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Gillingham and Rainham MP Paul Clark has rebuked claims he may be seeking the nomination in a safe Labour seat, saying “I was very honoured to be re-adopted, last July, by members of the Gillingham and Rainham Labour Party as the candidate to fight the next election for the Labour Party”.
Mr Clark was responding to an email which I had sent him at the beginning of January, asking him to confirm or deny claims he had been offered the safe Labour seat of Kingston-upon-Hull East, which his former boss John Prescott has announced he will be vacating at the next general election.
Mr Clark said that “those who are well read and take an interest in these matters are very aware that there are many people seeking the nomination for the Hull seat of the former Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott – none of the reliable reports refer to me, simply because I am not and have never entertained the idea of seeking an alternative seat.
“The communities of Gillingham and Rainham are my real home. I was born in Gillingham; my parents in Rainham; I was christened and married at St.Margarets and similarly my parents were married there. For decades I have fought for one party to improve the lives of the people in Gillingham and Rainham. I have always endeavoured to recognise that support, working to represent their aspirations for themselves and their families.”
Mr Clark will face a tough fight against Cllrs Rehman Chishti, who inherits a 254-vote defecit from the previous candidate Tim Butcher, and Andy Stamp, who fell short by well over 10,000 votes in 2005.
Comment
Hurrah!
I am genuinely pleased that Mr Clark has dismissed these suggestions. Had they been true, they would have shown just how little he cared for his home Constituency.
As it happens, the election will be fought by three local Candidates, each with strong, binding ties to Gillingham and Rainham, making the campaign much more relevant to the people of the Constituency.
And although I will be campaigning for a Conservative win, it is great to see that Mr Clark will be the man the Labour Party will be putting forward once again come the next election.
Mr Clark also commented on the aspirations of people in this Constituency. This is where I am forced to differ with him – I am slowly working hard to fight my way out of the working classes, and very nearly failed because of having to pay to go to University – fees which he voted for.
I am all for giving credit where credit is due, but at the same time, if someone needs to be criticised because they helped their government introduce such an iron fence around my own aspirations, then they need to be criticised. And let’s not get started on the anti-Christian legislation.
So, in the words of Mr Clark himself, “let us debate policies, not rumours”.
Figures in the graphic are from the 2005 election, Clark v Butcher, and represent the distinctly minor gap between the two parties heading into the next election.
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You should have done the picture in the style of the Alien vs Predator poster, including the tagline “Whoever wins, we lose”!!
I too am pleased. As you will recall, the rumour came to me, and it not only needed to be aired anyway, it was necessary to allow Mr Clark a platform to state his position. In this, you alone have performed a public service on this particular subject, as it happens, though it might not have seemed that it was going to be so, at the start…
I take it Rob you are a liberal?
No, I’m not.
I don’t have any political leanings, I would vote for whoever happened to be better (in my opinion) at the time.
I do, however like a good joke, which was the intention of my comment!
So your comment ‘whoever wins, we lose’ has no political leaning….. I do like you alien vs predator line….however think a conservative mp will be better than the current labour mp who is awful…..
Nope, and thanks!
I thought you might, your name gives it away.
I couldn’t say to be honest, I’ve been impressed with Chisti when I’ve met him, and I can’t remember much about Paul Clark (except that he organised the MS Society a trip to the Houses of Parliment, whihc I enjoyed thoroughly).
I would have to see closer to election time to make a final choice.
Like Rob I cannot make my mind up this far from an election. I would like to see the local candidates convince the electorate that they are worthy of our votes in a positive way, explaining to us why we should vote for them, and not spend their time rubbishing the other parties.
I still have my doubts why Reh Chishti changed sides – to find out the real reason would be useful, and I still need to be convinced about Cameron.
However I have been very disappointed with Brown, how the Government can guarantee investors and shareholders money in the Northern Rock whilst at the same time they are penny pinching with the pay award for our police force is beyond me!
“I would like to see the local candidates convince the electorate that they are worthy of our votes in a positive way, explaining to us why we should vote for them, and not spend their time rubbishing the other parties.”
I totally agree with this.
I want to know why I should vote for you, not why I shouldn’t vote for your main competitor.
I’ve cleaned up your comment as requested, Rob.
The important thing to note is that there are two sides to a successful campaign: 1) you discredit your opponent’s actions, without going OTT; and 2) you state clearly and positively what you would do differently to make a genuine improvement.
It is a simple, yet effective, strategy which is sadly lacking on all sides. It is something we have tried to do as we start our campaigning here in Twydall, and already I have seen Lib Dem leaflets reading like the literary equivalent of an angry rottweiler!
Even Paul Clark has returned to his “Tory Watch” – a formerly weekly attack on Cameron’s Conservatives. There were even some occassions when he would post more on there than of his actual activities!
In contrast, the Gillingham Conservatives’ website has several positive messages, focusing on what we are/will be doing, rather than on attacking the opposition.
I think what has been stated above has been proven to be the best way, at least here in Medway.
If we all think back to the springtime of last year, in the run-up to and campaign for the local elections, it is notable that one party’s approach was indeed positive, reminding residents of what they had achieved and their plans for the future.
The other parties were almost entirely negative, had little of real substance to offer (if you looked at all closely, this was fairly obvious) and some played a very “dirty” game. I know: I was helping out in several marginal wards and found some of the opposition literature. I also heard tales from residents in those places what they had been told on the doorstep by the oppo’ candidate(s) — from one party in particular.
Guess which party has a very clear overall majority, and which was the only party to reduce its membership of the elected Council last May…
Notwithstanding my last comment, it is still important that — when services are stretched almost to breaking point — the true reasons for that are aired. If that isn’t done, the wrong people get the blame, and that does nothing to remedy the situation.
As far as “being too far from an election” is concerned, actually that isn’t a good tack to take. At election time, all candidates will be out with their smiles and their rosettes, and it isn’t a real testing ground.
What is far more useful is to watch what they are doing during the years in between elections. Obviously this is easiest with sitting councillors, but those intending to stand should (if they are going to be any good) build up a “presence” with local communities and groups, involvement in local issues and campaigns, and write good letters to the newspapers — and no doubt other similar visible activities as suitable opportunities arise.
In my own case, I had been involved in our (then) Residents Association almost from my moving here, and was its secretary when a local campaign arose, and I was the “hub” of that.
It was only some months later that it was put to me that perhaps I should stand for election, which I thought about and eventually agreed — and here I am, nearly eight years later. They still seem to want me!