Antony Calvert was selected at the weekend for the newly created constituency of Morley and Outwood. Here he explains why Ed Balls, who will fight the seat for Labour, should have every reason to be worried.
Being selected for a parliamentary constituency is a huge honour. For anyone who has experienced the spine chilling moment when realisation dawns that you will be carrying the hopes and expectations of the party of Disraeli, Churchill and Thatcher into the next general election for your constituency, becoming a parliamentary candidate is a truly humbling moment.
I have been selected to fight my hometown constituency of Morley and Outwood at the next general election. Doubtless I will have to face a selection of minor candidates from UKIP, the BNP, an odd independent and a Liberal Democrat. The focus of this campaign, however, will be the tussle I am relishing with Schools Secretary Ed Balls. What a tussle this will be!
Morley and Outwood is a fusion of two separate constituencies brought together by the Boundary Commission. Both of these constituencies have not seen a Tory MP represent them for generations; in Normanton’s case not since the turn of the last century. But a collaboration of the most instinctively conservative, and indeed Conservative, wards of both Normanton and Morley and Rothwell have presented the Tories with the opportunity to claim the scalp of the High Priest of the Brown Government.
Morley is a proud town. Its people are classic hard-working commuter belt conservative minded voters, what I like to call ‘Beer and Sandwich’ Tories. Many of them are now realising that Labour’s instincts do not match their own, and this presents candidates like me and campaigns like mine with a great opportunity. We must connect with this electorate like never before, speaking their language and voicing their concerns.
The key in all of this is the campaign message. We are on their side, and not the side of wasteful government and overbearing taxes. The many families who live in Morley and work in Leeds want to hear from a party committed to protecting their interests, to reducing their taxes, to enhancing their local schools by bringing discipline back to the classroom, to spending their money with less frivolity and more responsibly. They want to know that their kids can walk the streets without fear of being attacked by feral gangs. They worry about how the next generation is going get a job or buy a house.
The old days of believing Labour is on the side of the working man are over. Labour has comprehensively failed the aspirational class. Our message must be that the Conservatives are once more the party of those who seek to be proud of our country, yet who are at the same time not afraid to protect their communities. We are the party promoting financial discipline which aims to get our country’s house in order, just as hard working families would with their household budgets. The Conservatives are now the only party actively committed to ripping up the obscene Human Rights Act and replacing it with one that protects the rights of law abiding citizens, rather than have an Act that seeks to criminalise anything that doesn’t conform to ludicrous standards of political correctness whilst at the same time giving actual criminals the right to enjoy hotel-style standards of cushy prison sentences. These are all issues people in my patch are concerned about, and rightly so.
I suppose these are a classic set of Yorkshire qualities that I share too.
We have already made a real difference locally. The Outwood component of the constituency is now almost entirely Conservative controlled. In 2004 there were six Labour councillors in two wards, there are now just two in one ward. Conservatives have increased their vote in every election since those all-up contests of 2004 in one ward, and recently claimed their first ever representative in the other. Our message has been simple; it is time for change.
I was one of those councillors elected almost five years ago. When I got elected the local party was moribund. Not any more. Under the scrutiny and hard work of a dedicated team of leaders, marshalled by the redoubtable Tony Homewood, Conservative councillor numbers have swollen in Wakefield from 7 to 23 in just five years. Our message is potent and it has real substance behind it. Hard working Wakefield folk are now flocking to the party of change.
We have done this in Wakefield under extraordinary opposition from well organised trade unions and Labour councillors scrapping to retain their livelihood. Wakefield is a tough place to fight and we have sharpened our campaigning claws in the very heartland of Labour. Morley is a totally different campaign environment, and one far more disposed to a positive Tory message. This seat, like many in suburban Britain, is very winnable.
I know that the fight ahead of my campaign team is going to be rough and tough. I also know that Ed Balls will have the combined might of the Labour party national machine desperate to protect him. However I believe that even with all those red rosette wearing shock troops Labour will muster onto the streets of Morley and Outwood our positive message of change will win through.
The beer and sandwich conservatives are ready to find a new home. The tide is now with us.
