Thank you, Buckden

Just before I go to bed, I thought I would post the results of the Buckden Ward election today.

Myself (Con) 745
Rainer (Lib Dem) 516
Labour 51

Many thanks to everyone in Buckden, Diddington and Southoe who voted for me today.
I will do my very best for everyone in the Ward.

I will give you a more detailed analysis later tomorrow (sorry, today!!)

Fooling none of the people, all of the time

Got it in one, DT! Today's leader in the Telegraph hits the spot.

"Yet again, Tony Blair has made an error of taste by seeking to trivialise grave failings by his colleagues. "Nine days' headlines," he told a union conference yesterday, "should not obscure nine years of achievements." Today's headline - about the link between undeported dangerous criminals and the murder of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky - shows why he cannot play down these mistakes.

"Yesterday was, indeed, the ninth anniversary of his entry into Downing Street, immediately after a campaign in which he had pledged his administration would be "whiter than white, purer than pure" after years of "Tory sleaze". Enter Prescott, stage left: sic transit gloria mundi.

• The burden of taxation has increased on everybody since then.
• The public services for which this is paying have not markedly improved.
• Our schools continue to turn out school-leavers who are functionally innumerate and illiterate after 11 years of full-time education.
• Young people pass examinations at school - and even at some universities - only because the pass mark has been lowered to insulting levels.
• The NHS is laying off doctors and nurses, and hospitals are threatened with closure.
• Britain is in the grip of a crime wave.
• The prisons are overflowing.
• There are scant controls on immigration.
• The last two points are linked in the 1,000 or so serious criminals at large in this country who should be facing deportation.
• Devolution has broken up the United Kingdom, put new burdens on taxpayers, undermined the national identity and done nothing to improve government.
• Our foreign policy is incoherent and impotent.
• Our armed forces are underfunded and overstretched, and put in lethal danger in a war from which there is still no obvious exit.
• As well as more than 100 servicemen and women, at least one distinguished public servant - Dr David Kelly - has died as a result of the Government's shabby handling of this issue.
• Our farming industry is near to collapse, not least because the system of paying subsidies to our farmers is a shambles.
• Many months of parliamentary time were wasted abolishing foxhunting, which continues anyway.
• The House of Lords has suffered an incomplete reform, losing many of its best people, and is in the process of being turned into a rubber-stamp for the fiats of the executive.
• A police investigation is under way to establish whether places in the Upper House have in effect been sold to willing customers to benefit Labour Party funds.
• Attempts to reform local government have expensively failed.
• Several cabinet ministers have already departed because of sexual or financial improprieties: more seem certain to follow.

"Nine years of achievement? Unfair headlines? We think not, Prime Minister."

Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh

The Home Office admitted last night that it had allowed Mustaf Jama, 25, a Somalian refugee, to remain despite being a persistent offender who had served several jail terms.

In this one sentence, I sum up the malaise at the core of this Government. The administration of this country, politicians and civil servants alike, can not and will not place its own citizens at the forefront of its thinking and action.

I heard Rita Chakrabati, head of the campaign group Liberty, on the BBC this morning. She claimed that it was morally wrong to deport people who may face torture or persecution.

On a scale of one to ten, how much more "morally wrong" is it for the British Government to expose British citizens to a known criminal threat. 10! That's how much.

10 days into a scandal that would have brought down any government in the days when we had integrity, the Home Secretary has the gall to demand "tougher deportation rules" as if he had just thought of it, and the supine media (BBC) conspire to give him coverage. (The PC Beshenivsky story is still buried in the general coverage).

This Government has not and does not place the security of its own people first. Many of us have known this for many years and have correctly understood the impact of the "human rights" culture on our society. It is finally being writ large for all to see.

This government does not put us first, so why should we put them first?

BBC take ultimate gamble

If you visit the Times and Telegraph newspaper websites right now (10.29pm 02 May), you will find leading stories on todays development concerning the Somali suspected of the murder of PC Sharon Beschenivsky.

If you visit the BBC website, you will find no mention of it. Even on their News at 10 there coverage of the issue was decidedly tame and understated.

It is clear that there remain questions over both the precise involvement of the man in the murder and whether or not he features on the list of foreign criminals released without deportation and subsequently lost.

The BBC are taking a big gamble. Rarely are such stories cover so differently by the broadsheets and serious broadcast media.

What really made me write this post, however, was the inference given in their TV news report, that no-one could ever, under any circumstances be considered for deportation to Somalia, as their human rights would be compromised.

I think I can be clear in my post when I say that I believe anyone foreign national convicted and incarcerated in the United Kingdom has betrayed the trust afforded them and should be deported immediately and without concern for their security beyond our borders.

If this man, who served a sentence for robbery and was, allegedly, not considered for deportation, went on to kill a British policewoman, time will be up for Clarke and Blair and the BBC will have made an horrific mistake.

The real fall-out from this story will be felt in the polling stations on Thursday in Bradford, the scene of the killing, and in the number of votes cast for the BNP.

On the Doorstep

I had some wonderful help canvassing over the weekend from fellow blogger, Ellie Seymour.
She has posted her thoughts here, and once again Ellie - many thanks.

The campaign once again proves to be challenging and very enjoyable. Buckden demands much from its candidates and doesn't part with its vote without good reason. I hope that my positive message and desire to do something constructive with and for the teenage group is coming across well.

I will post an eve of poll message tomorrow.

The Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze

I host a link here to a fabulous idea for a 9th Birthday present for New Labour, conceived and created by Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes.
Iain recently posted a list of the 50 greatest Labour scandals and obviously got thinking!
I am hoping that Iain will let me write the summary of the David Kelly scandal, since I was the press office who organised the entire media operation for the Hutton Inquiry.
We will see.
Well done guys.

Miscellaneous

I apologise for these exteded periods of absence. I am flat out campaigning for election on Thursday and this leaves little time for blogging. I have time for just a few brief mentions.

Prescott.
I am unable to conjure any sympathy for this man. He led the charge against Tory sleaze in the 90's and finally the depths of his hypocrisy unravel. I care not whether he goes or stays. In fact on balance I would rather he remained in office so that we are constantly reminded of the con act we keep falling for.

Clarke.
I am slightly sorry for Clarke. This problem is actually Blunkett's fault. He was the last Home Secretary and wholly responsible for sowing the seeds of this problem. He tenure at the Home Office has gone down in legend as being one of the most self-serving and headline driven periods of control ever seen.
Understandably, when a problem like this hits you broadside, anyone would spend a short time just seeing what options and solutions are available. I think that Clarke will go but sadly no one man is responsible for a catastrophe like this. It is indicative of this entire Government and actually, it is Blair who must ultimately pay.
Bad luck, Charles, you stand alone in the number of New Labour Ministers that I like.

Defence.
Very briefly. This story today about RAF pilots being refused fuel tank foam to prevent explosions contrasts beautifully with an observation my wife made the other evening.
We were watching Sharpe or something, when during the adverts we are given information of an Army expedition to Everest and the website through which you can watch the climb etc.
"Where did the budget for all that come from?" she asked. "How much is all that costing?"
Anyway, for the avoidance of doubt, the MOD clearly prefers spending money sending its personnel climbing and advertising on prime time TV, rather than on protecting its personnel properly on operations.
I wish someone would ask a PQ in the House and find out how much money is being spent on this rubbish.