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 reports back on William Hague's recent campaign visit to Gibraltar.
Just over a week ago I penned my first article on our South West Euro campaign in Gibraltar. I outlined the history of our involvement and I reported on high profile visits to the Rock by Mark Francois and Michael Ancram. I signed off by pledging to report back on the forthcoming visit by Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague.
Anyone who has ever been involved in organising a visit like this knows just what a challenge it presents. Detail is everything and as I learned in the TA, “prior preparation and planning prevents p*** poor performance”. So William’s visit had to be scheduled and reconnoitred in the minutest detail. And Gibraltar takes its politics very seriously – particularly when anticipating a visit by a man they all expect to be Foreign Secretary in David Cameron’s first Government.
When William landed at Gibraltar airport, the photographers were there to catch him, framed against the Rock in that dramatic pose that anybody who has ever landed in Gib will immediately recognise (The runway isn’t the longest in the world so passengers are normally wide awake as they come down the steps from the plane!). We wanted to maximise use of his time so from the airport he was whisked straight to the Garrison Library where nearly 100 local members, supporters and friends were waiting to welcome him.
Keeping a Branch going in Gib is a challenge, because so many of the population spend their lives flying in and out as they do business all over the world. But we do have a hard core who keep things ticking over. Unlike Labour, who are formally linked with the Socialist GSLP, or the Liberal Democrats who are wedded to the Gibraltar Liberals, we do not have a sister party as such. We have many friends in the GSD, but at the end of the day we are not a Social Democrat Party. And we were delighted to welcome a number of their members and workers to the Library – the more the merrier.
William spoke as inspiringly as ever, tearing into Labour’s attempts at shabby deal-making with the Spanish Government over sovereignty and reminding them again that “the Conservatives will never let Gibraltar down”. I enjoyed thanking him at the end – reminding him that the last time we had campaigned together was on Bristol harbourside during the 2001 General Election when we had gone toe to toe – and nearly blow for blow – with the Bristol Labour Party. We even managed to raffle a couple of his signed books – and a local historian reminded him that the Library had been financed by the Government of, yes, Pitt the Younger! And then off for a quick bite of dinner and a detailed briefing on the following day’s programme.
Friday was business – interviews with GBC and the Gibraltar Chronicle followed by filming for the Gibraltar party election broadcast – yes, they have one! – and also a YouTube video for the Gibraltar Conservatives' website. Then it was down the hill to the Convent to meet with Gibraltar’s first ever female Deputy Governor. The Governor himself, Sir Robert Fulton, was back in Britain. (The Governor’s residence and office is indeed a former Convent and it is the Square outside this historic building where the IRA planned to detonate that infamous bomb). From there it was straight over the road to see the Chief Minister, The Hon Peter Caruana QC MP. William was joined for this meeting by Neil Parish MEP, who was making his final visit to Gibraltar as one of their MEPs. This visit concluded with an impromptu press conference – where the Chief Minister did his own GOTV exercise, reminding all Gibraltarians of the importance of voting on June 4. Many people fought a real battle to get Gibraltarians the vote – now they must use it.
Lunch was business like – a quick sandwich round the boardroom table in the offices of our local Chairman, Bernard Hazell. The guest, Joe Holliday, number 2 in Caruana’s Government and Trade Minister. He was genuinely fascinating, talking about Gibraltar’s maritime industry which accounts for 15% of their GDP. Gibraltar is one of the top ten bunkering ports in the world and the second largest in the Med after Piraeus. He briefed William on the new airport terminal and the proposed Eastside development which could see 2,200 more apartments and a huge new marina added to the ever expanding community that is Gibraltar.
And then it was walkabout time – always a laugh with William, who is a complete natural. From the walled and impressive Casemates Square right through Main Street to the Cathedral. We met hundreds of Gibraltarians of all origins – and they were all delighted to see him. Pledges of support were neverending – and they all wanted photographs with the man himself. One old boy presented William with a picture of the ape that had bitten Andrew Rosindell – “Is the ape OK?” was the inevitable question!
But there was an added and welcome twist. Cruise liner calls are big business for the Rock today and there was obviously a British boat in. Nearly 10 million tourists visit Gibraltar every year. We met nearly as many Brits as locals – and they loved meeting William 1,500 miles from home. From Sunderland, Hull, Lincoln, Burnley and Birmingham, and all with the same question: “When are you going to get that b****r Brown out?” Not one person had a good word to say about our hapless PM. And they really want him gone. But then, as suddenly as it started, it was over. William into a cab and whisked off to the airport for the BA flight to London. Job done – a huge success.
But for us, after a week doing the Hague and Francois visits, it was pack to go home time. Our small team, Gordon Hirst, Jack Lopresti and I, with locals led by Jim Watt, had delivered thousands of leaflets trailing the Hague walkabout. Gibraltar lives in apartment blocks, so it’s entry phones and concierges all round. And thank heavens for IT – I write all the literature on my laptop and e-mail it to a designer back home. He sends me a proof which I then get signed off by the Research Department - by e-mail. And finally a pdf file goes – by e-mail – to a Gibraltarian printer in a unit on the edge of the old naval dockyard. The window of his workshop frames a roof emblazoned with the name Cammell Laird!
Based in the West Country, we all fly EasyJet from Malaga to Bristol. It’s convenient - and relatively cheap. I wonder when they last had a customer with 500 Conservative letterheads and 36 rosettes come through the baggage hall! And the anti-UKIP and anti-Liberal handouts! Personally I’m back out there for 3 nights nearer polling day – to firm up our GOTV plans and sort out the manning of the 12 polling stations. In Gibraltar posters can only go on Government provided advertisement boards – and there is a red painted line around polling stations within which tellers must not step. But people stand just outside the line – handing leaflets to every elector as they approach the polling station. It all takes organising – and I’ve still got the GOTV leaflet to write.
But Gibraltar is just one piece of our fascinating regional jigsaw. So having reached my Somerset bed at 2.00am on the Saturday morning, I am pleased to report that by 10.30am I was banging on doors in Nunney in the Somerton and Frome constituency. From there it was on to Castle Cary and finally Burnham on Sea. Three target divisions in one day. Monday was a Wiltshire day – Chippenham, Melksham and back to Chippenham for the evening shift – and Tuesday was Swindon with Justin Tomlinson. For Jack Loprest, the streets of Filton and Bradley Stoke beckoned, whilst Neil Parish was off to meet the Somerset Young Farmers at South Petherton before heading to Tiverton and Honiton. “You’re all crooks and tossers!” the man shouted. It all seemed a long way from Rosia Battery No.6 Gibraltar, beneath which Nelson’s brandy pickled body was supposedly first landed after the heroics of Trafalgar. Oh well – Stroud tomorrow!