But your involved in politics, you must be an egocentric maniac!
Let me tell you how that happened.
A Brief Intro
I was born and raised in Alvaston, Derby. I ignored politics and never gave a second thought to anything concerned with the running of the city or area I lived in. At eighteen I left Derby and moved to Southampton where I studied at university and bought an old steel house near the shore. I worked in chemicals doing stock control and health and safety, then IT and statistics for ONS, IT for Retail services and CCTV. An opportunity arose after a while to move north and work on a project involving property, coffee and croissants in Scotland and I took it. That led after a while to Wales working in tourism, conservation, engineering, construction and I found myself owning a beauty salon. Family situations changed and suddenly I returned to Alvaston but now I could no longer ignore that thing that we call politics.
Political Influences
You see during these times various things slowly drew my attention. As a child, my father favoured the Conservatives though he showed no real interest in politics. He wrote to Edwina Curry a few times about government legislation as it killed his business. She wasn’t our MP but she was near enough, he respected her as an honest character and he didn’t like our actual MP Margaret Beckett.
As a young adult I then watched Tony Blair take us into multiple wars and invade Iraq. We seemed ill prepared and it confused me.
In Scotland I started dealing with Councillors due to a neighbourhood issue. They showed a complete lack of understanding of the issues involved often focusing completely on something insignificant. I then witnessed first hand the Scottish Referendum.
After relocating to Wales the EU referendum then occurred and shortly after I moved back to Derby.
The Brexit sell out was a real threat. I decided to stand up and step into politics. You see hindsight shows how bad politicians can be and how our electoral system under performs.
Why Politics Hit Me
When my father was writing to Edwina Curry she was having an affair with John Major. He did everything in his power to weaken the UK and to empower the EU whilst preaching to the nation about restoring family values. Edwina also appointed Jimmy Savile to head up a task force to run Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.
Margaret Becket was much better. Deeply in the heart of The Labour Party she claimed £72,537 in expenses between 2004 and 2008 for her Derby house. She apparently had no mortgage and was living in London. For perspective that would have bought most houses in Derby at that time or even three houses. Since the EU Referendum she has consistently denied the views of her constituents and voted against BREXIT at every opportunity. Amazingly, while writing this, she remains my MP.
Tony Blair, it transpired, had taken us into a war based upon lies and misinformation. He then used it for profit and forwarded his career by becoming Middle East Peace Envoy. His actions have killed many and cost this country it’s credibility and respect. We are still seeing the consequences of unjustifiable actions upon remote populations.
As for local councils, my experience is of well meaning people who are often not skilled in understanding some of the most basic issues at hand. I would rate my experience with the multiple Councils and Councillors I’ve dealt with over planning, development, historic conservation and neighbourhood issues at 3/10.
Then there’s Scotland. We stood close to loosing the union that keeps this island working. I could have been swayed for a good argument but the reasons behind the referendum seemed bitter and not grounded in reality. Scotland was not defeated in war, its population never suppressed or occupied by opposing forces. My experience at ONS showed Scotland received far more than any other part of the UK and yet here we were. It was the final straw that began to move my stubborn feet.
When Brexit happened I was living in the remote wilds of southern Wales. So far from anything major that it didn’t seem that big an issue. I figured we’d lose and life would carry on with the EU sucking the life out of everything British in complete satisfaction knowing that the UK population could do nothing about it. Thankfully I was wrong.
You see if you ignore the general population for long enough they begin to hate you. It’s what eventually leads to civil war or large scale unrest. Our own government had promised for years to stop the flood of workers that reduced wages for the working population, inflated rents and house prices and put strain on our health and education system. But Labour and the Conservatives were lying to everybody because they had signed the agreements that meant the borders could not be shut. They had no control over our borders but they dare not admit it. As a result, I believe, the vote was won. Of course many other really important issues were at play and maybe that’s a bit simplistic but for whatever reason it was the grass roots workers and pensioners that carried the vote.
Unhappy with the result our Civil Service, Conspiring with the EU and Theresa May sought to undermine the very thing that we’d voted for. I watched Nigel Farage as he daily called out and predicted the moves of the government while they attempted to destroy BREXIT. When I moved back to Derby I jumped straight into the fight and stood for Derby South in the 2019 election in an attempt to at least do something.
Well That Went Well
OK, so I didn’t win, but I think without us the BREXIT we did get would never have happened. Now, with my contacts in politics I was persuaded to continue to assist on whatever level I could. The local Councillors who’ve fought in Derby for years against waste, incompetence and even electoral fraud wanted to continue the fight. I joined them to be a founding member of Reform Derby. My fight here will continue and with the COVID situation we are going to need some really strong leaders to see Derby and the wider UK flourish. Unless we fight for democracy and against corruption we will lose everything.
