Tracey Crouch

I have a confession – I am a closet Britain’s Got Talent addict! It is affirming, inspiring and sometimes just hilarious. Twice this week, I have left evening engagements early in order to get home in time to watch at least the second part of the semi-finals and I am already very excited about tomorrow’s final. But I have to say tonight I began to feel really uncomfortable about the number of children left in the competition especially after 10 year old Holly Steel burst into tears during her song.

I have absolutely no doubt that she was exhausted (she didn’t come on until 9pm and at 10 that is a late night) plus standing in front of that huge audience it must have been very daunting, but to be reduced to tears not once or twice but a number of times just made me think that this is wrong/borderline cruel. When young Aidan won tonight he cried tears, albeit of joy, but earlier this week another young girl was reduced to tears when she didn’t win the judges vote. Nobody likes to see other people cry, especially children, and therefore I am beginning to think that some of these kids need better protection from the producers of the programme: it feels that the duty of care towards children that you’d expect from such a high profile programme has been totally forgotten.

I am sure there will be plenty of tears tomorrow but I just hope they are caused by the emotion of the event not the agony of the young performers, as was demonstrated so publicly tonight.

Last night I nearly wrote a very angry post about the sentencing of those who viciously abused and eventually murdered Baby P, but I decided to reflect and see if I calmed down…but I haven’t. Reading the story on the BBC I was incensed at the pathetic sentence that Baby P’s mother’s boyfriend received for his death. The report read as follows:

“The boyfriend was given 12 years over Peter’s death and life for raping a
two-year-old girl. He must serve a minimum of 10 years”.

What?!?! He gets 12 years for systematically abusing a helpless toddler who eventually died as a consequence, and he gets life for raping a girl of two, but after ten years he may be considered for parole! This is an absolute disgrace. No wonder people have lost faith in our justice system.

The Chief Executive of the NSPCC got it absolutely spot on when he said: “We are disappointed that the minimum tariff was so low. It raises the question of how bad the abuse has to be before offenders get a longer minimum time in prison. Baby Peter suffered sustained abuse leaving him with horrendous injuries. Two of his abusers could walk free at a time when Peter should be a schoolboy with a new world in front of him. Despicable cruelty has denied him that opportunity.
These three caused or allowed the torture and death of a defenceless baby.”

I spoke to David Davis this afternoon and he is going to wrote to the Attorney General in disgust. Good on him. I think we should all write!

I took another day off work today in order to have two fantastic and extremely interesting meetings with the local council and then the KM. This was followed by an afternoon of canvassing in Larkfield for the local and European elections. The message about having an early election is definitely resonating with the public – I think they want to see the expenses scandal sorted out as soon as possible so that politicians at all levels can get back to dealing with the economic crisis as well as issues relating to crime, immigration, health and education.

Finally the Government did a massive u-turn and Gurkhas who have served for at least 4 years will now be able to settle in the UK. It was the right decision by the Government but it is just such a shame that they were dragged into it kicking and screaming.

Well done to the Kent Schools Football Association Under 14 Girls who last night became South East England’s champions after beating Suffolk Schools FA 4-2 in extra time.

Was out delivering for the local and European elections last night. There was genuine recognition of what a momentous day it had been in Parliament with the Speaker’s resignation and announcement on expenses reform. Interestingly, David Cameron’s petition for a general election got some unprompted comment and I heard a BBC journalist say that the initiative was getting “traction” on the radio this morning. Could it really happen…?

David Cameron has today launched a petition calling for an early General Election. It is clear from what people are saying to me on the doorsteps that there is a real desire to have an election now, not least to clear up the mess in Westminster and start again with a fresh new Parliament.

You can sign the petition HERE – who knows, it might be the first time Gordon Brown listens to what we the Great British public is saying!

I was out in Snodland on Wednesday and Walderslade last night. Conservative support is definitely begin to strengthen. Curiously only one person mentioned expenses to me on Wednesday and two people simply spoke about a “general mess” last night. Interestingly most people have been very sympathetic saying it must be difficult trying to get into politics at this point when Parliament is in disrepute, the economy is such a shambles, and public support for politicians is at its lowest point for some considerable time. My response thus far has been that it may be difficult but the current crisis actually makes me more determined to get elected and sort things out. And with today’s opinion polls showing that the public want an election now lets hope I get the opportunity sooner rather than later.

I have just been sent the following press release. With a new Chapel Down vineyard in Aylesford, and as a huge fan of English wine, this is definitely a week I will be supporting!

The under 11s finished their season today with two games against top-of-the-table Crystal Palace after the away game was postponed earlier on in the year. They lost both but their form has improved so much throughout the season that we were all really proud of the fact that they weren’t thrashed in the same way other teams were!

Next season they go up from 7-a-side to 11-a-side and start to play more regular rules – eg offside and 3 subs. I am looking forward to the new challenge of both coaching and managing them next season but the only ambition I have is that they still enjoy the game at the end of the day. At their age, the whole point is about having fun, doing a bit of exercise and being part of a team. They can win, lose or draw for all I care but as long as they come off with a smile then I’ll be happy.

I was really interested by the results of our canvassing today. We were out in Walderslade seeking support for Peter Homewood in his campaign to become the County Councillor for Malling Rural North East and today two particular things happened.

Firstly, the MP expenses story has now penetrated the mind of the average person on the street. People who are more politically interested have mentioned MP expenses to me before – but I must say, not for some time. Whereas today one in every 3 people spoke about it, which is hardly a surprise since this has now been a headline/front page story for 2 days and it clearly has some way to run. It is not a single party issue and the voters are genuinely angry about what is being revealed. The net impact seems to have pushed people into the “won’t vote” category which will be devastating for politics if that sentiment is transferred into reality at the next General Election.

The second thing that happened today, which is obviously more satisfying, is that previous Labour voters are now making a definite decision to switch their vote to the Conservatives. Over the past 2 and half years I have spoken to previous Labour voters who were not going to vote Labour again but were undecided about who they were going to vote for, or if they had decided it was to one of the more extreme parties rather than the mainstream. Whilst I had personally engaged support from previous Labour voters by sitting down and talking to them about their concerns, I was quite taken aback by the strength of people’s dislike towards Gordon Brown on the doorstep this morning. In fact, whilst this is not new, I do think that the loathing is getting even stronger than before – and that there is no way they would vote for “that man” or “his party” and so will “definitely be voting Conservative to get him out”. I was also surprised with how well David Cameron’s call for an election now had resonated – it did not go unnoticed how many people repeated the message back to me.

When we stopped at lunchtime, we felt quite positive about this morning’s canvass results. I just hope that the continuous stories about current sitting politicians don’t drive people away from the polling stations and into their armchairs. We all have a responsibility to clear up politics, rebuild confidence and trust in the system and get people out voting again.

After my post on Friday about Shadow Minister Maria Miller MP visiting the excellent Sure Start Centre in Chatham I received the following comment which although at first I rejected but then decided to post the comment here as an example of how Labour have totally lost the plot. Which ever activist (or even politician) wrote this – sadly they were too scared to publish it in their own name – has not only lost the plot but clearly hasn’t done their homework!

Their comment is in italics and my response is in blue:

What porkies tracey. You only invited Labour councillors at the last minute (they invited themselves and I saw no reason why they couldn’t come so rang Cllr Maple and said they would be very welcome) after you were rumbled (Maria is under obligation to tell the local (Labour) MP so it was hardly a secret) using council premises for party political purposes during an election period (it was a Shadow Cabinet visit and there are no local elections in Medway). And unlike you they also have real jobs during the day (do your homework – I work full-time and took a day’s annual leave to be in the constituency for Maria’s visit; being a candidate is not something you get paid for unlike being a local councillor).

I was too exhausted to write my blog yesterday evening! Yesterday 21 people turned up to help launch Peter Homewood’s campaign for election to Kent County Council and as a result we managed to deliver over 6000 leaflets. In fact we covered almost all over Aylesford, Burham, Eccles, Wouldham, Blue Bell Hill and Walderslade. The weather was lovely and the reception from those out in their gardens was equally as warm. Having walked goodness knows how many miles at the end of the day I was ready for a cold beer and a hot bath – time for the new fitness regime to start methinks!!