Dave Smithson

Knowsley South MP Eddie O’Hara has been attacked by the Liberal Democrats for helping to vote down proposals for external auditing of all MPs’ expenses.

148 Labour MPs, 21 Conservative MPs and UKIP’s only MP united on Thursday night [3rd July] to vote down the proposal for an independent audit of all MPs’ expenses claims.

No Liberal Democrat MP voted against the audit plans.

This decision by MPs is foolish and wrong. It is a disaster for anyone who believes in cleaning up our politics and improving Parliament’s reputation. The House of Commons had the chance to vote for proper auditing of everything MPs do with public money, but an unholy coalition of Labour and Conservative MPs prevented it.

I am deeply disappointed that Eddie O’Hara MP voted against allowing all MPs’ allowances to be externally audited. 52 of his Labour colleagues joined the Liberal Democrats and some Conservatives in voting for independent auditing. Eddie O’Hara MP must tell us – why did he vote to water down the proposals?

Rarely a week seems to pass without a story in the press about MPs apparently fiddling their finances. The vast majority of MPs are not corrupt. But so long as they resist having their expenses and allowances subject to robust, external audit, the public can be forgiven for wondering what they have got to hide.”

I welcome the announcement by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg that the Lib Dems are committing to unilaterally introduce proposals rejected by Parliament yesterday, including independent spot checks of the expenses of the party’s MPs:

It is good to see Liberal Democrat MPs setting an example and showing that they have nothing to fear from open, independent scrutiny of their expenses.

I hope that the Labour and Conservative leaderships will follow Nick Clegg’s lead in implementing these measures, and we can begin to restore public confidence in politicians.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra entertained us with a wonderful performance of a Summer Serenade at Halewood Leisure last night along with a choir of children from Halewood C of E and Plantation primary schools.

However, for the best review of the evening’s entertainment I am indebted to the Rev Alan Jewell for the following account of the evening, produced for the log of the Halewood Culturefest!

Rev Alan Jewell said -
The words that come to mind are from the Ferrero Rocher adverts: “You’re really spoiling us!”

The CultureFest fortnight has produced any number of treats and tonight was right at the top of the tree. There’s something remarkable about sitting in the sports hall at Halewood Leisure Centre with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra right in front of you. (I’m grateful to the Mayoress of Halewood for getting me such a good seat!) Those who have been part of the steering group from the beginning will know that having the Phil as part of CultureFest was really something of a happy coincidence, but we were very happy to take them under the CultureFest banner.

The orchestra, led by Thelma Handy and conducted by Ian McMillan, romped through a selection of summer favourites - light and popular pieces: the ones with tunes you know. (I write as someone whose exposure to classical music is more or less limited to Classic FM. It occurs to me that this is the first time I’ve actually been to a concert with a real orchestra. No offence, Knowsley Youth Orchestra - you were fantastic - but you know what I mean.)

With the orchestra assembled and looking resplendent in white tuxes and summer frocks, Ian McMillan bounced into the room in a shirt that probably ought to be licensed as a lethal weapon and which should not have been worn in a built-up area for fear of frightening the horses. Describing the venue as “an raid shelter” might not have been the best way to win over the audience, but McMillan’s enthusiasm and larger-than-life personality certainly did the trick. You can’t accuse him of taking himself too seriously: he refers to the RLPO as “the band” and introduced ‘Summer’ from the Four Seasons (Quattro Stagioni) as being from the ‘four cheeses’.

If you weren’t there, you probably won’t believe what McMillan made happen during the evening. In the second piece he had us doing aerobics and ballet movements (proving that conducting an orchestra is harder work than you might have thought) and in the second half he had our lovely Mayoress, Dot, up on the rostrum and conducting a polka (apparently proving that conducting an orchestra is something that almost anyone can do. McMillan left the room for most of the piece and our Dot did a marvelous job, increasingly getting into the role and enjoying herself. McMillan later accused her of nicking his stick).

The second half also saw the orchestra joined by children from Halewood CE and Plantation Primary Schools. I don’t know what proportion of the audience were family and friends of the children in the choirs but I’m sure they were all immensely and rightly proud of them. Children produce a sound that you just don’t get anywhere else and which reaches the parts that nothing else does.

We also enjoyed a ballet suite based on the tunes of Arthur Sullivan and then McMillan had us singing along to Jerusalem to bring the programme to an end. Then we were treated to a rousing encore: Ron Goodwin’s music for the film 633 Squadron, before we were allowed to go home and enjoy our Horlicks.

Another wonderful evening. Do you want to know my definition of an orchestra? More instruments than you can shake a stick at (unless you are Ian McMillan or the Mayoress of Halewood).
© Rev Jewell

It’s been so busy lately I have been struggling to make regular updates to my blog!

The last couple of days are a good example of just what I mean! On Friday after the weekly Mayor’s diary meeting I attended the final Halewood Culturefest steering group meeting before the event started.

Then Cllr Harry Birch and myself had a walk around Halewood to look at our new flower planters in Hollies Road and Camberley Drive, the latter already having been attacked by vandals within hours of being installed.

But we are determined not to let the thugs beat us or let them spoil our efforts to brighten up our town.

Friday night saw us at Haydock Park racecourse for a regional fundraising event with Party Leader Nick Clegg MP and many other familiar faces, a very sociable evening.

Saturday morning I was with Harry again – in his capacity as Mayor of Halewood – and Cllr Dot Birch, Cllr Sarah Smithson and Cllr Sue Moretta for the start of the Tarbock “Then & Now” exhibition at Tarbock Village Hall.

From there we went to the WI Hall for the Halewood version of “Then & Now” before dashing home to get changed for our own Mayoral engagements!

Then it was off to Stadt Moers park in Whiston for an excellent performance of Alice in Wonderland, a joint theatre in the park event put together by Liverpool, Knowsley and Halton events teams. It really was a wonderful performance and everyone there thoroughly enjoyed it despite the gloomy weather.

In the evening we had another appointment, attending the Prescot Arts Festival for the performance of Vivaldi’s Gloria followed by Dave Nicholas the resident cinema organist at the Philharmonic Hall.

Choirs and singers from all over the region have been invited to join together to present this special performance of Antonio Vivaldi’s immortal choral work Gloria conducted by Ian Wells, Honourable Deputy Organist of Liverpool Cathedral.

Dave Nicholas – in his distinctive Roxburgh tartan - has been a familiar fixture at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall for almost twenty years. He is one of Britain’s few remaining resident cinema organists, and is regularly heard tapping away at the keys as the Phil’s majestic art-deco screen rises from the stage for another silver screen classic.

Another excellent evening and I’m sure the 4th Prescot Festival will be a huge success.

I had the first official engagement of my year as Deputy Mayor today when we attended the Opera in the Park event with Una Voce Opera Company in Calderstones Park.

Despite the inclement weather – yes it poured down! – the alternative plans worked well and the programme of opera was an excellent showcase of the wide range of talent Una Voce have at their disposal.

If the Britain’s got talent judges had been there to witness the event there may well have been a different winner!

I hope to get the chance to see them all sing again soon, it really was very good.

Una Voce have also been nominated for a Spirit of Merseyside award in the Cultural Champions category for their recent performance of Don Giovanni which are announced at a star studded ceremony at the new BT Convention Centre next Tuesday, good luck they deserve to win.

After 3 busy weeks in Crewe I am back home and will be spending most of the bank holiday weekend sleeping I think!

It was a great experience to be part of the core team during a parliamentary by-election and see close up how the party machine operates, especially our party machine which is well versed in running winning by-election campaigns.

Crewe was always going to be a tough nut to crack for us though with sch a short campaign period, only 3 weeks and against a national media that totally wrote us out of the race throughout.

But against that background the result was very respectable and proved we are still a force to b reckoned with even when all the odds are against us.

And our candidate Elizabeth Shenton was an excellent candidate and it was a real pleasure to have worked for Elizabeth. I have no doubt Elizabeth has the potential to become an excellent MP in the near future.

Elizabeth is a very straight talking down to earth person who can relate so ell to ordinary people, understand their problems and share their concerns. She also had a terrific sense of humour – often asking if she was going to be such a strong independent voice for the people of Crewe and Nantwich why we were always telling her where to be, when to be there, what to wear and what to say!!

Back home I was delighted with the appointment with Harry Birch as Mayor of Halewood for the coming year and am looking forward to joining him at St Mary’s Church this morning for a service dedicated to his year in office.

Harry’s first major task as Mayor was to attend the annual conference of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) where Halewood Town Council won four awards including Council of the Year.

In addition to being named as the best performing Town Council in the country, we collected the award for Best Annual Report of the Year, came 3rd in Best Website of the Year and our Town Manager, John Green was 3rd in the Annual Clerk of the Year category.

Not a bad return for a Council that costs the local community on average about £1 a week for the services we provide!!

The Annual Meeting of the Council yesterday saw me take a well earned break from the by-election campaign in Crewe and Nantwich to receive the honour of becoming the Deputy Mayor of Knowsley for 2008/09.

A slight slip of the tongue by the incoming Mayor saw me announced as the Mayor instead of the Deputy but the Leader soon corrected the error and it gave everyone a chuckle!

It promises to be an interesting and eventful year ahead and no doubt you will be reading more of my activities on this blog in the weeks and months to come.

Meanwhile its back to Crewe this morning for me…………………

The by-election in Crewe is keeping me busy every day and out of trouble but it does mean other chores are getting put back until after May 22nd!

However, it is worth all the effort as we have a terrific candidate in Elizabeth Shenton who people really do warm to when they meet her. We also have a terrific team working on the campaign directed by Hilary Stephenson and led by Agent Neil Trafford, supported by Stuart Bray. We really have bonded together well as a team and progress has been good in such a shot space of time.

There have been plenty of familiar faces visiting the campaign HQ in Fourth Avenue and I hope to see many more before it is all over!!

I am having a day off tomorrow though to attend a family funeral, Sarah’s Grandad passed away recently and it will be a sad day for all the family as we say goodbye to him but I was so glad he was able to celebrate his 100th birthday last October………..well done Claude.

Back to Crewe this morning, by-elections have no respect for bank holidays and with only 17 days to polling day we can hardly expect a day off now can we!?

Like most of the Crewe crew it has been a challenge over the last couple of days to switch from local election mode into by-election mode so quickly but the mood of the team and the general office banter yesterday was top class and you can sense we are all re-energised for the short but intense fight ahead.

And with so much to do in such a short space of time I need to get going so apologies for the brief entry today but consider yourselves lucky to get anything at all.

Ok ok Hilary I’m coming………………………!

COSTA DEL CREWE!

Looking for a break after the hard work of the local election campaign? Needing to get away from it all before planning, printing and delivering those Thank You leaflets? Well the Lib Dems new service for party members – LD Shortbreaks – has arranged a wonderful opportunity for you to unwind, recharge your batteries and share election tales.

In the heart of South Cheshire the town of Crewe is perhaps best known for its association with the railways, being a major junction and once home to a major railway works. From 1946 until 2002 it was the home of Rolls-Royce motor car production. At the end of 2002 Rolls-Royce production ceased at Crewe; the Pyms Lane factory on the west of the town now produces Bentley motor cars exclusively.

The team at LD Shortbreaks has arranged a series of guided walks in and around the Crewe & Nantwich area for your enjoyment and pleasure and will even provide you with the names and addresses of local residents who are guaranteed to give you a warm welcome if you knock on their door and introduce yourselves to them.

They are even producing our own local newspapers and magazines for you to leave with them to read, maybe even saving them a trip to the local newsagent!

If you want to know more about this exclusive deal for Lib Dem members please visit –
http://www.elizabethshenton.com/help-elizabeth-win/

Less than 10 hours after finally getting to bed at 5am this morning after a terrifc night in Knowsley (3 gains from Labour!!) and Flintshire (3 gains from Labour but 2 losses - net gain of 1) I am already sat in the HQ of the Crewe & Nantwich by-election surrounded by masses of volunteers eager and ready to get going on the next campaign!!

Well actually there are only four of us right now but the count for the Crewe & Nantwich District of the new Cheshire East unitary council is still taking place and as soon as that is over I’m sure we will be joined by others chomping at the bit to get going!!

At least the local candidates can be assured with some help for their thank you leaflets in this area!!

If you are planning to come to Crewe in the near future our candidate Elizabeth Shenton is working hard for people in Crewe and Nantwich and she needs your help to become our next MP.

Come along to Elizabeth’s campaign HQ between 9am and 9pm, 7 days a week.

Elizabeth’s HQ is at Capital House, 4th Avenue, Crewe, CW1 6XL. There is parking available outside and it is 10-15 minutes walk from Crewe station.

Now I wonder if I can get forty winks in the corner before they all get back from the count………………..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz