Need to be in Gloucestershire - Not London

Today was spent getting the 100 nominations I need just to go forward to the election - not a problem but still wondering why I have to get 100 names and the MP's only 10?  My wife has done a brilliant job helping me out.

Anyway,  all's well that ends well and I'm nearly there and the bonus is I met a retired officer who gave me some great historic photos of Gloucestershire Constabulary.   I'll post some of these soon.

Tomorrow was scheduled to be a day in London catching up on the national issues, but I quickly realised if I want to win this election I need to be here, in Gloucestershire, not London.  That's how I think it will be if I'm elected too, as if your not careful you take your eye off the ball and think your really important just because you had meetings in the capital.

Still working up the details of the commitment I'll give to the Forest of Dean regarding stopping the future of their police stations and the service they will get from the police in the future. This is so much more than  just buildings, it's about the future of policing in the Forest.

Thanks

Martin
 

44 days to go - time to start blogging ...

It’s the 1st of October and just 44 days before the election in which you will choose Gloucestershire’s first Police & Crime Commissioner.   I think it’s about time I started to keep you up to date with what I’m up to, what I stand for, my thoughts and what voting for me, an Independent, would mean.

Firstly I’m not a politician; I never have been and never will be.  I strongly believe these elections should be about policing for Gloucestershire and reducing crime not even remotely about party politics.  It’s true I think that the police authority had become stale, but I also think anyone standing for commissioner should be been resigning their party membership. If a party politician is elected he or she will be the only person in the entire Gloucestershire Police who is allowed to be politically active; can that be right?

Today the Gloucestershire Police invited all candidates to a  briefing at their HQ.  Victoria Atkins (Con) and Alistair Cameron (LibDem) were there but no sign of Rupi Dhanda (Lab) or the Badger Party.

Police gave a good briefing and are trying really hard not to show any bias; it would be interesting to see how they will maintain this if a political party takes control.

My team are working on the final draft of the manifesto and are totally brilliant.  

I think my biggest challenge will be getting my message heard, but there is nothing on earth that would make me stand for a political party or take funding from any pressure group. I’m committed to keeping party politics out of the police here in Gloucestershire.

I hope you will follow my blog.

Thanks 

Martin