The Barnet Conservatives are an open minded lot. They have lead the way in promoting equality and fairness within the council and within the Conservative Party. Our beloved Mayor, Brian Coleman is out and proud of it. For a while, both the Leader of the Council and the Mayor were both openly Gay Conservatives. The former leader is now one of the seven (I believe that to be the number) openly gay Conservative candidates. It is a tribute to the people of Barnet that this is not an issue that has ever been mentioned to me on the doorstep. People are relaxed about the private lives of our politicians and rightly so. No one, from any party would make the sexuality of a candidate an election issue and if they did they would be given short shrift from voters and their fellow party members. For the Barnet Eye blog, it is a matter of some pride that all of the parties in Barnet have their feet firmly placed in the 21st century and this is one area which we are united. Sadly, not all members of the Conservative Party are as committed to freedom and equality as our local politicians. In a recent interview with The Gay Times, Conservative Leader David Cameron was asked about a rather unfortunate vote by some of his MEP's. I was rather shocked to see how badly David Cameron responded to the questions and how he got completely flustered. This is the man who wants to be the next Prime Minister. Check this interview out :-
The sad thing about this is that Cameron really should have anticipated such questions in an interview with Gay Times shouldn't he? What did he expect them to ask him questions about. I never thought I would say this but it seems Mr Cameron and his MEP's could learn much from his Conservative Colleagues in Barnet.
I got this off Red Rag - so it's on his blog, my blog, and your blog - EXCELLENT!!!!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I was in a residents meeting with John Denham, Housing Secretary, last week. Leaked docs show Tories (via leader of Ham/Ful) want to scrap Assured Tenancies and all the other tenancies and pass legislation so there's only Assured Shorthold Tenancies so they can kick you out with only 2 months notice. Will blog more detail soon on my blog but leaked doc from H&F Tory councillors said things like "Council Housing is barrack-block housing for the poor", "...hard to get rid of people" and "tenancies for life make no sense". H&F leader heads up policy group on social housing advising Cameron. How they do it is real crafty too - they say they're redeveloping - i.e. flattening the block. Then they say "You can stay here in your LOCAL area with all your FRIENDS & FAMILY on an AST OR you can have an assured tenancy still for life, but it's in a grotty flat 20 miles away up the other end of the borough where you don't know anybody". So that way they get the council tenants on ASTs and can kick them out any time after 4 months, with only 2 months notice. What a nice bunch of...is "people" the right word?
Regards, PCS Will.