AS WOKINGHAM Liberal Democrats continue their preparations for the forthcoming general election – expected in 2024 – another party grandee paid a visit to the borough to endorse their candidate.
Council leader Cllr Clive Jones will contest the Wokingham parliamentary seat when the time comes. It is 18th on its list of target seats, with the party hoping to build on their 2019 campaign, which saw them come within 7,383 votes of unseating Sir John Redwood.
That might seem like a mountain to climb, but recent byelections and turmoil in the national Conservative party caused by Boris Johnson suggest to the party’s activists that this is within the realm of possibility.
Among them is Lord Menzies Campbell, a former leader of the party and also the man who, between 1967 and 1974, held the British record for the 100m sprint.
He is keen to see a change in Wokingham, not least because of the situation the country is in due to the cost of living crisis. His view ins influenced by the current leadership election in the Conservative party.
Pointing out that candidates are promising tax cuts, but that could bring more problems.
“The argument against a reduction of taxation at this stage is we’re already almost in double digit inflation. If you reduce taxation, and there’s more consumption, there is every reason to accept that inflation will increase,” he said.
“Those of us who remember the 1970s remember when inflation was 20%. We remember that if you died, you couldn’t be buried because people went on strike, because they wanted wage increases which simply weren’t available.
“I don’t want to be apocalyptic about it, but we are on the edge of what could be a very, very difficult period in the life and history of this country.”
He urged the Conservative leadership candidates to look at some of the judgments of economists who are not driven by politics before promising tax cuts in their campaigns.
“They are driven by reality, see what they have to about any notion that we can embark upon an extraordinarily generous reduction in the level of taxation,” he said.
This matters in Wokingham as, along with other local authorities, they have seen support grants from the government dwindle, while demand on social care services for both adults and children increase dramatically.
What does Lord Campbell think central government can do to help resolve the funding conundrum?
“I wish I could say to Clive Jones that it’s all going to be sweetness and light, but it’s not,” he warned. “There will be difficult decisions to be made.
“It’s not improbable to suggest that maybe the Conservatives here are rather pleased not to have had to make these decisions. But I’m pretty certain that Clive and his colleagues will make sure that decisions are made and, so far as they are capable of, in the best interests of the citizens of this part of the world.
“It’s not going to be a walk in the park, but they’ve started well.”
He cites buses, where the new Lib Dem-run council have worked to maintain some of the routes.
“Removal was obviously going to cause a fair amount of dislocation and hardship for people,” he said.
The last time Lord Campbell was interviewed by Wokingham Today, Lindsay Ferris was the group’s leader and the idea that the party would be in control of the borough council, let alone be going into a general election campaign to win, seemed fanciful.
How does it feel to see the party’s change in fortunes?
“It’s a great achievement,” he said. “But it’s also not a walk in the park and (running the council) will be a real test of Clive and his colleagues. I’m confident they will fulfil their responsibilities.
“We’ve just won three byelections on the trot. If you were a betting man and went to the bookie and said I want to gamble on these seats you would have got a good price and you could have probably retired.”
Lord Campbell understands the type of contest that Cllr Jones will be undertaking in the general election.
“In north east Fife, I was standing in a very traditional sort of Tory seat,” he recalls. “What we did was fought every opportunity at local government, and we nearly beat them, before in a byelection we got within 30 votes.
“We went after them (the Conservatives) until we controlled the council.
“And if you control the council, and you show that you’re responsible, that you understand the anxieties of the public in relation to the local authority’s obligation, then it’s a much easier job to persuade them that someone from the same party can go to Westminster, with the same kind of philosophy behind what has already been demonstrated.”
Lord Campbell said he won with a small majority that increased with each subsequent election.
“The first defence is always the most difficult, because the people that have been beaten still think it was wholly unexpected and they can get it back again,” he recalls. “I had a pretty tough time, but we held on and after that it was safe, although we never regarded it as that. There was never any sort of complacency.”
Lord Campbell praised the current Lib Dem leader, Sir Ed Davey for his handling of the byelections, saying he had been very professional.
“I don’t think this comes as any great revelation, but there will be some consideration targeting when the time comes and we can pull out all the stops. And Wokingham is one of those,” he said.
But in 2019, the Lib Dems threw the kitchen sink at Wokingham and still came short. Surely this will always be a Conservative hold?
“The last election was always going to be a difficult one for us, and there have been difficult elections since, following the coaliation. But we’re out from under that.”
He said that while canvassing in Chesham and Amersham, they were knocking on doors of “what looks like a pretty expensive housing estate”.
“I was astonished: people would say they never vote Liberal Democrat, but they will this time. That’s been the experience of everyone in the byelections.
“We don’t take it for granted though. We fought those campaigns really hard and put a lot of people in there on the last Sunday, from all over the country, to do leaflets, knock on doors, do telephones, that kind of thing.
“One of the great things is that success brings people back. People are excited by success.”
So what of Cllr Jones trying to open a door that has been closed ever since the Wokingham parliamentary seat was created. What advice would Sir Campbell give me?
“He has a dual mandate and a dual obligation,” he said of the new role of council leader fused with national candidate. “That means he is carrying a very substantial responsibility.
“He’s shown in his own life, his commercial life, that he’s well able to carry that responsibility.
“But in his commitment to the Liberal Democratic cause, there is a determination to go on.
“There must be times when he’s thought he would never get rid of Redwood, and he could instead put more time in with his family, but he’s stuck at it. You can’t ask for more than that.”
Then, he turns to Cllr Jones sitting next to us and said: “Why am I here? The reason is that a friend of a mutual friend took me out to lunch back in 2014, and I’ve been coming over at least once a year ever since.
“I would not be investing in Clive if I did not think he was going to produce a return on my investment.”
The decision, will always remain in the hand of Wokingham’s electorate.
