Election 2017 Candidates - Shaun Bailey (Conservative)
I can’t find West Kensington or Upminster on my constituency map.
I think I saw Shaun Bailey at a corporate event several years ago and he was very impressive. So - not local, but head screwed on and perhaps has a half-decent chance at putting the squeeze on Labour here.
While NO2 levels are slowly improving, our Conservative PPC appears to believe it is not an issue to be panicked over. Improvements don’t mean the issue is resolved.
His comments are further interesting in light that the Government has tried to suppress a report on air pollution until well after the election.
I’m actually not one of those who thinks localism is a necessity. Desirable yes… but a deal breaker? No. Just an insider comment on other posts which have suggested the importance of this.
Where did Shaun or the author of the article claim the issue was “resolved”?
Looks to me as though the author cites examples of bad journalism and provides counterbalancing facts.
Anyway I’ve spun out a dedicated topic in #politicos:general-politics to discuss this further.
Resolved may have been the wrong word. But the implication with Bailey’s tweet is the public shouldn’t panic because there have been improvement. The public had very much a right to panic when earlier this year weather conditions helped raise air pollutants to exceeding levels in some Asia cities including Beijing. It implies that air pollution isn’t something Lewisham West and Penge constituents should be concerned about. He trivialises the issue.
To prove his point he links to a Conservative Home article which is also selective of its content and interpretation of the Kings Report the summary of which is linked here and the full report here. A slightly different viewpoint on the report can be read here.
My intention is not to debate the contents of this topic which is best suited for another thread though I’m not sure if politicos is the right place. How is discussing air pollution political. Or is politicos now a repository for any contentious issue? My intention was to raise a question about our local political PPC for the Conservative Party.
Interesting article from the Telegraph which addresses @AndyS’s earlier point.
My takeaways from the article. I hope to be able to query these in person during a hustings.
He is still hoping to become a Conservative MP, so his friends say he has decided not to speak out publicly about his concerns, which echo complaints made about Mr Cameron’s operation by a growing number of observers.
Political position is more important than being true to his own values.
Mr Bailey, who stood unsuccessfully in Hammersmith, west London, as a Tory A-list candidate in the 2010 election, is understood to have clashed with colleagues and became so dispirited that he did not even turn up for work during one week last autumn.
He may be unsuited to the high stress of political office, particularly in the light of opposition.
Interesting. Well, David Cameron is more or less history but Shaun Bailey lives to fight another day, I guess.
As for stress, who knows? When I saw him several years ago it was with an audience who weren’t about to give him a heavy grilling. I hope he does at least well enough to get a chance at a winnable seat in 2022.
I really think that a local MP should come from the area they want to represent.
I wonder, like all the others, what his view on the Millwall CPO is.
It looks like they will be standing a candidate.
I think I may have a degree of sympathy for Shaun Bailey. The previous article I posted alluded to the Eton wall he faced in the Conservatives. At least May has broken somewhat the dominance of the old boy network in her own cabinet. But this article speaks to a much deeper problem he may have faced in the Party. If true, this may make him a more of an independent conservative voice that I could take to. I’d certainly like to ask him about this and how its shaped his policies for Lewisham at the Hustings.
Shaun Bailey came to Forest Hill this weekend:
Good to see some campaigning from the Conservatives in the constituency.
First time I’ve seen that office in use for a long time
And the candidate from the other side of London whose campaign our part time Conservative candidate thinks more important is one who is now supported by UKIP,
in the hope of ousting one of the brightest and best young Labour MPs, contesting Corbynism
Labour MP Wes Streeting: Jeremy Corbyn would not make a good prime minister
and anti-semitism within the Labour Party
Wes Streeting MP: On antisemitism, we have fallen far too short for far too long
Helpful to see where Shaun Baliey’s duties lie
Joining UKIP in a fight against someone fighting anti-semitism in the Labour Party, against the inclination of its leader, puts someone pretty low in my opinion. But then opiniions differ.
That’s just disingenuous mudslinging and you know it. Lee Scott has nothing to do with UKIP.
I’d really like Shaun, Ellie and the other candidates to join this forum and get involved. But you could hardly blame them for avoiding it if this is the level of debate they face.
You want your Forum to be a safe space for our candidates?
I want a decent, inclusive debate that avoids needless mudslinging. As you can see, no one has touched your posts or banned you from entry (so this is nothing like a safe space)
But, like @JohnRussell on Twitter, you want somewhere where I can’t challenge them?
Boys. Boys. Why don’t you take your little spat private as neither of you are helping much. I’m sure PCC’s have to have thick skins so any perception of mud slinging isn’t going to hurt them. This could be seen a mild compared to what a Tory candidate in Lewisham can expect on the doorstep and in hustings.
I’m sure Bailey is a big boy. He seems to use social media and could come on here to defend himself, or have others do it for him in his absence.
As for Tim’s accusation I recall that Lewisham Tories said before Bailey’s nomination their candidates would fight for every singe vote. So taking time out to campaign for another candidate in I think Bailey’s own home constituency during a short campaign with scant few weeks to get your message across can be seen in negative light. Particularly when youve only just got the nomination for Lewisham West and Penge.
Frankly I dont see what his role in the London Assembly has to do with it.
Others have suggested he may be a rising star of the party doing his dues by sitting in an unwinnable seat. So he probably is just going through the motions.
Not a hugely substantive or critical article, but for those of us interested in Shaun’s campaign:
Shaun Bailey hits the headlines today:
Here is the original article by Emma Dent Coad, back in the 2010 general election:
Guido reaching for a headline shocker
I’m curious - did you read what this Labour MP wrote about Shaun? If so, do you think that’s acceptable?
Perhaps it’s okay if it comes from the Kinder Gentler Touchier Feelier Party?
Or perhaps it’s a non-story because Guido happens to have reported it?
Just done so for the second time and must admit I thought she was quoting a local resident. Maybe not.
Just to clarify, am I meant to be shocked that she called him a local boy or a ghetto boy?
I’m also more than happy that guido spends his time and resources looking into 7 and a half year old posts on blogspot.
The whole world spent huge time and resources obsessing over a private quip Trump made twelve years ago. So when an MP makes a written racist remark about a young man at the start of his political career seven years ago? And in fact an MP of a supposed “kinder” party campaigning for equality and diversity? Yes, I think that’s noteworthy.
Chris this is the first time we’ve got into a verbal left vs right political tit for tat thing here and the last thing I want for either of us to do is start hyperlinking old posts to each other where politicians have said or supported something dodgey to each other all night.
This doesn’t really make sense when she actually said that the area he comes from is not exactly ghetto.
He’s a really decent bloke and no one deserves to be called a “token ghetto boy” - regardless of what subsequently gets said about their area.
Here’s what Dent Coad wrote:
As reported by Guido: