The political scene is now much more settled than could be anticipated only a month ago; new ministers are settling in to their jobs, most notably the Prime Minister herself who has already met with her opposite numbers in France and Germany and faced Parliament in her first Prime Minister’s Questions. It is at PMQs when the public pass judgement and they saw her demolish Jeremy Corbyn’s attempts to score points and showed mastery of the whole range of Government when replying to a wide range of questions from backbench members.
With Parliament now in recess new ministers will have more time to brief themselves on their new department and backbenchers more time to catch up on constituency work. As for me I’m continuing with the job I said I wanted when elected - ‘Secretary of State for the Cleethorpes Constituency.’
Cleethorpes is on a high at the moment; we successfully staged the National Armed Forces Event, have continuing successes in the ‘In Bloom’ competition and if the weather is kind during the school holiday period the disappointing weather in the early part of the season can, to some extent, be forgotten.
More needs to be done to ensure coastal towns and seaside resorts attract investment and overcome the seemingly inherent problems that the statistics show namely, lower education standards, a low-skilled workforce, lower wages, and an economy struggling to keep pace with many other parts of the country. Of course we shouldn’t look to Government to solve all our problems but increased recognition that these issues must be tackled will be welcome. I have already questioned and spoken to the new ministerial team about these concerns and will certainly be keeping up the pressure on them.
Listening to the radio a few days ago I was reminded that last Saturday was the 50th anniversary of England winning the World Cup and recalling that game reminded me of how it had some similarities with the recent political rollercoaster.
Those of you old enough will recall that Jimmy Greaves hoped to play in the game but wasn’t chosen by manager Alf Ramsay. Jimmy was a talented player who could always be relied on to entertain the crowds. That other entertainer Boris Johnson hoped to play in the final of the party leadership but events conspired against him.
Geoff Hurst who replaced Greaves after he was injured in the in the group stage of the competition. Hurst had played badly in the warm-up games against Finland and Poland and had appeared to have fallen out of contention but recovered to become the star player with his hat-trick in the Final. In the same way Theresa May was thought to be out of the running after a quiet few months following last year’s Party Conference and a quiet referendum campaign but in the same way performed well when it really mattered.
In 1966 40 players were named in the extended squad that had to be reduced to 22 by the start of the contest so players such as Terry Venables & Peter Osgood were pushed aside without getting onto the pitch. Remember George Osborne who the commentators expected to be in the running?
Andrea Leadsom made it to the final but was fouled and retired hurt.
As the game came towards its end some people were on the pitch thinking it was all over just like Theresa May’s supporters gathering round her even before Andrea quit the race.
And just as in 1966 the Queen presented the winner with the prize.
Politics, like football, can be very unpredictable each competition usually throws up an unexpected competitor - Iceland and Andrea Leadsom - who after a good start eventually lose out.
With Parliament now in recess new ministers will have more time to brief themselves on their new department and backbenchers more time to catch up on constituency work. As for me I’m continuing with the job I said I wanted when elected - ‘Secretary of State for the Cleethorpes Constituency.’
Cleethorpes is on a high at the moment; we successfully staged the National Armed Forces Event, have continuing successes in the ‘In Bloom’ competition and if the weather is kind during the school holiday period the disappointing weather in the early part of the season can, to some extent, be forgotten.
More needs to be done to ensure coastal towns and seaside resorts attract investment and overcome the seemingly inherent problems that the statistics show namely, lower education standards, a low-skilled workforce, lower wages, and an economy struggling to keep pace with many other parts of the country. Of course we shouldn’t look to Government to solve all our problems but increased recognition that these issues must be tackled will be welcome. I have already questioned and spoken to the new ministerial team about these concerns and will certainly be keeping up the pressure on them.
Listening to the radio a few days ago I was reminded that last Saturday was the 50th anniversary of England winning the World Cup and recalling that game reminded me of how it had some similarities with the recent political rollercoaster.
Those of you old enough will recall that Jimmy Greaves hoped to play in the game but wasn’t chosen by manager Alf Ramsay. Jimmy was a talented player who could always be relied on to entertain the crowds. That other entertainer Boris Johnson hoped to play in the final of the party leadership but events conspired against him.
Geoff Hurst who replaced Greaves after he was injured in the in the group stage of the competition. Hurst had played badly in the warm-up games against Finland and Poland and had appeared to have fallen out of contention but recovered to become the star player with his hat-trick in the Final. In the same way Theresa May was thought to be out of the running after a quiet few months following last year’s Party Conference and a quiet referendum campaign but in the same way performed well when it really mattered.
In 1966 40 players were named in the extended squad that had to be reduced to 22 by the start of the contest so players such as Terry Venables & Peter Osgood were pushed aside without getting onto the pitch. Remember George Osborne who the commentators expected to be in the running?
Andrea Leadsom made it to the final but was fouled and retired hurt.
As the game came towards its end some people were on the pitch thinking it was all over just like Theresa May’s supporters gathering round her even before Andrea quit the race.
And just as in 1966 the Queen presented the winner with the prize.
Politics, like football, can be very unpredictable each competition usually throws up an unexpected competitor - Iceland and Andrea Leadsom - who after a good start eventually lose out.
