Ten Reasons to vote for Mike Freer

Earlier this week I posted  ablog highlighting the appalling level of support which local Tory Councillors were giving the general election campaigns of Mike Freer and Matthew Offord.  One of the best of the new intake of Tories took what I said to heart and admitted I had made a valid point. Gabriel Rozenberg who is a Hampstead Garden suburb Tory has impressed me with his willingness to engage in open and sensible debate and to not always simply appear to be a "yes man". I predict he will go on to better things in politics. He certainly seems the most intellgent of the current crop of Barnet Tory Councillors. He also is reasonably robust and doesn't throw his toys out of the pram, even when being cruelly wound up. This is almost a unique charictaristic in the Barnet Tories and one which sets apart the real prospects from the overblown egomaniacs.

Anyway, Gabriel (much to my surprise, if I am honest), posted a tweet saying he agreed with me. He then tweeted ten reasons why he believes Finchley and Golders Green residents should support Mike Freer, the Tory Candidate.

Here are his tweets agreeing with me.

Gabriel Rozenberg @rozgab  ·  Apr 20

I admit it: @Barneteye makes a reasonable point. I haven't been exactly noisy on Twitter recently on behalf of my beloved @Conservatives.

Gabriel Rozenberg @rozgab  ·  Apr 20

So, I thought I would share with the Twitterverse my own Top Ten Reasons why I will be voting for @Freer4FGG on May 7th. #MikeForFinchley

  

Gabriel then tweeted his top ten reasons. As Gabriel had done me the rare honour of a Tory admitting I was right, I thought I'd repay the honour by giving my take on his reasons. For each of them I will give Mike a mark out of ten. So if Gabriel has ten unarguable reasons, Mike will get 100%. If he gives ten completely silly reasons, he will get zero. Of course none of this really matters as it is merely my opinion of Gab's opinion of Mike

1) Gay marriage. Coalition's great social justice win. Mike fought for it, convinced waverers, earned respect on all sides.

Well I was pretty impressed with Mike's speech in Parliament. I was tempted to give Mike 10/10 for this one. However on analysis I will knock him down to 8/10 (still a decent mark). The reason being that there is one big blot on the story. Gabs completely forgot to mention that Mike had completely failed to convince his friend and former deputy at Barnet, Matthew Offord, who is an implacable of opponenent same sex marriage. Not Mike's fault but I felt Gabs post was deficient in implying universal agreement.  - 8/10

2) No MP works as hard as Mike for his constituents. He is on it 24/7. Super fast and helpful replies to residents' emails. 

Sadly this is a big whopper. It is true that Mike worked hard for the Gaddafi family when pro democracy activists squatted in their vacant properties. As someone who has been involved in several popular local campaignsin FGG constituency, the truth is Mike gave his constituents no help and support at all. The CPZ campaign which got CPZ charges overturned in the High Court had no support from Mike. The Save Friern Library had no support from Mike.  The campaign to stop the abolition of pay and display cash parking got no support from Mike (even though he's now admitted the council and Brian Coleman were wrong). I am very sorry to say I have to give Mike 0/10 on this as simply supporting rich and powerful friends is no use at all. Now I am sure Mike has helped some people, but I've seen no evidence of it. 0 /10

3) Henlys Corner. Once a death trap, now transformed. Prosaic but crucial. Mike's legacy to Barnet as Council Leader.

Given that this achievement was not actually anything to do with Mike's role as being an MP, I was tempted to give another zero. It struck me as Gabriel really scraping the barrel. However it was improved, so I will give him 4/10.

4) Mike knows F&GG inside out. He was first elected to the council for Finchley in *1990*. And yes, he actually lives here.

Again not exactly a great reason to vote for someone. Is that really the best reason. I would vote for the person who did the best job whether they lived next door or in a Soho brothel. As to Mike knowing the area inside out, if this was true he'd have supported the CPZ campaign, which was largely run by natural Tories appalled at a huge injustice.  Sorry Gabs, got to be a big fat zero as an excuse to vote for Mike 0/10

5) He resigned his front-bench role on a point of principle.

This is a hard one for me to mark. It is clear that Mike resigned because he knew that to carry on could damage his electoral campaign, in a tight race. Having said that, he was elected to represent his constituents, and in this instance he clearly was. So I think 7/10 is fair. 7/10

6) This very personal and incredibly brave speech. youtu.be/mKUpNj4ukRE

Oh dear, Gabs has started to run out of steam and as started recycling reasons to vote for Mike. Back to his support for Same Sex Marriage. Having given Mike 8/10 for the first occurrance in the list, to give him any more for the same reason would be highly silly. So sorry Gabs, this is 0/10 for being cheeky and not even managing 10 different reasons. 0/10

7) Local priorities: campaigning for a breast screening unit at Finchley M; free schools; and against Labour's Mansion Tax

Ok, so totally agree with the Breast screening unit as an example of a good reason. If Mike had opposed the bedroom tax, which attacks poor people on benefits I may have scored him higher, but he only really seems to care for the well off, so 5/10

8) Mike fights against racism and intolerance. He stands up for the many minority communities who make their home in F&GG

Now it is clear Mike stands up against intolerance, as a long time supporter of LGBT rights (although this is the third time this particular chestnut has been recylced). Not quite so sure I've seen any evidence of leading campaigns against racism locally. He has a decent record on anti semitism, so I will be generous and give him (it would have been higher if Gabs hadnt yet again snuck in the same sex marriage argument by stealth) 5/10

9) Mike lives in the real world. He's worked his way up: Pizza Hut, Barclays Bank, House of Commons. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Freer#Early_life 

If Gabs truly thinks that having had a job in Pizza hut and a bank is a reason to vote for someone, he's off his rocker. He's clearly run out of puff and is floundering 0/10

10) A vote for @Freer4FGG is a vote for the Conservatives: growth, progress & job creation. Don't let Labour-SNP wreck it. 

Gabs has given up. Reason no 10 is not a reason to vote for Mike at all. It is an imploration to vote for the Tories and if Fred Flintstone  was the candidate this would be the same. Gabriel knows Mike well, but clearly cannot find ten good reasons to why anyone should vote for Mike the person, rather than Mike the Candidate. A rather poor reflection oin him 0/10

All in all 29/100. My guess is that there are plenty who would give Mike 100/100 in Finchley and Golders Green and vote for him without hesitation. Sadly it is clear that this only because he has a blue rosette and even his close friends and allies struggle to find five good reasons, let alone ten. 

Barnets Zombie Councillor - "I only say what I've been told to say"

Yesterday we highlighted how a local Tory Councillor had posted a few tweets which implied that he was not exactly overly familiar with the issues facing the poor and the dispossessed in the London Borough of Barnet. We wondered what his response would be. Would he give us examples of all the great work he's been doing, to show that it is us who is out of touch? Would he highlight the previously unseen compassionate side of the local Tory regime and blast our case out of the water?

We did wonder, we didn't have to wait long to find out. Here's our answer.

Gabriel Rozenberg ‏@rozgab 9h9 hours ago

@BrokenBarnet @Barneteye I read your blog, I observe the tweets, but I’m not on Housing and have not been briefed.

Of all the possible responses I was anticipating, this was not on the list. Gabriel Continued with the theme.

Gabriel Rozenberg ‏@rozgab 9h9 hours ago

@BrokenBarnet @Barneteye I’m keen to engage, but if you want an answer from me on everything LBB does then you’ll end up w/ me (1/2)

Gabriel Rozenberg ‏@rozgab 9h9 hours ago

@BrokenBarnet @Barneteye (2/2) trotting out stale lines to take rather than having a reasonable dialogue. Up to you.

 So this is how our Barnet Tory Councillors think "We can't engage unless we've been briefed". I am quite amazed. I actually thought Gabriel was a reasonably intelligent guy, who was capable of doing a bit of research on his own and coming up with his own viewpoint.

I think he's answered the first tweet he made in response to my blog.

Gabriel Rozenberg ‏@rozgab 12h12 hours ago

That last RT… @Barneteye thinks I’m clueless abt the real world. I hope not, but that’s for others to judge. Read his blog and decide.

But then as Gabriel says, read the blog and decide.
++++++++++++ UPDATED 18:39 - 17.2.2015
Gabriel contacted me to point out I'd missed the first of his tweets, which he felt put a proper context. Here is the first in the series of tweets

Gabriel Rozenberg @rozgab · 19h19 hours ago

@BrokenBarnet @Barneteye It could also be that I don’t like wading in when I don’t have all the facts on a specific, complex situation.

Does this change the jist of what is being said? as ever, you the reader is the judge of that. I can understand, given his position a councillor may display some caution, but as the situation has been evolving over a period of days, if not weeks, I would expect all Barnet Councillors to have informed themselves and formed a view on such an important and emotive issue. I would also expect a member of the party in charge to make it their business to know. But of course that is my personal view.

Out of touch Tory Special - A Tale of Two Barnets in two illuminating tweets

Three years ago, I dedicated nearly a year of my life to producing a film called "A Tale of Two Barnets".  The premise of the film is that there are two Barnets. A rich, affluent Barnet where the residents are rich, live fullfilling lives and are having a wonderful time. This Barnet is extremely well served by the local Conservative Council, who cut their taxes, let them open free schools on public land owned by the council, and have virtually stopped enforcing planning rules, so the rich and wealthy can more or less build what they like, where they like. Then there is the other side of Barnet, the poor underclass. Those who rely on council services, which are being mercilessly cut. Those who are disabled bearing the burden of cuts. Small traders who struggle to make ends meet. The film starts with the Leader of Barnet council talking about what a great place Barnet is, the local chief of police detailing the demographics and the former CEO of Barnet Council, hinting that there is more to Barnet than a leafy Borough.

When we premiered the film at the Phoenix Cinema, 600 locals showed up at the Phoenix cinema and we had to hold two screenings to accomodate everyone. The film was featured on both the BBC and ITV local news and its fair to say it caused a bit of a stir. I'd filed the film away in the "been there, done that and moved on" file. Events last night forced me to reopen the file. So this morning I dug out the clip and watched it again. Here it is if you haven't seen it.


What caused me to revisit the film? Well Gabriel Rosenberg, a local Tory Councillor posted the following two tweets yesterday.

Gabriel Rozenberg ‏@rozgab 14h14 hours ago

.@BrokenBarnet err totes serious. You think Barnet’s ‘broken’. I think Barnet’s terrific. If it’s so awful why is it set to be #1 in London?

@Rozgab
@BrokenBarnet @Barneteye Once again: if it’s such a hellhole of a borough, why is it so popular? You keep changing the subject.

The good councillor was trying to wind up Mrs Angry (who tweets as BrokenBarnet), who is a local blogger. His premis seems to be that if Barnet is broken as Mrs Angry states, why are so many people moving here?

Well the answer is quite simple Gabriel. If you judge a Borough purely on its ability to drive out poorer people and replace them with rich people in new luxury dwellings, Barnet is hugely successful. If your measure of terrificness is how many swanky restaurants there are, rather than how well public services for the poor and disabled are run, then yes Barnet is terrific.

I would suggest Mr Rozenburg wathc the film.  This features all manner of local people, many of whom were supporters of the local Conservatives, local Business people, people who run charities (and have MBE's). Are they saying Barnet is terrific?

As I write this, marginalised people in Sweets Way are being forcefully evicted from their homes, to make way for another luxury development. I made "A Tale of Two Barnets" with director Charles Honderick in 2012 to commemorate the anniversary of Charles Dickens. The workhouse from Oliver Twist was based on the one in Barnet. The title is a play on Dickens novel "A Tale of Two Cities", which studies a similar subject.

Mr Rozenberg is the son of rich, successful parents. he has had a priveliged education and has never had to worry about where he will sleep, how he will pay for his next meal. If Mr Rozenburg really wants to be a successful councillor, he has to represent everyone, not just his well off mates. That means getting out and about and ensuring he understands the problems of everyone in the Borough, not just those who want to open a free school around the corner, because Hartley and Gemima may have to be educated with the plebs otherwise.

What struck me about the film, when I wathed it, was that all of the issues that largely affect the middle class, have had a degree of remidiation. David Attfield won his court case against illegal CPZ charges (hardly terrific). Helen Michael got parking machines reintroduced in the High Street. Sadly the disabled and the disenfranchised have not had anything done for them.

Maybe it is time for another film? It seems that the message didn't get through last time.