ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

John Glen celebrates victory in Salisbury by singing 300 year-old song about turnips!

I was delighted earlier to watch the new MP for Harlow Robert Halfon's gracious victory speech earlier, kindly sent to me by Graeme Archer.

The most unusual vioctory routine must be the one that awaits the candidate elected by the great people of Salisbury. Tradition dictates that the new MP sings a song about fighting turnip beetles, first sung 300 years ago. It was a tradition observed by the outgoing MP, Rob Key. The LibDem candidate said that he wouldn't sing it if elected. What a spoil sport! John Glen - elected on Thursday with a majority of 5,996 - did sing it.

There's more about the tradition and an audio of John's performance here.

Tim Montgomerie

John Glen adopted for Salisbury

Winning on the second ballot was a clear testimony to the quality of John Glen's campaign and performance on the day.

It was a superbly organised event with nearly 500 present. Enormous credit must go to Salisbury Conservative Association Chairman Penny Brown and her team.

All five candidates did well but Victoria Atkins and Zehra Zaidi put in particularly strong performances in my view. I hope they find seats very soon.

It was striking how conservative all of the candidates were. They all, for example, made very Eurosceptic pledges, all backed grammar schools, all committed to much stricter control of immigration. 

John complemented this traditional message with commitments to raise the profile of overseas aid among younger voters and also to build a stronger society as the best defence against crime. He said that reductions in benefit dependency must be at the heart of any budget cuts and that protecting the defence budget would be his first priority.

I'm looking forward to him becoming my MP if we can face down the LibDem threat in the coming weeks.

Tim Montgomerie

Local candidate Ian Axton's last minute withdrawal from Salisbury selection

From Ian Axton's website.

I'll be on BBC1 (West) at about 12.30pm discussing the selection. The result is expected at about 5.30pm.

Tim Montgomerie

Are shortlists too long?

Salisbury selects today from a shortlist of six excellent candidates: Victoria Atkins, Ian Axton, Fleur Butler, John Glen, Jeremy Quin and Zehra Zaidi.

Party members and other registered members of the constituency will be gathering at the Salisbury Playhouse for six interviews that will begin at 2pm. Each interview - to be conducted by Major General Patrick Cordingley - will last thirty minutes. The first round of voting will start at about 5.15pm. A result may not be announced until after 6pm if a number of rounds of voting are necessary.

Talking to friends and family over the last few weeks it has been obvious that the major barrier to people coming is the three or four hour length of the process. Some selection meetings have taken five or six hours. Churchgoers are anxious about missing evening services. Political enthusiasts such as myself are resigned to missing things like the Man Utd V Arsenal game but do we have to make it so difficult for people to attend? Why six candidates and not four? Four seems an adequate enough choice to me. That's my thought for the day and something else for CCHQ to consider when they review the selections during this Parliament.

Tim Montgomerie

I'm backing John Glen for Salisbury

I've never endorsed a candidate in a selection battle until today but I hope readers will forgive me making an exception in the case of my home seat of Salisbury.

In backing John Glen. I'm not making any comment on the qualities of the other candidates. I've had the pleasure of meeting Victoria Atkins and Zehra Zaida in the last week and both were very impressive. The Salisbury Conservatives have shortlisted six excellent candidates and all of them would make a good MP for this jewel of England. Equally, all will have to work very hard to fill Robert Key's big shoes.

Perhaps I should wait until the Sunday selection meeting and wait until I've heard all six candidates answer thirty minutes of questions. Perhaps, but I cannot believe that I will learn more about any of the candidates in such a short time than I already know about John after more than fifteen years of close friendship.

We can over-emphasise the importance of local candidates but in John's favour are his Wiltshire roots. His dad has worked in horticulture in the county for all his life. John was brought up in Wiltshire and he has many connections with Salisbury. We need a champion for a county that has been badly neglected by Labour since 1997. It's a sad pattern that Labour have channelled money away from areas that made the mistake of voting Conservative.

I first met John when he was research assistant to Conservative MP Gary Streeter in the early 1990s. He hasn't joined the Conservative cause as a career move but worked for the party throughout our lean years. He was an adviser to William Hague when party leader. He was head of the Conservative Research Department under Michael Howard. John would be on the inside track of the Conservative government we all hope for and that would be good for Salisbury.

For want of a better expression, he's what I think of as a full spectrum Conservative. On the one hand he's a Eurosceptic; he's a believer in low taxation; he supports a tough approach to crime and strictly controlled immigration. But there's also a commitment to the greener, gentler conservatism of David Cameron. John was helping me with the social justice project ten years ago when we worked together in the Conservative Christian Fellowship. In his campaign video he makes it clear that, in fixing Labour's deficit, we mustn't balance budgets on the backs of the poor. He's a practical environmentalist; strongly committed to recycling, better use of energy and protecting the countryside.

That Gordon Brown and Tony Blair sent our armed forces to two wars on a peacetime budget must be in the top three of Labour's great failures. Over dinner last Friday in the excellent new curry house on Minster Street (it was the Golden Curry restaurant), John made it clear that his number one job will be to stand up for the military.

Salisbury couldn't do better than choosing John Glen as its Conservative candidate. 

Tim Montgomerie

Countdown to the Salisbury selection meeting

Saturday 4.45pm: Four of the candidates have answered a Q&A for the Salisbury and Stonehenge website. Victoria Atkins has posted her final newsletter of the campaign. As has Jeremy Quin. Yesterday I explained why I was supporting John Glen.

Thursday 3pm: I should draw attention to Fleur Butler's website and also Jeremy Quin's daily updated blog.

***

Over the next six days I'll be counting down to the Salisbury selection meeting.

Zehra Zaidi has launched her campaign website and John Glen has made this YouTube video (I'll happily post other material from other candidates):

Final six names in the frame for Salisbury

After a false start last week, the final six names fighting it out for the Conservative nomination to replace Robert Key as candidate for Salisbury have just been named. They are:

• Victoria Atkins - Daughter of Sir Robert Atkins MEP, she is a criminal barrister who prosecutes serious, organised crime, ranging from international drug traffickers to tax and benefit fraudsters. She answered David Cameron's call for new candidates to come forward last year after a "lifetime in the Conservative Party". Read more on her website.
• Ian Axton - A former presenter on ITV News and one-time managing director of Spire FM, he now runs his own media company operating commercial radio stations in Hampshire and Berkshire. He has lived in Salisbury for twenty years and is one of those who answered David Cameron's call for new candidates to come forward last year. His wife works for retiring MP Robert Key. Read more on his website.
• Fleur Butler -  A councillor in Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, with responsibility for Housing and Economic Development. She was a candidate for the European Parliament last year in Yorkshrie and The Humber, having previously managed European funded projects, mostly for the community and voluntary sector.
• John Glen - Has twelve years' business experience working across different industries, having also served as an adviser to William Hague and as Director of the Conservative Research Department. He grew up in rural Wiltshire and has family links to Salisbury going back three generations. A magistrate, he contested Plymouth Devonport in 2001 and is a contributor to the CentreRight blog. Read more on his website. 
• Jeremy Quin - After an 18-year private sector career, culminating in becoming a managing director of Deutsche Bank, he was seconded to the Treasury in 2008 to help formulate the UK response to the banking crisis. He contested Meirionnydd Nant Conwy in 1997 an is a trustee of the Countryside Alliance Foundation. His website.                      
• Zehra Zaidi - A solicitor who has been based in both London and Brussels, she has acted as adviser to Andrew Mitchell, having worked as a development consultant for, among others, UNICEF and the British Council, on financial reform, governance, HIV and health issues. She was a candidate for the European Parliament in South West England last year with special responsibility for Wiltshire. She has written several pieces for ConservativeHome and has blogged in the past here.

(Atkins, Quin and Zaidi were all also finalists in nearby Devizes)

The six will go before the association's executive on January 18th and an Open Primary meeting will be held on Sunday January 31st at the Salisbury Playhouse and any voter in the Salisbury constituency wanting to attend should pre-register via the local association's website.

Penny Brown, the association chairman, said:

“Together with my Panel members we are delighted with the short list of 6 candidates. It has been a long and difficult process of distillation both collectively and individually to sift through 184 CVs of strong candidates. A great privilege to have been involved. We are looking forward to the Open Primary where both members and non members will have an opportunity to make their choice.”

The successful candidate will inherit a notional majority of 8,860 over the Lib Dems.

Jonathan Isaby

Fire on train delays Salisbury selection!

All was very cold in Salisbury today...

...but things got a little heated on the train from my great Cathedral city to London. The train carrying the selection committee up to London, for their shortlisting meeting at CCHQ, caught fire.  Rumours that the fire was started deliberately by one cricket-supporting Tory member who was anxious to get back to his Sky TV box have been denied.

The 183 hopefuls will now have to wait until Tuesday to find out whether they'll be one of the final six.

Tim Montgomerie

Nominations open in three more safe seats

The latest tranche of constituencies seeking a candidate was released yesterday and includes three safe seats where sitting MPs have announced their retirements in recent days.

The closing date for the following four seats is 14th December.

Salisbury - The seat being vacated by Robert Key. He bequeaths a notional majority of 8,860 over the Lib Dems.

Staffordshire South - The seat being vacated by Sir Patrick Cormack. He bequeaths a notional majority of 8,346 over Labour.

Suffolk West - The seat being vacated by Richard Spring. He bequeaths a majority of 8,735 over Labour.

Ynys Môn - Known as the Isle of Anglesey to its non-Welsh-speaking minority, where it would appear that the previously-selected Trefor Jones has stood down. The seat is a rarity in that it has been represented by MPs from all four main parties in Wales over the last 60 years. It was Tory-held between 1979 and 1987, but is now a Labour/Plaid marginal, with the Conservatives coming fourth with 11% of the vote in 2005 - although the third-placed Independent, Peter Rogers, had previously been a Conservative Assembly Member.

Jonathan Isaby

Robert Key MP to retire

Salisbury's Robert Key MP has announced his retirement for health reasons.  See letter below.

He leaves behind a projected Tory majority of 9,292 over the Liberal Democrats.  Another MP - like Sir Patrick Cormack - who has properly resigned before 1st January so that his local party members have a fuller say in the choice of his successor.

Robert is my own MP, here in Salisbury.  He has a terrific reputation as a very hard-working constituency MP.  He'll be a hard act to follow.  My life might get a bit busier now as candidates seek my advice on 'everything Salisbury'!

I have my own reason to be grateful for Rob's constituency work [he's known as Rob here]....

The image above is of my home in Salisbury when a car wedged itself in front of my door.  This is what I wrote at the time:

"My home in Salisbury is situated on the bend of a road and in the last year or so, three cars have come crashing towards my front door.   Robert Key has been brilliant at sorting the issue out.   The roadside kerb has now been raised after his intervention and I can now sit in my living room, watching Desperate Housewives et al, with less fear of a lorry coming through the window any moment.  Thanks Rob!"

Tim Montgomerie