A very good week for Andrew Dismore

The sitting MP for Hendon, Andrew Dismore has not been getting too much good press of late, what with expenses scandals and the associated incoming flack. Although he has a decent sized majority, he must know that he is more vulnerable than at any time since he took the seat from Tory John Gorst in 1997. I should imagine that last night he nipped out from his lovely house in Notting Hill Gate to one of the rather nice, swanky bistros around the corner and sunk a bottle or three of the good stuff. Why would Andrew be in such upbeat spirits? Well he's nothing if not hard working, our Andrew. He will have read the latest press release from Lynne Hillan's Barnet Tory Council announcing her cabinet.

There are several pieces of very good news for Andrew contained in this document. Firstly and most obviously the fact that his Tory opponent for the seat, Matthew Offord, appears to have given up on the chance of winning in Hendon. How could he tell this. Well Mike Freer, former Leader quit the cabinet to concentrate on his duties as a candidate for Finchley. Given that Finchley is a far more winnable seat for Freer, surely Offord should be devoting every spare second if he thought he had a chance, as Freer has done. Secondly, Bulmer has kept Offord in his Community Engagement and Community Safety job. So far this has involved Offord putting out nanny state style press releases which have been widely lampooned and have only succeeded in making Offord look silly. Here is my favourite quote from Matthew

Councillor Matthew Offord, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Community Safety, said: “Toys are usually at the top of most children’s Christmas lists, so it is particularly important this time of year to think carefully when buying gifts whether the toy is age appropriate and safe. Remove all packaging once the toys have been unwrapped and keep a careful eye to make sure little ones are playing with the right toys. By keeping toy safety at the top of your list you should be providing your children a safe and fun Christmas to remember.”

You see Matthew seems to believe that we all give our three year olds flick knives, plastic bags and matches for Christmas. It doesn't seem to occur to him that parents no1 concern is the well being of their children and we don't need advice from him to tell us to look after them.

The third piece of good news, probably the best bit as far as Andrew is concerned is the fact that Robert Rams is continuiung as Cabinet Member for Investment in Learning. Why should this be such good news for Andrew? Well for most families in Hendon, the one area where they are most likely to come into conflict with the Tory Council is their childrens education. We currently have countless children being taught in portacabins, we had new IT suites closed to make way for emergency classrooms and we had thousands of parents getting stressed due to the council not providing enough places at their schools of choice. Who is this down to? The cabinet member responsible for Investment in Education. When is this whole fiasco going to be at it's worst next year? Right in the middle of the general election campaign? Councillor Robert Rams has built up a reputation for not being up to the job. Apparently he's very good at ringing up the local paper to complain to the editor that articles are beastly, but when it comes to actually doing his job? Andrew Dismore knows this and as I mentioned he's a hard worker and extremely meticulous. I expect him to throw the kitchen sink at Rams and his incompetence. I fully expect Rams to shout back, "that's not fair, it's not my fault, someone else did it".

The bottom line for the voters of Hendon is this. Do you want someone who clearly can't even be bothered to pull his finger out and campaign - Matthew Offord, or do you want Andrew Dismore, who lets just say has been filling the papers with stories about his expenses? If the thought of choosing between these two doesn't exactly fill your heart with joy, you could always have a look at what Matthew Harris, The Lib Dem alternative has to say.

(Picture : Andrew Dismore MP nips around to no 10 for tea and biscuits with Gordon Brown, with Sgt Dan Reid of the Edgware Safer Neighbourhood team)