Mike Dolley is fourth on the Conservative Party list for the South West at next month's European Parliament election - a region which includes Gibraltar. Here he gives us an insight to the Conservative campaign on the Rock, about which there is more on the Gibraltar Conservatives website.
Every time I drive from my home in North Somerset to my office at Coleshill, I reflect as I cross the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire boundary on how I am leaving the South West and entering the West Midlands. The Tewkesbury constituency is the “northern frontier” of the vast Region I seek to represent in the European Parliament.
Initially the Scilly Isles were the most South Westerly point. But just over five years ago, the electors of Gibraltar were enfranchised by the European Courts and after something of a bidding war Gibraltar was added to the South West Region. At the time the issue of sovereignty was more prominent than ever, following the exposure of Labour’s shabby attempt to betray the Rock via some sort of joint sovereignty deal with Spain. Gibraltarians did not, and will not ever, forgive Labour. They are a highly politicised electorate who understand in the finest detail just what Messrs. Straw and Co. were up to.
As the then Regional Director in the South West, it fell to me to work out how we could capture that wave of anti-Government feeling and bring Gibraltarian voters firmly into the Conservative fold. The organised Trade Union vote has historically prospered in dockyard-dominated Gibraltar and Joe Bossano’s Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party has formal links with Labour (even though most felt utterly betrayed over sovereignty). A small team of us set about the task with alacrity.
Neil Parish MEP led the charge, arriving in Gibraltar the day the judgment was announced. Supporting him over the next few months were Euro candidates Richard Graham and Jack Lopresti (both of whom will hopefully enter Parliament next year representing South West seats), whilst the voluntary party was represented in the campaign by then Regional Chairman, Gordon Hirst. We quickly established a branch in Gibraltar, chaired by local accountant, Bernard Hazell.
The mathematics of Gibraltar and the Region are simple – it has but 20,000 electors in a Region of some 4 million. But in every campaign, what happens at the margins will always matter and never more so than under the d’hondt system of PR where it is not only your own vote, but also the fragmentation of the opposition vote, that determines the outcome. We ran a high profile campaign with the highlight being a visit by then leader Michael Howard. This visit was rewarded by great coverage in the national media back home. And Gibraltar rewarded us with the highest turnout of any constituency in the country (57%) and the highest Conservative share of the vote (71%).
But our campaign was about far more than votes – it was about a historic and passionate commitment to Gibraltar which is almost part of the DNA of many Conservative members, supporters and voters. That commitment is driven by our core beliefs in freedom and self determination. Gibraltar is British because the people who live here want to be British and have demonstrated that desire almost unanimously through the ballot box. And they remember how Labour nearly sold them out and how the Liberal Democrats denigrated and belittled their referendum which so decisively confirmed their Britishness. But despite their undying loyalty to Britain, Gibraltarians have no truck with UKIP – they live next door to Spain and acknowledge the realities of that relationship – right down to the Morrisons lorries queuing to cross the border each day.
We also made two pledges to the people of Gibraltar: firstly, that we would not just turn up at election time and then disappear for the next five years; and secondly, that we would represent Gibraltarians in Brussels as diligently as we represent every other elector of our Region. We have kept our word on both counts – and how! Gibraltar has far more issues than just sovereignty and the border; pollution from the CEPSA refinery at San Roque is a major concern; and for years Gibraltar business was strangled by Spanish interference in their telecommunications. Conservative MEPs have taken up the cudgels on behalf of Gibraltar.
Now we’re back here campaigning – we want Gibraltar’s support again. I’ve been down here twice since the beginning of April, working with Gordon Hirst and Bernard Hazell to try and recreate the 2004 magic. Jack Lopresti, now a well known face in Gib, has been here helping – taking a few days out from his high profile campaign in Filton and Bradley Stoke. And his recent six month service with the commando gunners in Afghanistan gives him an immediate connection with many in a community where military service is still seen as a duty and an honour. Not for nothing does the Royal Marine cap badge bear the insignia “Gibraltar”. We’re joined on the team by our local “fixer” Jim Watt. I joke that Jim looks like Slade front man Noddy Holder, but he seems to know everyone in, and everything about, Gibraltar. Thank you Jim!
Michael Ancram joined the campaign last week for a couple of days – he is a hugely respected and popular figure on the Rock, for he was the Shadow Foreign Secretary when Labour’s shabby little secret was exposed. People stop him in Main Street to shake his hand and thank him for his work in “Standing up for Gibraltar” (our campaign slogan).
Last weekend we were joined by one of the new generation of rising Tory stars – shadow Europe Minister, Mark Francois, who flew in to spend Saturday campaigning on our behalf. After a meeting with the Governor he joined us on the streets for a quite fantastic morning “pressing the flesh”. A Bank Holiday weekend, Gibraltar was en fête as they say in France. We did interviews and filming for GBC, photocalls for the Gibraltar Chronicle and visited the Gibraltar Regiment Club. And being photographed outside a pub called the Lord Nelson with a group of Redcoats (and a local policeman!) was Mark says, about as good as it gets (the photo is reproduced here courtesy of Jim Watt). The response was superb – and Gibraltar was at its finest. A melting pot of cultures where Christian, Jew, Muslim and Hindu live and prosper shoulder to shoulder – and they were all on Main Street Saturday morning.
Two weeks in we’ve had the front page of the Chronicle four times – and that’s before William Hague visits today. Preparations are in hand – it should be a barnstormer! I’ll report back next weekend – when I’ve finished canvassing in the Nunney, Castle Cary and Burnham Divisions of Somerset where we hope to capture control of the County Council with Ken Maddock and his team. I fly back late Friday in time to hit the streets Saturday morning. We’re winning with the 20,000 in Gibraltar – we’ve got 3,980,000 other West Country electors to convince. Reports on GBC and BFBS suggest David Cameron is doing a pretty good job!
