The General Election will be called in little over a month’s time and then it will be helter-skelter all the way to Polling Day on 6 May.  We get one shot at it so we’ve got to work hard over the coming weeks to get people on our side.  They are not stampeding towards the Conservatives.

To win, we need to squeeze the Lib Dem vote and we are fortunate that their candidate is so totally ineffectual.  Ladbrokes give Afzal Anwar odds at 40-1, but this is way too generous.  As for the Conservatives, I shall continue to shout from the rooftops that they have been bankrolled by a tax exile.  They can always sue me – but they won’t.  Truth is an absolute defence.

In fact, the Conservative campaign is looking decidedly fragile.  There have been contradictions and “mis-statements” (such as the confusion over whether marriage would be recognised by the tax system) and the net effect is to raise doubts in the minds of the electorate.  We can see how the polls are narrowing and while this should give us encouragement, it will produce huge consternation at Conservative Central Office. 

The latest revelation from the Guardian about the Conservative Party’s Director of Communications, Andy Coulson, are jaw-dropping.  Coulson, Cameron’s right hand man, is alleged to have brought on to the pay-roll at the News of the World, when he was Editor, a man sentenced to seven years for blackmail and who is now awaiting trial for serious assault.  The question is whether Coulson knew of this record when he was hired. 

Last year, Coulson, previously the Deputy Editor and then Editor of the News of the World, told a Commons Committee he knew nothing about the illegal activities of the people in the pay of his own newspaper.  They were phone tapping and hacking. He has some explaining to do.

Over recent weeks we have seen attacks on the Prime Minister increase in intensity, culminating in the allegations of bullying at Number 10.  No one denies that Broon has a temper but I am not sure that bothers people.  The aptly named Mrs. Pratt of the Bullying Helpline sought to capitalise on the revelations, but it has all blown up spectacularly in her face.  A succession of actions brought by her, claiming she was a victim of bullying and harassment herself, all laid out in the Daily Mail, speaks volumes. 

I doubt if Andrew Rawnsley’s new book “The End of the Party” will change the political weather.   So what if Darling had an argument with Brown.  So what if Brown screamed at Blair “you’ve ruined my life!”   People have known for years that the Brown – Blair duopoly has always been tempestuous.  I think each revelation has less impact than the one before.

On a lighter note, I had an enjoyable evening at the Colne Beer Festival, sampling a selection of the brews on offer.  Down at Westminster I met two separate groups of students from Nelson & Colne College who quizzed me on the work I do.  I always find talking to the young people very rewarding.

TWEET TWEET!

You may have noticed that I am now blogging and tweeting as well as living and breathing!  Social networking in this way will, I am sure, shape elections in the future.  I think people want to get into on-line conversations with MPs – and, no doubt, candidates and why not?  People have the right to know what candidates for Parliament really believe. 

Two big local issues.  I shall be meeting the Trustees of Islamic Help next month.  The meeting will be at Westminster and I have asked the Charity Commission to sit in on it.  I hope that we will be able to fill in the blanks so far as the future of Brierfield Mills is concerned.  I shall have a thousand questions to ask them. 

On the other burning issue – the Burnley Urgent Care Centre Review – things are moving forward, albeit slowly.  I want people who have something to say about the UCC to be offered a chance to say it directly to the Director of Emergency & Urgent Care, Professor Cooke, who will be leading the Review.

One final point.  I see that Andrew Stephenson has been banging on about Housing Benefit and how it should be paid direct to landlords.  I think he is on the wrong side of the argument.  I think people should take responsibility for managing their money and for the State to do it for them is surely the mark of the Nanny State.