teddington and Hanworth constituency

I am not surprised at the proposal to split the Heston, Cranford & Hounslow West wards from the West Area (Bedfont, Feltham & Hanworth) ones.  Aside from being in different Boroughs, Heston is arguably a better fit with Southall than it is with Feltham e.g. there is no direct bus service from Feltham to Heston and some residents in Heston East ward put Southall down as their address.   There are arguably many more synergies between Southall & Heston than between Feltham & Heston.

However, the break up of the West Area is a big surprise because it is an identifiable area and one that has always made sense to me (the local Area Committee has always been called, ‘The West Area’).  The inevitable difficulty with very complicated tasks such as these is that there will be constituencies that will be carved up at a much greater extent than others.  I know Hayes well and have taken the number 90 many times over the years.  Like others, I will mull over the proposals and come to a considered view.

There will be a statutory 12 week consultation exercise, with public hearings in each region.  This consultation will continue until 5 December 2011.  Here is a link to the relevant page for anyone who wishes to have their say on the proposals.

Finally, I would stress that this has no bearing on the current configuration of Local Authorities and the London Borough of Hounslow will remain as is.

“Swinging in Hounslow”

A friend sent me this link earlier today.  It will be of interest to residents in Feltham & Heston and Brentford & Isleworth.

I forgot to share this with you!

I forgot to share with readers of this blog comments that were issued to the local press by the former Leader of the Council and former Hanworth Park Councillor, Colin Ellar, in relation to my latest glossy leaflet that has already been delivered in the majority of Feltham & Heston (it has gone out in Feltham North over the past few days):

“It seemed to have similarities with the kind of horrid nonsense put out by parties such as the BNP. The surplus of union jack flags on it and the central message of the need to get tough on immigration would certainly have un-nerved several of my neighbours, who I am sure feel vulnerable when one of the major political parties starts to spout needless anti-immigration rhetoric. Furthermore, the leaflet seems to demonstrate little political logic as putting out such provocative publications across areas like Heston and Hounslow must be counterproductive where many people are from families resulting from historic immigration. Perhaps Mr. Bowen should reflect on how nasty and divisive this approach can make him appear to many of the residents in the multi ethnic area that he hopes to represent.”

Apart from being out of touch with people in Heston & Hounslow on this issue, he is even out of touch with the Cabinet who have an idea that trying to shut down debate on immigration is not the best way to maintain good race relations.

It says a lot about the man (the one who was Leader when the Council did not see it as a no brainer to fly the St George flag during St George’s day) that he thinks having the UK flag on my literature twice is surplus.

How some Labour supporters must despair at the calibre of people that their Party offers in this Borough!

Andrew Boff

Feltham & Heston had its Christmas Party yesterday evening and our Guest was Andrew Boff who is one of the List London Assembly Members.  I like Andrew a lot and supported him in his attempts back in 99 or 2000 to be the Conservative Candidate for London Mayor.  He is a former Leader of Hillingdon Council but now lives in Hackney.

I did not take many pictures but here are two (taken towards the end of the evening):

Andrew is second from left.

Most had left by the time that the following was taken.

Seen the leaflet?

For once, I am not talking about one of mine.  Through my door yesterday came a very nice looking glossy – Parliamentary News Alan Keen MP  Winter 2009.  It came with the rest of the post so was delivered by Royal Mail.

The leaflet includes a perforated edge with next year’s calendar (quite expensive I recall when I priced this feature).

The key bit (and why I am posting) was the small print at the bottom of the last page:

“Paid for by the Communications Allowance, House of Commons”

I have been delivering literature throughout Feltham & Heston over the past year or so.  I have been delivering Half Year Reports in my ward since I was elected in 2002 and [along with Gill & Allan] since re-elected in 2006.

The key point is that the glossy literature that has gone out in relation to my campaign to replace Alan Keen was paid for by the Feltham & Heston Conservative Association.  The deliveries of that literature have been made by me and a number of brilliant volunteers.

I am interested to know:

1. How much this leaflet cost to produce?
2. How much this leaflet cost to deliver?

I do not recall Mr Keen using this Communications Allowance before.  Comments on why it is being used now are welcome.

It goes without saying, that I disagree with the Communications Allowance and, if I become MP, it will not be used in Feltham & Heston.

Watch this space [blog] (maintained by me at no cost).

Update: I was wrong in that he has used the Communications Allowance previously.  See here.
More generally, here is what can be accessed on the web.

Latest on Electoral Calculus

Not that different to the findings published a few days ago by PoliticsHome but Electoral Calculus is currently predicting that I will be 2% short of beating Labour at the next General Election.

An interesting development is that each seat now has a status in terms of whether the voters can really influence matters.  The status of Feltham and Heston is: “This seat is not safe and voters have a real say on their MP”.

Headline of this posting is that nothing has changed and every single vote will count in Feltham & Heston at the next General Election.

Here is a link to the information published by PoliticsHome the other day.

Electoral Calculus

I am not getting carried away (I never have with these) but the current polls look very good for the Conservative Party but not so good for Labour.

Electoral Calculus predicts the results of the next General Election, assuming that an election were held tomorrow and that such a swing were universal.  It is currently predicting a Conservative gain in Feltham & Heston with a majority of 0.48% – so the current indications are that this seat will be one of the hardest fought.

I know I have a lot of hard work ahead of me and I am well up for the challenge.  Clearly I am going to have to prove myself to the good residents locally.  No amount of wind or coat-tail will be strong enough on its own.

17.6% swing to Conservatives

What a brilliant and deserved result.

Of course, I would love to achieve a similar result in Feltham & Heston.  As Kevin Keegan once said, “I would love it!”