Intro by
Lord Beestonia
When I first started writing about politics, our MP was Nick Palmer. I didn’t agree with many things he supported, but I got to know him as a decent bloke and a genuinely helpful MP, willing to help anyone who asked, irrespective of their political stripe.
One complaint I did have, as a journalist eager stories, was that Nick was uncontroversial, professional and dilligent. There was little to write about, therefore. Now I look back on those days with absolute nostalgia.
Since handing the PPC reins over to Greg in 2017, he’s inevitably become less visible, but has been active in support of Greg. His latest email newsletter is printed in full here, and not solely because I’m lazy and want to spend my birthday politics free. Rather, it is a well argued and passionate plea to use your vote wisely tomorrow.
This is a binary choice, I’m afraid. A vote for anyone but Greg Marshall is a vote for a Boris Johnson majority. That’s the bottom line. Yes, the electoral system is screwed, FPTP is awful. Yet right now, don’t pretend this is a proportional representation election. Over to Nick:
Parliament has a surplus of people who define themselves by opposition to someone else. Astonishingly, the Conservative campaign this time has come down to exactly two messages, “Get Brexit done” and “We’re not Corbyn”. Do you remember anything else in their manifesto? Something about potholes, wasn’t there? And yet these hope to govern with a majority for five years.
Is that because they have no ideas? Actually, no. The Conservatives have purged their entire moderate wing. Former PM John Major. Former Chancellor Ken Clarke. Former chairman Chris Patten. The list goes on. What is left is a hardcore
right-wing, nationalist party. That is why they are perfectly willing to embrace a Brexit in 2020 with no trade deal whatever, in the hope that they can construct an offshore tax-avoiding free market paradise. Since this is not an agenda that would get majority support, we’ve seen a Conservative campaign that would raise eyebrows in a Third World autocracy, grounded on a personality cult, lies, evasion and a blizzard of negative propaganda. It’s an embarrassment to a modern democracy.
On Thursday, either Darren Henry or Greg Marshall will be elected to represent you – the latest polls show them locked in a close race, far ahead of every other candidate. Darren represents the new breed of Conservatives, chosen from Wiltshire over local Conservatives because he represented the Brexiteer faith more completely.
Greg represents the tradition that I tried to establish as an MP – positive politics, based on a strong local focus and genuine open-mindedness. One of the reasons I like Greg and have been spending so much time working for him this week is that he predominantly stands for a positive vision – for decent public services, for a fair chance for everyone, for schools that have the resources to give a strong educational basis. Without these things, our society will decline – in productivity, in opportunity, in spirit. And he supports a reasonable compromise to end the Brexit nightmare – a fresh referendum with a choice of remaining members or leaving the political union but staying in a sensible customs union with our neighbours.
He’d make the better representative for Broxtowe, a constituency that has never embraced polarised extremism.
Please vote for positive politics, and support Greg Marshall on Thursday.
Nick Palmer
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Beestonia 
Interestingly tactical voting websites suggest that if you don’t want to get brexit done, then Anna Soubry is the person to vote for:
https://www.tactical-vote.uk/broxtowe?postcode=ng9%203fh
Don’t be taken in by this website. It’s either Greg Marshall or Henry, the man whose ignorance is equalled only by lack of compassion.
“Strange to see a post here from someone who does not live in Broxtowe, let alone Bramcote.”
Paul Nathanail responding to Palmer’s message at Bramcote Today. Soubry posts all the time at Bramcote Today.
https://bramcotetoday.org.uk/2019/12/10/a-message-from-nick-palmer/#comment-2894
Confirmation from the ballot paper itself: “Charnwood constituency”.
Interestingly common sense voting websites (sorry I made that up) would suggest if you want to end up with one of the worst constituency MPs ever found in Broxtowe, the Anna is the person to vote for 🙂
Why oh why Mr Dr Nick did you stand down, you cut across party lines and represented Broxtowe with ease 😦
Not very kosher
The silence since 11:47 is deafening. At 75, Labour’s defeat is far harder to bear than when I was 20 in 1964. What makes it worse is the fact that it was self-inflicted. Labour not being able to defeat a compassionless Conservative carpet-bagger in Broxtowe also needs forensic examination. How I feel for Greg Marshall right now. I look forward to the post-election analysis which I’m sure is being worked on right now.
I cannot understand how those who have led the Labour Party to this unnecessary defeat by their reckless and irresponsible actions can have the arrogance to believe they are best placed to oversee the post-election analysis. We need a new Party leader ASAP and those who stand can offer their analysis of why we lost and what we need to be doing to re-incorporate the Party into the fabric of English society (Scotland and Wales are, for all intents and purposes, separate entities and should have their own debates). Right how I’m hoping Jess Phillips from Birmingham will be one of the leadership candidates. For the record I voted for Jeremy Corbyn in each of the leadership election. I knew enough of the man to be in no doubt of the views I was buying into. What I did not fully appreciated was, confronted with power and responsibility, how indecisive he would become. I certainly lost all belief in the man as a leader a long time ago. The debate in Beeston needs to be open, not exclusive to Party members, and I hope that, just as Beestonia has tracked the election campaign over the past six weeks, it will now track Beeston’s take on what happens to the Labour Party over the coming months. We are less than 18 months from County Council elections and winning back control of Nottinghamshire County Council has to be the No.1 priority. How well we do this will be an important step to Labour sharing power in a future English Parliament. The UK has no future and we all know this if we are honest with ourselves. For now, controlling what happens in England is beyond Labour’s control – which is why local government has an added importance and any future Labour leader has to committed to devolving power back to local government (Labour’s national behaviour in places like Bassetlaw and Sutton Coldfield shows that it is still, at heart, a centralising beast). I want to hear what those involved in the campaign think went wrong and I want their take tested in a public forum like this, One that is trusted.
I think a good starting point for the post-mortem would be to ask traditional labour supporters (and until recently party members) why they feel divorced from the party. Joseph Baxter kindly asked me why I had cancelled my membership ( a month or so back), but I have heard nothing since. Yet I still receive messages about whether my cancellation was through “error”.
In our borough I am afraid Greg shot himself in the foot by being as vague about Brexit as possible. This obviously wasn’t the only issue for the result, but I would say it was a major factor in many leave areas.
Also – the problem the party faces now is that it isn’t just the leadership that has the power, the whole party machinery needs looking at. And to hear certain members in the party – mainly Momentum – say that they won the argument – well done you!
May I play you at cards or crazy golf for money please?