Mark Field MP: Some urgent lessons from Ealing Southall

Mark Field is MP for Cities of London and Westminster.

The Conservatives under David Cameron have made tremendous progress to encourage and engage our Party members in community cohesion projects across the UK.

However I believe that our by-election campaign in Ealing Southall may have done lasting damage to the Party’s outreach work in the British Asian Communities.

For a start I fail to understand why MPs such as Dominic Grieve and Paul Goodman whose constituencies are within ten miles or so of Ealing Southall and who have worked enthusiastically with their local Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities over many years, building trust and support, were not brought in to advise on the  strategy of this campaign.   

The centralised imposition of a Sikh candidate, who first became associated with the Party ten days before the by-election was called and whose most recent political activity had been attendance at a Labour Party fundraiser in mid-June, always had the makings of a fiasco.  The way in the sensitivities of local Tory activists were bypassed amounted to contempt towards our supporters and the electorate at large. Building trust and support amongst ethnic groups can never be a quick fix - it has to the culmination of consistent work and commitment.

This potential calamity was clearly spelt out by local folk as soon as the normal candidate selection process was discarded in favour of CCHQ adopting the photogenic son of a prominent local businessman with no previous links to the Party. Our  consequent  attempts to woo the Sikh vote in Southall by exploiting divisions which have wracked the local Sikh and Hindu communities for decades also struck many as blatant opportunism. This warning was conveyed privately to many senior members of the Conservative Party  as the campaign progressed but it was apparently ignored.

To many neutral observers these actions betrayed a failure by our Party to treat sensitively the potentially explosive racial divisions within Ealing Southall. For sure the defection of five local Labour councillors, all Sikhs and  whose ringleader was someone who only days before had failed to secure the Labour nomination for the by-election, made for good headlines at the start of the campaign. However, it became increasingly evident that the Conservatives had been manipulated by this dissident group, who were misleadingly presented  to the public as having defected on ideological grounds.

Worse still these self styled community leaders failed to deliver much more than a block vote of five. As a result, in spite of a frenetic and energetic PR campaign, our vote effectively flatlined at 22.5% - and this in a seat where in the 50 years to 1997 the Conservative share of the vote never dipped below 30%.

As the national political bandwagon moves on from west London my sympathies lie with the dedicated local Conservative association and our ruling Group on Ealing Council who are now left with the unenviable task of sorting out a divided and demoralised local Conservative force. They won control of the council last year and  I know from my time working  with Ealing's Conservative activists that over many years they have worked tirelessly to build relations with local ethnic communities. Much of this effort now lies in tatters.

From my own experience as an inner London MP over the past six years working alongside a sizeable Chinese and Bangladeshi population, I know that there is no substitute for respectful and patient work alongside British Asian communities to promote harmony and understanding.  Even in the highly pressurised atmosphere of a by-election we had a wonderful opportunity over the past three weeks to show the country at large that modern Conservatism embraces these values.

Comments

[Henry Mayhew - Ukipper / mid C19th conservative]

I was amazed to see this article by Mark Field when it went up this morning and am astounded it has not been shown to be a fake yet. On top of that, the majority of posters seem to have ignored the incredible indiscipline of its posting.

I cannot wait to see what reaction there is from the Cameron camp. If there is none then the Tory Party has come to an end effective this morning.

[Dismayed]

To answer David Gold's challenge, I am a former Conservative Parliamentary candidate and remain a party member and donor. His cheap remark is unworthy of a Conservative PPC.

[malcolm]

His remark wasn't cheap at all it was true and you know it.People who don't have the guts to post under their real names should expect to have their motives questioned.

[Philip]

The normal candidate selection process discarded and CCHQ imposing, to quote Mark Field, “the photogenic son of a prominent local businessman with no previous links to the Party”, and who had recently attended a Labour fund-raising dinner. Is this another example of the celebrity, glitz and appearance over substance, will say and do anything to get votes, culture of Blair? (a reason for increasing cynicism about politicians?).

I wonder if David Cameron was the answer to Tony Blair, and hence the preoccupation of appearance over substance. We need to change our approach now we have Mr Brown, a man as seen as having substance bringing a sense of order and seriousness where people are anxious about drugs and crime etc. (hence the apparent back-tracking on down-grading cannabis, and on super-casinos).

However, maybe the IDS report on mending a broken society is a start by Mr Cameron in showing we do have some substance and seriousness: policies to tackle an issue that seems to concern voters – many seem to be aware there is something radically wrong in our society.

[Andrew Lilico]

Does anyone know the final figure for our canvass percentage? Did we make 30% coverage?

[MikeG]

Having done a short spell knocking up in Ealing yesterday, I too was rather shocked at the incomplete details on the sheets. Names would have been useful to say the least.

But the knock-up leaflets were possibly worse - the 5 Labour Cllrs crossing over was not not "stop press" news on polling day. Nor, I imagine, did the main message on the leaflet that "The Conservatives are the principle challengers" go down well will those who know how to spell.

I have little doubt that Mark F's article is correct - He doesn't usually get controversial for the sake of it. But maybe his point and the niggles in the knock-up are both symptoms of the same of the same problem: We don't know how to campaign in by-elections, or if we do we don't focus the ability well enough.

All down to David Cameron, George Bridges etc? The local association's fault entirely? Central Office interference? No by-election gain since 1982 suggests blaming the men of the moment is a bit short-sighted. Isn't it time we recognize the problem and do something about it?

[Ted]

Personally pleased that "dismayed" is a former PPC and Mr Gold a current one - Mr Gold understands the real and hard job we face to recover from 15 plus years of disunity and the damage that MPs and senior party members do when they publish articles like this and in some of the comments.

ES wasn't a disaster but the vulturine tendencies of those that don't at heart wish the leadership to do well can create a crisis and ongoing disasters for the party.

[HF]

Old Hack sums it up well "Rennard is a pro and Shapps, like Maude, Browning etc are all amateurs with little by way of qualification or ability."

"So there we are, Labour holds onto two safe seats and here we are, getting our knickers in a twist because we overinvested in an election which we were never likely to win."

What we need in CCHQ are battle hardened agents.

Last year at Bromley the Francis Maude led CCHQ campaign team nearly delivered a fatal blow to our credibility. We knew then that CCHQ's campaigning abilities were not fit for purpose. Maude failed to address it and his removal looks like a wise move.

[Chris King]

David Gold – I can understand your frustration. But you need to ask yourself why people feel it appropriate to use this site to express their own concerns and frustrations, including the excellent article by Mark. The fact is the CCO don’t listen. I’ve written to Maples, Mary Macleod (chair of candidates) and CC’d Gareth Fox. Have I received a reply – not a chance. I’ve now written to the Party Chair, have I received a reply – not a chance. Now ask yourself why people vent their frustrations on ConservativeHome.

[Chris King]

Shepleytory - "If some people on here used as much energy in working positively for the party as they seem to attacking it, we'd be in a much stronger position".

I think you need to ask yourself why people feel it appropriate to use this site to express their own concerns and frustrations. The fact is the CCO don’t listen. I’ve written to Maples, Mary Macleod (chair of candidates) and CC’d Gareth Fox. Have I received a reply? – Not a chance! I’ve now written to the Party Chair, have I received a reply? – Not a chance. Now ask yourself why people vent their frustrations on ConservativeHome.

[Scotty]

Really dismayed to see a Conservative MP write a piece like this for public/media consumption and would question why he has chosen to do so in this manner?
His points whether true or not will not be the story tomorrow in the media but rather the "disloyal" behaviour of yet another Conservative MP criticising his own rather than the opposition. Shame that he had no comment to make about the way that the other parties campaigned in the heat of the by election, but then that might have given the actions of CCHQ more perspective and lessened the attack on his own party!
The timing of this article so soon after the result and when David Cameron and his colleagues are in Rwanda says it all really.

[Andrew Ian Dodge]

Scotty the fact that Cameron & Co are in Rwanda instead of trying to figure out what the hell when wrong speaks oodles about his judgement as well.

[Scotty]

Andrew Ian Dodge, considering how long this trip was in the planning I won't blame him for not being here this weekend especially when by elections are usually called under extremely sad circumstances and cannot therefore be planned for in the same way.

[PB]

Cameron is a commie and will take the party down with himself. Time to switch to UKIP.

[Shelley Martin]

Conservatives need to ask themselves are they backing the Conservatives or are they backing David Cameron's Party!! I can not believe that ballot papers said David Camerons Party - surely its the Conservative Party!!.