Thanks for all your support.

I just want to say thank you for all your support during the general election. Your support, hard work and encouragement really made a difference to me personally and locally leaving our party here in Warwick & Leamington stronger than ever. This afternoon during a quick trip to Leamington many people stopped me in the street with words of encouragement, which I really appreciate.

Nationally It is clear that no party has been granted an overall majority. It has been a mixed set of results for all of the major parties. We had some disappointing losses and at the same some stunning results such as Redcar where we won on a massive 25% swing.

There is a lot of media speculation over what may happen next and it is clear that Nick Clegg and his team are holding their nerve, after all we have been preparing for the eventuality of a balanced parliament for a long time. I am sure we are not going to give that away lightly.

As the Conservatives gained the most seats and highest share of the vote it is only right, as Nick has stated right from the start that they be given the opportunity to form a government. Whether this is possible; with or without our support will be subject to discussions over the coming days.

This morning Nick spoke on his way into meetings with key advisers and our new Parliamentary team. He was clear that he would press our case for our four priorities - tax reform to make the system fairer, a "new approach" to education to give a "fair start" to all children, the economy and "fundamental political reform to our political system".

It is clear from the Unlock Democracy demonstration supporting electoral reform this afternoon that there is a lot of support for electoral reform as key to these discussions, something I find encouraging.

Back here in Warwick & Leamington we continue to hold our District and County councils to account as the effective opposition. Our leadership of Leamington Town Council is recognised across the country as outstanding.

Carers, Farmers, Schools and Motorbikes.

Over the past few days I have been asked to talk to Carers, Farmers, Businesses, Schools and Bikers. This is one of the most enjoyable aspects of being a candidate and something I have built up a talent for in my own job; talking to people and understanding their own particular issues.

A theme running through listening various groups is how the previous government has been fixated with measurements, control and bureaucracy often with unintended consequences. It seems to me that if government cut back on much of this control and let people get on with Nursing, Teaching, Caring or any number of things they do, it would cost this country a lot less money and we would all get a better service.

Talking to the Farmers this afternoon, we could improve things a lot by breaking up Defra to create a ministry that looks after Farming and Food production (we could call it MAFF) and put a minister in charge that actually knows something about farming, rather than an MP for Leeds.

Its time to put a bit of common sense back into politics.

The Grand Old Duke of York

I stumbled across this, made me laugh anyway, well worth a watch.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=l22kHO5jdRU

Personally this whole thing has been a total waste of time, I personally know of many politicians who have poured masses of energy into a possible election when they could have been spending time on real issues in their constituencies.

I became convinced over the past few days that this whole set up has been staged to flush out the aces of the other two parties.

A good argument for fixed term parliaments. While we are at it, lets get a fair voting system. Its time to modernise this antiquated system we have and lets have the modern, effective democracy Britain deserves.

No General Election

I have just heard on the radio that there will be no election this autumn. I had worked out a great plan with my team and was ready to go. On the positive side we can tinker with the plan and carry on with some other work I have been wanting to get involved in.

Top of my agenda at the moment is the Phlebotomy service in Warwick & Leamington which has been reduced in many areas causing a real problem for residents. I will write about this in a few days.

The other key issue is crime in Leamington which is on the rise and we all, as a community need to tackle this urgently.

I believe Gordon Brown has been very clever, flushing out the strong cards in the other parties hands. Personally I think this has made a mockery of the whole democratic process and I would favour fixed terms, then we all know where we stand.