Gratuitous Baby-Kissing Shot, Part 2.

Sunday 28th April

Long time readers of this blog might recall a blog-post here on the eve of the last County Council elections for the Bagshot, Windlesham & Lightwater West seat back in 2009.
A year into being an elected borough member, Robin Horsley & I set up 'BackMac' in 2008 in order to support the county election campaign online not long after the selection. Quiet to start with - these were of course the days before the advent of the ubiquitous Paul Deach, Twitter and the LeftofLightwater et al blogsphere - we soon found the momentum with the assistance of a certain MP and I recall one particular voter in Windlesham on Election Day telling me that she had come out specifically because of the 'Gratuitous Baby-Kissing Shot' post of June 2nd 2009, which can be found here

I'd long considered myself to have been fortunate enough to have had a relatively privileged upbringing and in my public appointments had always tried to work in the direction of raising the bar for the benefit of all.
'What if', I remember asking a rather stuffy Association Chairman after a meeting in 2009, 'the person with the cure for cancer is currently languishing in some disadvantaged hell-hole of a life with no chance of releasing that potential?'. A ridiculous premise you might think, but useful as an illustration of my political motivation.

The entire experience has had its ups and downs. Able enough to have been recognised to take on positions of authority at both the county & borough levels, there have been some great local successes and some fantastic high points juxtaposed with some disappointments, controversies and some very, very low points.

The rest as they say, is history. And the internet never forgets.



Seven years on and the local conservative president - yes, that one - has determined that this time I'm not standing. Frankly, I'd have preferred a second county term; as Obama will accord, a single four year term simply isn't long enough to settle-in and work into a position sufficiently enough to make things happen in a strategic rather than just tactical manner. Because that's really what this business is all about; the combination of assisting & representing local residents for those matters which are of local import, while at the same time getting to a place where you can make the lives better for many, many more residents than those within your ward or division, by way of creating policy.
Well, that's how I played it.

So, I'm out.

Somewhere along the way while I was attempting to look after the residents of Surrey, my division and wards, I forgot about some residents who were even closer to me. For the forseeable future I'm going to be working specifically & exclusively for them.
And it's about bloody time.

Cue the 'Gratuitous Baby-kissing Shot, Part 2':