Stephen Hodgson

Two weeks ago prospective Conservative MP for Loughborough Nicky Morgan called for a series of public debates to be held between Parliamentary candidates in Loughborough in the run up to next year’s General Election. I think public debates are a great way of making candidates accessible to voters and, crucially, a practical and convenient opportunity for voters to compare candidates side-by-side and work out whether they trust those candidates. The Parliamentary expenses scandal has done so much damage to our system of government and people’s perceptions of politicians (Loughborough’s incumbent Labour MP Andy Reed did not escape the expenses controversy) and it is essential that voters get the opportunity to meet and quiz their candidates on the same platform.

I understand Andy Reed is yet to decide whether he will participate in public debates with the other candidates in Loughborough – a bit like how Gordon Brown dithered over the idea of televised leaders’ debates just a few months ago. However, Gordon Brown eventually agreed to take part in leaders’ debates and I hope that Andy Reed will eventually accept that public debates are a great way to engage with voters and agree to take part too.

Should Andy Reed agree to take part in public debates with Nicky Morgan and other candidates I hope he will take the debates seriously and not try to divert important debates about policy and issues to the sort of “personality politics” that turns off so much of the public. Sadly in the same week that we have seen Gordon Brown’s petty attacks against David Cameron on the basis of his background (rather than Conservative policies), we have evidence that Andy Reed will run a similar “class war” campaign in Loughborough.

Reed wrote on his blog this week:

The Tory Party and right wing media backlash over any slight suggestion that the Tories are a bunch of toffs shows a raw nerve has been struck.

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Even the most sympathetic Tory to poverty I have met doesn’t understand what it like not just to have on (sic) money – but to have no support or hope of getting money from ‘mummy & daddy’.

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A billion people on our planet go to bed hungry and now (sic) knowing if tomorrow will even bring food. Our lack of understanding for their plight is the same as the Tory Toffs looking down at most of us. Because of their background they just won’t be able to get it.

This sort of “class war” attack is pathetic but it gives a great deal of insight into the despicable tactics we can expect Labour MPs, desperately clinging to power, to resort to in the run up to polling day. If Andy Reed seriously thinks all Conservative politicians have money on-tap or endless support from “mummy and daddy” he is even more out of touch with reality than even I had imagined – and it makes me wonder how many Conservatives he’s actually met! And the idea that someone’s education or wealth determines their capacity for empathy is complete nonsense.

Come on, Andy – agree to public debates with Nicky Morgan and other candidates so we can see if this pathetic line of attack appeals to the voters of Loughborough! The public saw straight through this “Tory Toffs” attack in the Crewe and Nantwich by election and they will see through it again in Loughborough.