'It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow' - Conservative Chairman Tillson

FUTS was delighted to receive a lengthy and unprompted missive from Conservative Association Chairman Russell Tillson, taking issue with a comment piece put up several days ago.

Full of vim and vigour from the opening lines (which appear to call into doubt my sanity - fair enough), a peerless piece of political writing centered on the local scene unfolds. Please feel free to pore over, draw conclusions, comment, agree, disagree, call me a total twonk, etc.

In fact I'm so taken with it (not only because it shows at least one person reads the blog) here it is in all its unedited glory:

IT'S A LOVELY DAY TOMORROW

The ‘Dark Clouds Gathering’ piece is, as its author concedes, ‘pure speculation’. Indeed, some of it borders upon fantasy. Rest assured the ‘Conservative Blue Sky’ remains blue, very blue, and we intend to keep it that way.

The salient facts are as follows:

1. Damian Collins was not ‘moved to a safe Shepway seat to get to Westminster’. He was chosen by hundreds of members of the local Conservative Association from an enormous field of candidates to succeed Michael Howard nearly four years ago. Since his selection, he has worked tirelessly in Folkestone and Hythe to make himself known to residents and local businesses. He has been involved in innumerable local campaigns (most recently, setting up the public meeting in Lydd on 13th February to debate the future of Dungeness C) and regularly attends and speaks at Conservative branch functions, where he is greatly admired by our many hundreds of members. The contrast with the Liberal Democrats could not be starker – Lynne Beaumont is their third parliamentary candidate in a matter of months.

2. Damian and his wife Sarah are permanently resident in Elham; prior to that, they rented a house in East Brabourne. Damian will be leaving his present post in London once Brown finally calls the General Election. Assuming that the Conservative hegemony in Folkestone and Hythe is maintained, shortly afterwards he will become our full-time MP. It is difficult to imagine that any parliamentary candidate could have worked quite so assiduously in a constituency as has Damian since he was selected. Everyone knows he will be a first class and dedicated MP, who will serve local residents with great distinction. Only in fantasy land could anyone seriously contemplate defeat for Damian in 2010. Indeed, members of the local Association are also actively helping Charlie Elphicke to overturn a Labour majority of 4000 plus in the neighbouring constituency, Dover and Deal, a seat the party must also win if we are to form a majority government after the General Election.

3. Defections and splits are entirely alien to the local Conservatives; rather they are the preserve of the local Liberal Democrats. No fewer than five councillors, elected as Liberal Democrats in 2007, have since crossed the floor to join the Conservative Group, to take our total of SDC councillors to 38 (not 37) [Editor note - damn Wikipedia! And...Shepway Council Website as at 02.02.10]. None have moved in the other direction, and none are likely to. The Conservatives also had handsome victories over the Liberal Democrats in the Romney Marsh and New Romney Coast by-elections last year. I doubt whether there are many, if any stereotypical, ‘dyed-in-the-wool true blues’ in the Conservative Group. We are a broad church, with a huge age range, and from a diversity of occupations and backgrounds. Ultimately, we are practical, level-headed local politicians, intent upon serving our community. Indeed, this is in large part the reason for our continuing success.

4. The other reason for success is that we are a democratic body. As Group Secretary, I arrange Group Meetings twice a month, and attendance figures are invariably high. These meetings provide an opportunity for all group members to engage in full and frank discussion. No issues or policies are off limits; all members can and do submit agenda items; the Leader and Cabinet portfolio holders report to members, and take on board what they have to say; the process is transparent and informal, while detailed minutes are taken and circulated. We seldom have recourse to a whip (I can recall but one in the whole of 2009) but, under the Group’s rules which are accepted by all councillors as a condition of membership, members are required to discuss with the Leader any reservations they might have about agreed Group policy. Councillors do not ‘look uneasy’ during votes at full council meetings; they vote for policies on the basis already previously agreed. And we even as a Group support Liberal Democrat council motions wherever we judge them to be sensible and in the best interests of Shepway residents. Our unity is the product of collective commitment, not coercion.

5. I’m afraid that Toby Philpott is a red (or perhaps previously orange) herring. He is a problem for the Liberal Democrats, not us; as people say, why intrude upon private grief? No Conservative councillor has the slightest interest in joining any new group that he might choose to form; instead, we are not a bunch of eccentrics and we are all too busy campaigning for Damian Collins and Charlie Elphicke.

6. It is the historical role of Conservatives at all levels in office to make ‘hard decisions’. We do not, like some parties, specialise in empty promises, slogans and mischief-making, but rather in getting things done. Sometimes these decisions might be unpopular, but it is not the responsibility of government to court popularity. Furthermore, it needs to be stressed that planning decisions made by the council’s Development Control committee are made in the context of planning law and officers’ recommendations. Party political affiliations are wholly irrelevant to the decision-making process, and it is right that this is the case. The Hythe Sainsbury’s application is a case in point. I am on the committee; I am the Chairman of the local Conservative Association; I voted against the application. On the same basis, Richard Carroll’s resignation last year from Hythe Town council following the DC’s decision to approve the Hythe Imperial application was based on a misunderstanding of the DC’s rules. Hythe members on the committee are legally required to act in the best interests of the District and to judge the application on its planning merits. Hence they do not and cannot slavishly follow the earlier decision of a town council, whose role in law is purely consultative.

7. As I stated in my Chairman’s opening address to the local party’s Executive Council last November, we are a united, disciplined and therefore highly successful party. ‘Our first responsibility as Associations is unity, loyalty to the party, and support for one another; we must focus relentlessly upon the future. There is no scope whatever for complacency, cynicism, internal conflict or individual ego-massaging. There must be no personal feuds, personal rivalries or personal agendas – we leave all that to the Liberals. No toys thrown out of prams, and no rushing off to the local press when there is some policy initiative, national or local, that you don’t much like. We must all work for the greater good – together.’

We shall continue to do just that.

Cllr. Russell Tillson

Chairman, Folkestone and Hythe Conservatives