Category Archives: Debates

Local Town Hall Meetings

We are approaching my next series of local public meetings. As before, they are aimed at giving anyone – regardless of political views – an opportunity to hear direct from me on local and national issues, and ask questions or raise matters of concern.

The upcoming meetings are:

• Wednesday 19 September – Thames Ditton Junior School, Mercer Close, Thames Ditton, KT7 0BS

• Friday 21 September – RES (Rydens), Hersham Road, Walton on Thames, KT12 5PY

• Tuesday 25 September – St Andrew’s Church Hall, Oakshade Road, Oxshott, KT22 0LE

• Wednesday 26 September – Holy Trinity Church Hall, Church Rd, Claygate, KT10 0JP

All meetings start at 7.30pm and will last for up to 2 hours.

Britain’s Work Ethic

This week, the Daily Telegraph is running a series of articles based on the key chapters in a new book, Britannia Unchained, written by myself and four colleagues: Priti Patel, Kwasi Kwarteng, Liz Truss and Chris Skidmore. It addresses key long-term and ‘big picture’ issues facing the country at a time of increasingly intense global economic competition – national debt, state education, innovation and work ethic – and will be published next Wednesday.

I have written the piece for tomorrow, available here, addressing the issue of Britain’s work ethic.

Fabulous Women

Yesterday, I joined Fabulous Women at a breakfast event in Oxshott. Fabulous Women is an organisation set up by the brilliant Paulette Schwartz (pictured to my left – with the dynamic Leonie Wright on my right). It is a not-for-profit organisation. On their website, here, they list their three main aims as:

1. To support women in life more generally by inspiring, motivating and informing in positive ways.
2. To find practical ways to support women in business, especially small business. We are especially focused on finding ways to promote these businesses in win-win ways.
3. To raise funds for the causes women care about by organising and hosting fund raising events.

It was a terrific local event, with a very impressive range of female talent, expertise and experience contributing. The group is also open to men – a number of whom were present – and was keen to engage on practical social issues that affect us all like childcare costs, business mentoring, support for start up businesses. I found the event really insightful, refreshing and a lot of fun.

The Julian Assange Affair

I have been one of the most ardent supporters of extradition reform. But, even I fail to buy the arguments against extraditing Julian Assange to face charges of rape and sexual assault in Sweden.

Meanwhile, Ecuador’s posing as a haven for free speech is nothing short of a joke. I have written about the case for the Financial Times tomorrow – you can access the article here.

Unleashing the Great British Underdog

On Monday, I am publishing a new report with the Centre for Policy Studies called Unleashing the British Underdog – 10 Bets on the Little Guy.

It is a mini-manifesto on social mobility, setting out a meritocratic rather than egalitarian vision of fairness. The report is trailed with an article I have written for the Sunday Times, tomorrow, which can be accessed here.

Update: The report is now available online here.

Big Ambition for Small Businesses

This week the Daily Telegraph has run a series of articles under the theme: Unleash Britain. Tomorrow, I have contributed an article summarising the need for a long term approach to replace the rank short-termism of the Labour years. In short, if we dismantled more of the overbearing bureaucracy, we could fire up the small and medium sized businesses that are a major source of jobs growth in Britain.

You can read the piece here.

No Blood Money in Britain, Thank You

I have blogged before on my campaign for a UK Sergei Magnitsky Law here and here. The international campaign is gathering momentum. This week, The Economist report on the progress to stop the henchmen of dictators and tyrants from entering Britain or buying up property, here, plugging the UK campaign.

There is also a new film ‘The Magnitsky Files’ out here, which profiles the tragic case of Sergei Magnitsky – the inspiration for the international campaign.

Paying for Surrey Police

Since my maiden speech in Parliament, I have consistently fought for a fairer deal for local funding for local services, given our community needs and the high levels of tax we pay.

Yesterday, I secured a debate on Surrey Police funding, backed forcefully by my fellow Surrey MPs and joined by the Policing Minister, Nick Herbert. You can read the debate here, which gives a good sense of the uphill struggle we have in getting a fairer deal for local funding across the board, both in straitened economic times and under the constraints of coalition.

I am hopeful, however, that we will safeguard the so-called ‘damping’ arrangements that mitigate the impact in Surrey of the skewed Whitehall funding formula – which, if lost, would cost Surrey Police £4 million from its budget.