21/04/2010
Posted by adam
Jim Knight, Dorset South
Tory Target #25
I have been the MP for South Dorset for 9 years – the only Labour MP in the history of this seat and the only gain from the Tories so far this century! I was Labour’s closest loser in 1997 here, by just 77 votes. At the 2001 general election I scraped home by 153 votes in the only Labour gain from the Conservatives. In the 2005 general election I increased my majority to 1,812.
Labour has made a massive difference in South Dorset. Our public services have been transformed after decades of Tory neglect. We have 5 new schools and 6 new Sure Start children’s centres, a new hospital and walk-in health centre and 168 more Police for Dorset as a whole.
The last Tory government sold off the naval base at Portland and did nothing to replace lost jobs and livelihoods. This Labour Government has invested £40million, through the Regional Development Agency, making this area a magnet for private sector investment creating around 1,400 jobs for the future and attracting new and important firms like luxury yacht manufacturer Sunseeker.
That investment was also essential in securing the Olympic sailing events in 2012, and after decades of talk and no action by our Tory predecessors, I was able to secure funding for a major new relief road to ease congestion in and around Weymouth.
This election in South Dorset will be crucial. It’s a tight, straight fight between me and the Tories. I polled more than three times as many votes as the Lib Dems last time.
My Tory opponent is Richard Drax. I am not focussing on his very long name (Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax) even if it has more hyphens than mine has syllables! Nor am I fussed by his very long garden wall (the one around his estate is alleged to be the longest in Europe), it is not my concern that he owns half of the neighbouring constituency.
My concern is what he says and thinks. He is the embodiment of “same old Tories”. He’s a climate change denier, thinks flexible working and paternity leave is ‘politically correct nonsense’ and describes the tax on bankers’ bonuses as a ‘tax of envy’. He doesn’t believe that we should give any cash in development aid. He’s also on record as saying the Conservative Party has not changed.
There must be no place in Parliament for people with the views of Richard Drax.
Historically Labour has bucked the trend twice. We are a tiny red dot on a vast sea of blue. We can’t afford to lose. Please support us.
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Candidate: Jim Knight
Seat: Dorset South
Currently held by: Labour
Majority: 1812