Delaying Election Counts : No, No, No....

I see from yesterday's posting by Iain Dale and the Sunday Times, that following the Norwich North By-Election where the election count was held on a Friday, other Councils are thinking of following suit. This would mean that election Counts would be held late on a Friday morning, rather than from Thursday night from 22:00, when the polling stations close.

Sadly, we in Harlow have great experience of later voting Counts. At my first General Election as Harlow Conservative Parliamentary Candidate in 2001 - if my ailing memory serves me correctly -the result wasn't announced until 05:00 or 06:00 on Friday.

In 2005, the final result wasn't announced until late on Saturday morning, when it was revealed that I had lost by just a handful of votes to Mr Rammell - a day which is indelibly etched on my memory!

The reason for the Count taking place on Saturday was that there had been two counts on the Thursday night/Friday morning. Due to a number of discrepancies over the count, the closeness of the result, and because it was past 06:30am, it was decided that a third recount would take place on Saturday morning.

As you can imagine, I hardly got any sleep during this period and lived mainly on adrenalin - I hoped against hope that I might have won by a whisker. But, it was not to be. The final result indicated that the incumbent had held on by ninety seven votes (down from a Labour majority of over 10,500 in 1997).

Because Harlow was the last constituency in the country to declare, it seemed like the whole world turned up to hear the result. All the major news channels had arrived and I remember, as I left the building, somewhat battered and bruised by events, being asked what it was like to lose by such a small number of votes. I said that it felt like watching your favourite team (in my case, Chelsea), playing in the the FA Cup Final and being level - ready for extra time. Suddenly the opposing team scored the winning goal in the last minute of the game.

So, as you can see, from bitter experience, the idea of having a delayed Count fills me with dread! Although given current opinion polls and the reaction I get in Harlow Constituency this time around, I am very much hoping that the result in 2010 will not be like the close shave it was in 2005. Nevertheless, when you lose by just under one hundred votes, it teaches you never to take anything for granted. I know I have much more work to do in the weeks and months ahead until the election.

By Rob Halfon ~ Working hard for Harlow, Hastingwood, Nazeing, Roydon & Sheering. http//roberthalfon.blogspot.com

Night time in Jerusalem

I feel very lucky at present. It is just after 9:30pm and I am sitting by the Old City in Jerusalem. There is almost a full moon above and a very thin cat running past my legs. Moths fly about, attaching themselves to any lamp posts they can find. The view from every point is of lightened homes on the hills of Jerusalem at night. Apart from the numerous taxis on the streets it feels so quiet and peaceful.

This afternoon, I met a man whose family had lived continuously in the Old City for over 300 years. As I take in the view, I try to imagine the history of that family. What they have seen over the centuries and whether they have suffered from the ravages of conflict? I also think how lucky they are to have lived in such a holy place for so long. Yes, Jerusalem is truly magical.

In Israel

Many of you will know that although the majority of my blog-posts are about Harlow and my work as Parliamentary Candidate for the Constituency. However, I sometimes post on matters related to the Middle East, a subject close to my heart. As Parliamentary Candidate, I don't get paid - or expenses, so I earn my wages as a consultant. Part of the work I do is for an organisation called Conservative Friends of Israel, which has around 2,000 thousands members as well as the vast majority of Conservative MPs as registered members or supporters.

Contrary to what some people think, CFI is not a 'Jewish organisation' and the majority of members are from all persuasions or none - and based all over England. The only criteria for joining is to have Conservative leanings - the primary role of CFI is to make the case for Israel inside the Conservative Party. That doesn't mean CFI supports one Israeli government or another. The organisation just plays a role in presenting the arguments in a balanced way to Conservatives. There is also Labour Friends of Israel, which undertakes a similar role inside the Labour Party.

As well as providing briefings to Conservatives, CFI also takes senior party members on visits to Israel, primarily funded from voluntary donations. The trips are wide-ranging, informative, exhausting and include meetings with Israeli politicians, academics and journalists and Palestinians on the West Bank. Where possible, the visits include seeing important cultural sites such as the Holocaust Museum the Old City of Jersualem and holy shrines to Christians and Muslims alike.

I go on a number of these CFI visits to Israel and help host the Conservative delegation with my colleagues. What usually happens is that everyone arrives with a host of questions, and leaves without answers - but with more informed questions instead.

So here I am, in Israel waiting for a new Conservative delegation to arrive. This visit comprises some Tory Shadow Ministers, and Parliamentary Candidates. I look forward to posting some of what we get up to, on my blog, during the few days ahead that we are here.

Arriving a few days early, I have been really pleased to visit members of my family, some of whom are on holiday and a few who live here. My family is dotted around the globe. Jewish, many had to flee persecution of one sort or another. My Father's family came to England, where he met my Mother. The rest is history!

It has been good to have some family time, especially accompanied by Vanda, who is making her first trip to Israel. We visited the Old City in Jerusalem, and the remains of the holy temple, first built by King Solomon (commonly known as the Western Wall). Yesterday we drove with my Dad to the Galilee for a wonderful meal, literally on the shore front of the Lake itself. Whatever one's feelings about the conflict, Israel is a beautiful country and her beauty makes the ravages of 60 years of conflict with her neighbours all the more tragic.

By Rob Halfon ~ Working hard for Harlow, Hastingwood, Nazeing, Roydon & Sheering. http//roberthalfon.blogspot.com

Back to Libya - now Mr Rammell is involved

I have written in a previous posting about the sophistry of the Government, regarding the release of Libyan mass murderer, Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi. Sadly, my worst fears have been confirmed as day after day, Government papers have been leaked which show all the manoeverings behind the scenes by Whitehall and Government Ministers. Moreover, Gordon Brown's continued silence over the matter has simply fuelled the suspicions people have.

Now it seems that our own MP, Bill Rammell, is deeply involved, having previously been senior Foreign Office Minister (he was recently moved to become Armed Forces Minister). According to Iain Dale's website, and today's Guardian:

"In a major setback for Downing Street, which has insisted the release was entirely a matter for Edinburgh, it emerged that a Foreign Office minister intervened last February to make clear to Libya that Brown hoped Abdelbaset al-Megrahi would not "pass away" in prison.
Amid warnings from Tripoli that allowing Megrahi to die in prison would amount to a "death sentence", Bill Rammell, then a Foreign Office minister, passed the message to Abdulati Alobidi, Libya's Europe minister, during a meeting in Tripoli.

His intervention was revealed today in a note of a meeting which took place in Glasgow in March between Scottish officials and Alobidi. The note disclosed that the Libyan minister had said: "Mr Rammell had stated that neither the prime minister nor the foreign secretary would want Mr Megrahi to pass away in prison but the decision on transfer lies in the hands of Scottish ministers........

In a sign of ministerial unease, it took Rammell almost two hours to respond to the publication of his reported remarks. Rammell – now a defence minister – made no attempt to deny his intervention when he released a brief statement which reiterated the British position that
Megrahi's status was a matter for the Scottish authorities. "Neither the Libyans nor the Scottish executive were left in any doubt throughout this entire process that this was a decision for the Scottish executive over which the UK government sought no influence," Rammell said. "I made it clear in all my dealings with the Libyans that the decision around Megrahi was exclusively one for the Scottish executive." David Cameron seized on Rammell's intervention to demand a public inquiry into the release of Megrahi, claiming that Brown now stands accused of double dealing".

The Guardian report indicates that the UK Government, prepared the way for Al Megrahi's release. They can no longer claim that it was entirely down to a decision of the Scottish Executive.

Mr Rammell's apparent actions are an example showing that the Government's so called 'ethical foreign policy' is nothing more than a sham - a pretty headline for the newspapers. Any fair interpretation of the above shows that the Government was doing everything possible to secure the return of the Libyan to Tripoli. No wonder critics of what occurred, argue that Mr Rammell was seemingly a willing tool in the machinations that went on. As many will be aware, Mr Rammell has plenty of form on this sort of thing. Remember the Iraq war anyone?

The release of Al Megrahi and his return to Libya, was an outrage, and an action which will give succour to terrorists across the globe. It will be unforgivable if it emerges that the's Government's decision was made for commercial reasons. There has to be a point where morality in foreign policy begins and the pursuit of profits ends - especially when the security of our country is at stake. Otherwise we might as well just sit back and turn out the lights.

-- by Robert Halfon Post From My iPhone