Any questions for Mark Field?

Mark Field is the MP for the Cities of London and Westminster. He was first elected in 2001 and has served as an Opposition Whip, Shadow Minister for London, Shadow Financial Secretary and as Shadow Minister for Culture and the Arts. He is now an active Backbencher.

Before entering politics Mark worked as a lawyer prior to setting up his own publishing and recruitment firm.

Mark has written for ConservativeHome on the lessons from Ealing Southall and grammar schools.

If you have any questions for Mark please leave them in the thread below.

Comments

[malcolm]

Do you still think your public attack on our campaign in Ealing Southall the day after polling was a good idea?

[michael mcgough]

As MP for the City of London do you detect a lack of enthusiasm or even hostility towards the EU by City firms,especially in respect of Mifid.

[simon]

'Culture and the Arts' is a bit of a non-job isn't it?

[Stephen]

I second malcolm's question. Have you no sense of discipline or loyalty? What on earth persuaded you to charge onto the airwaves to attack your own party? I'm sure we all had our thoughts about mistakes that were made at the by-election but your public intervention was either egotistical self indulgence of a high order or sheer malignancy borne of frustrated careerism. Which was it?

[Richard Woolley]

Dear Mark, do you think that David Cameron downplays the importance of economics? Do you think that enough has been done to attack the government's economic record (loss of economic competitiveness, rising tax burden, public sector waste, weak productivity growth, unsustainable levels of public debt, over a million jobs lost in manufacturing, etc)?

[Tony Makara]

Do you feel it is right that our museums portray trashy nihilistic works such as action painting, dadaism and so-called conceptual art? Such manifestations cannot be called creative art. Would you support taxpayers money going towards buying a canvas full of fevered scribbling? Should our museums adopt a policy in which only creative and art-with-form is considered?

[HF]

How many hours of campaigning did you do in the by elections in 1) Ealing Southall and 2) Sedgefield?

How many different quotes attacking the Govt have you provided in July? I could not find any on your website.

[Editor]

Comment Overidden

[John]

I've heard it said that Grant Shapps MP has been overpromoted, can be a bit of a toady to the leadership and made a major mess of Ealing. Do you think this is unfair?

[Treacle]

Any sign from 'team Cameron' that they had taken on board any of the (very valid) comments you made about our lamentable by-election organisation?

[Surprised reader]

Why on earth was the comment at 12.53 overwritten? From memory, it mentioned two people David Cameron employs. One of whom has certainly voted against the Tory Party (for the Greens), while the other has actually worked *against* the Tory Party at election time (for Jimmy Goldsmith). I'd expect Platform 10 to spare their blushes, I'm surprised, however, at ConservativeHome. What gives?

[Graham]

As a member of re-enactment societies which support many cultural events in this country, what support and protection (In law) would you enact for us?

[dgilders]

Do you accept our politicians are responsible for the changes that have been brought about in many parts of the country through rapid immigration? Do you believe that the security of our heritage passed down by previous generations is the responsibility of the government? Is the public entitled to feel aggrieved about the impact of these changes on our lives, and entitled to charge the politicians with high-handed betrayal?

[TaxCutter]

Do you think the Conservative party should promise to cut taxes in the next election, and if so what taxes?

[TaxCutter]

What policies would you propose to make your constituency more competitive in the global economy?

[Mark Elliott]

Are you proud that you hit the airwaves with your criticism and gave Labour an open goal following the Ealing Southall by-election? Such criticism might be worth saying in private but those of us fighting hard in key marginal seats would rather MPs showed some discipline and worked to help us - especially in London!

[Peter Kingsman]

Mark,

Westminster is home many of the top bars and clubs in the country. What steps do you think Westminster Council can take to encourage these establishments to promote responsible drinking and a zero tolerance policy on illegal drugs?

[Harlequin.dane]

I have no sympathy with those questioners above who seek to denigrate you for expressing a sincerely held view, shared by many I am sure. If our MP’s cannot express an opinion where is parliamentary democracy going in this country?
Now to my main questions. What should the Party do to minimise the effect of a surge in English nationalism as the next general election approaches. Is a policy of English votes for English Bills enough, or should we at the same time pro-actively seek to give the Welsh and Scottish Parliaments more powers over their economies?
Should we as a party campaign for a referendum on independence for Scotland and then campaign to maintain the union?

[Brian Jenner]

The Cities of London and Westminster constituency association is very important because it can potentially recruit thousands of young people for social events when they graduate and arrive in London.

Mark's Association is utterly hopeless at this.Its events are far too expensive and old-fashioned. What's he doing to reform his Association?

[Constance Harper]

What are the biggest challenges of representing what must be one of the most ununsual constituencies in the country?

[Neville Farmer]

I, like you, was the lucky recipient of a Grammar School education - one of under 5% in my town. Unfortunately, the remaining 95% of school kids in Kidderminster were dumped into secondary modern schools that refused them even the right to sit GCEs (as they were then called) preparing them instead for a life in the local carpet factories (now closed).

If it is so important to you to create a Britain of well-educated, creative, scientific and technologically aware young people, why is your rose-tinted "bring back grammar schools" campaign focussing on a system that benefits less than a tenth of the schools population?

Surely the point is that we have far too many people incapable of competing in the modern world? How can streaming off 5-10% and leaving the rest to fend for themselves be considered a way forward?

And in what way does a system where school placements are decided by exam results and extremely limited local availability constitute parental choice?

[luke]

People seem to say lots of bad things about poor Grant Shapps, but I think he did really well in Ealing - he got our vote up by nearly one per cent, which seems a real achievement. Should Grant not be our general election mastermind?

[Ruth Robinson]

It is time the Conservative party started opposing - there is so much damage Labour has done, but we hear nothing about it from the conservatives. All we get are daft statements about putting 7p on a pint of beer. What good would that do except to close down more pubs? Under-age drinkers are not found in pubs. Binge drinkers get tanked up before they go out. I was in the licensed trade for 20 years and I know. Everyone is fed up with this surveillance society - what are the Conservatives going to do? We must hammer home to people the terrible waste of public money that has gone on and is still going on.PR trips to Rwanda and windmills on bicycles cut no ice with the general population. How is Rwanda suddenly our problem? It was not even a member of the Commonwealth. Nothing is heard about the terrible tragedy in Zimbabwe. Ian Smith was right. McMillan said years ago that we had laid down the white man's burden. Why are we still picking it up?

[Suzy Gale]

What are we doing, as a Party about our core vote and particularly those aged over 60?

I am all for encouraging voters from other age groups and backgrounds, but I firmly believe our core supporters are feeling neglected at this time ?

Why isn't it possible to campaign in tandem with our own, longstanding and valued support while encouraging others to come and join and support us ?

We need to be doing a great deal more to reach out to everyone.

[Paul]

Where do you stand on the Hunting Act - would you support turning back the clock and wasting time on its repeal, or do you accept it as progressive animal welfare legislation that's here to stay?

[Associate Editor]

Thank you for your questions. They have been sent to Mark Field and we will publish them shortly.