BORIS JOHNSON CANDIDATE FOR LONDON MAYOR

Biography

Few Londoners have entirely English descent, and Boris is no exception. He describes himself as a “one man melting-pot”, with French, Turks & Germans among his ancestors.

Like many Londoners, this has not been his only home. He was born in 1964 in New York, moved to London when he was five years old and went to Primary School in Camden.

He later won a scholarship to Eton and Oxford and after graduating he moved back to the Capital. Much though he envies and admires the City, he lasted a week as a management consultant before retreating into journalism. Over the last twenty years, he has worked for The Wolverhampton Express and Star, The Times and The Telegraph, churning out well over a million words. He was editor of The Spectator for six years.

He has published several books, and regularly appears on TV. Most notably, he has been a contestant on Have I Got News For You and has produced a series on Roman History from his book of the same name, The Dream of Rome.

He fought Clwyd South in the 1997 General Election and in 2001, was elected MP for Henley. Since then, he has held shadow posts as Vice Chairman, Shadow Minister for the Arts and Shadow Minister of Higher Education.

As well as being a passionate cyclist – he has had many near-misses with bendy buses – he enjoys painting, playing tennis and spends much of his time bringing up his four children with his wife Marina in North London.

www.backboris.com

 

 

 

Shocking loss of confidential patient records by Kingston Hospital

Helen Whately, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Kingston and Surbiton, was shocked to learn of the loss of confidential patient records by Kingston Hospital last week and is calling for the hospital to take action to make sure patient data is never lost again.

The documents contained personal details including the names, dates of birth and test results of 173 patients. Fortunately these documents seem to have been handed directly to the Surrey Comet rather than any malicious use being made of the data. However, this incident begs the question of how secure patients data is with the NHS.  

The much-delayed NHS IT system may reduce the need for paper records to be transferred between sites in future. However, our confidence in the security of data within any government system has been damaged by incidents such as this and the loss of millions of records by HM Revenue & Customs in November.

The medical director of Kingston Hospital has apologised for the incident and letters are being sent to the patients affected. Kingston Hospital has committed to a full and thorough investigation involving the police and has set up a helpline for patients. These steps are welcomed, provided the results of the investigation are made public, along with the actions that Kingston Hospital will take to ensure this never happens again.

 

 Helen Whately said

          “I am very concerned that confidential patient records were left on a roadside, with no evidence of any attempts to secure them from casual examination. On the back of the astonishingly negligent data losses by HMRC last year, this seems to be further evidence that the protection of personal data is not being taken sufficiently seriously by public services.””

“       “I welcome the commitment from Kingston hospital to a thorough investigation involving the police. It is essential that this investigation is totally uncompromising and most importantly, results in action being taken to make sure this never happens again.””

Conservative Values

 

The Conservative Party is a large and complex organisation, representing and involving people with a diverse range of backgrounds, interests and concerns.  It is a broad church, which encourages open debate and accepts differences of opinion.

What unites the Party are the core Conservative principals which provide our foundation.

Freedom 
Conservatives believe in less interference from the State – freedom for individuals, families, voluntary groups and businesses.

Enterprise
Conservative want to keep taxes low and set businesses free from red tape to help Britain compete in the global economy.

Responsibility
Conservatives stand for the rule of law and support for all members of our society.  We recognise our duty to protect the environment for future generations.

Nation
Conservatives want to safeguard the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, maintain strong defence and uphold our right to national self-government.  We want to be in Europe but not run by Europe

No More Care Cuts!

3rd November 2007

Today local residents and Conservatives held a protest in Kingston town centre against cuts to Kingston’s mental health services. The protest was organised by Cllr. Mary Clarke and Cllr Ian George, supported by Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Helen Whately. They were joined by regular users and staff from Springboard and relatives of patients in Fuchsias Ward.

 

Under a fuchsia-pink banner calling for ‘No More Care Cuts’ the group handed out leaflets about the threatened services and invited passers-by to sign the petition for an end to the cuts. The response from locals was overwhelming, with many stopping to find out more and expressing outrage as well as concern.

 

The petition was signed by over 600 people in just 4 hours. The campaign will continue throughout the winter with opportunities to sign the petition in New Malden and Surbiton planned. It can also be found on the website.

 

Cllr Mary Clark has been campaigning vigorously  to help those who are at risk of losing their mental health care services. Mary said; “I am truly appalled at the utter disregard for the welfare of Kingston’s mental health patients. The PCT should stop seeing their patients as numbers and pound signs and start celebrating these unique and necessary services.”

 

Helen visited Springboard in August and has pledged to do everything possible to make sure it survives. At Saturday’s protest, Helen said; ” In the last year mental health services have been cut around the country. Now the cuts have arrived here in Kingston. These services are precious and transform the lives of the users and their families. We must rally round and stop the cuts before it’s too late.”

Helen campaigns for a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty

29th September 2007

Helen was out in New Malden today campaigning with our MEP Syed Kamall for a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty, better known as the EU Constitution.

 

In 2005 Labour promised the people of Britain a vote on the EU Constitution, but it was rejected by the French and the Dutch. Now the Constitution is back with a new name the ‘EU Reform Treaty’. The Conservatives believe that you should have the vote that you were promised. The people of New Malden clearly agree, shown by the hundreds of names Helen collected in the space of a few hours.

 

Helen said “I’m campaigning on the EU Reform Treaty because Labour made a manifesto commitment to hold a referendum on the Constitution. This treaty is the Constitution in all but name. Brown should be held to account for the promises he breaks. He says that he will trust people but his actions prove this simply is not true. The EU Treaty would transfer substantial powers from Britain to the EU: a change like this must not be slipped through under the radar.”

Helen speaks to the students at Kingston University Freshers’ Fair

21 September 2007

The local Conservative Future group was at Kingston University Freshers’ Fair this week working tirelessly to promote our candidate Helen Whately. Despite stiff competition from nightclubs, the local cinema and university sport teams the joint Kingston and Richmond Conservative stall received a high number of visitors. From the positive response we got from students we can tell that this year is going to be a good one for Conservative Future. Students were keen to quiz Helen over her priorities for Kingston, discussing issues such as transport, the environment, education and the NHS with students as well as sounding out their views on Boris Johnson for Mayor.

 

Helen said “It’s important for young people to become politically engaged. Decisions made in Westminster impact us not just now but decades into the future. This generation of students will have to live with this government’s mistakes.”

 

Boris Johnson speaks to Grove Campaigners

On 10th September 2007 London Mayoral Candidate Boris Johnson MP came to Grove Ward in Kingston. He came to speak to Grove Campaigners and others to find out how local Conservative activists were helping to improve the lives of local residents.

 An excited Boris come to Kingston

 Boris meeting local residents with GLA member Tony Arbour and Howard Jones

Boris spoke to many local residents in Kingston Town Centre about their personal issues. He asked residents whether they believed that the local Lib Dem Council were offering them value for money. He wanted to know whether people thought that the Lib Dem Council were serving their needs.

 

 boris meeting local residents

 

Boris meeting local buisness men

The answer he got from Kingston residents was resounding; the Lib Dem council was failing them. He found out that the Lib Dems failed to offer the best service for their money and that Grove residents paid the highest council tax in London. He highlighted the fact that all across the country the Lib Dems were failing their own residents.

 

 Boris Johnson with Leader of the Conservative Group Howard Jones and Cllr Ian George Meeting local Police

Boris promised Grove residents that during the London Mayor elections he would campaign against the disastrous Liberal Democrats.

 

 Boris meeting local conservative campaigners Mike Burden Priyen Patel and Terry Bowers

www.backboris.com

Fairfield Park

The Grove ward Conservatives have heard from residents that noise and anti social behaviour in the Fairfield Park during the evenings has been a real issue for you. As part of our campaign to stamp out anti social behaviour in Grove ward we will be bringing this up with the Grove Safer Neighbourhood Team, and also with the Council and its partners.

At the last Local Elections Conservatives in Grove, and throughout the Borough we pledged that we would introduce park keepers in all of Kingston’s parks – something we will continue to fight for.

Grove Ward & Conservative Future

Grove Ward held a social gathering for young members of the Conservative Party, and anyone else who wanted to find out more, have some of the free food or wine, and talk to Helen Whately the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate or Councillor Howard Jones.

The event was held at Barcadia, in Kingston. Over a glass of wine, young people from the Borough talked about their concerns; like escalating house prices, the lack of action taken to save the environment and the huge amount of money taken from them in taxes.

http://conservativefuture2007.blogspot.com/

Rose Theatre has cost you £11m, so far!

We were all promised by the Liberal Democrats that this project would not cost the Council any money from the public purse, and now we face decades of financial chaos due to the obsession they have with this inevitable white elephant.

The Rose Theatre recently came back to the Council, cap in hand, asking for more of your money despite telling one and all in the summer of 2005, and then again last autumn that no more money would be required.

How much more money will they require? How many other services will be cut for the theatre? Conservatives will not give any more money to this Liberal Democrat folly and tell the Rose Theatre to do what it said it would – raise its own money!