I watched the Panorama expose of shady dealings in the world of British football with a mounting sense of anger. To be honest I expected the whole thing to be a bit of a damp squib, but not a bit of it. It leaves Bolton manager Sam Allardyce with a lot of questions to answer. But it is even more serious than that as it casts a shadow over every football manager, agent and scout.
Fans can be forgiven for feeling duped if their hard earned ticket money is being used in bungs and if football is not careful it could soon go the way of UK athletics. Twenty years ago most of us were transfixed by the exploits of Daley Thompson, Steve Cram and Tessa Sanderson to name only three. Nowadays I doubt if most sports fans give athletics a second thought. Why? Because the sport is tainted by drugs.
Football’s administrators should not look to their athletics counterparts as an example. Instead, they should follow the lead of the Jockey Club which has adopted a total zero tolerance policy towards corruption. It’s the only way to restore the sport to its former glory.
At the next election Norfolk gets an extra Member of Parliament in a redrawn seat of Mid Norfolk. The seat comprises 40% of the old Mid Norfolk seat currently represented by Keith Simpson and twenty per cent each from South Norfolk and South West Norfolk. Mid Norfolk Tories are currently drawing up a shortlist of candidates.
They will be wrestling with the ever present dilemma for a selection committee in a supposedly safe Conservative seat. Do they go for someone with local roots or go for a high flier who could be a potential future Cabinet Minister?
When I stood in North Norfolk at the last election the LibDems very successfully made out I was a metropolitan Londoner even though I lived in the constituency and Norman Lamb didn’t. But Norman was a Norfolk boy, born and bred, whereas I had committed the cardinal sin of growing up in Essex. So I have no doubt that this will weigh heavily on the minds of the Mid Norfolk selection committee. But they will also be thinking that seats like theirs have traditionally provided MPs of Cabinet material – John MacGregor and Richard Ryder being two examples.
It is perfectly possible to come from outside the County of Norfolk and be a very good constituency MP for the area. For personal and professional reasons I have not applied to be the candidate in Mid Norfolk – if I had, I would have had to give up this column! – so I can offer the selection committee some impartial advice, and it is this. Do not be swayed by political correctness. Do not automatically assume that local is best. And above all, pick the best person for the job.
This week I’ve had the rare pleasure of spending two days with the Liberal Democrats at their conference in Brighton. Before all my Tory friends in North Norfolk have heart failure, I should explain I was there in a purely professional capacity, making a TV film.
Anyone who has ever attended a political party conference will know that all three parties attract their fare share of oddballs and weirdos, but it has to be said that the LibDems attract more than their fare share. The old adage that they all sport beards and wear sandals is no longer so apparent, but a journalist friend of mine was delighted to show me her mobile phone which was full of pictures she had taken of sandal wearers. The things one does for entertainment during a Charles Kennedy speech!
A journalist asked me how I thought LibDem conferences were different to the other two. Labour Party conferences nowadays are like Tory conferences were in the Thatcher era – full of young men in a hurry wearing very sharp suits. They rush around, full of their own self importance always on the lookout for someone more important to talk to than the person they happen to engaging in conversation.
Conservative conferences are unfairly caricatured as being full of old fogies who fall asleep during debates. The fact is that there is a growing proportion of under thirties who go to Tory conferences, but they don’t necessarily spend all their time in the conference hall, listening to worthy speeches.
The conference fringe is where it all happens. Fringe meetings at all three conferences are where you can just that little bit subversive. At this year’s Tory conference I am speaking at three fringe events – on blogging, reconnecting politics with the voters and last but not least I shall be speaking in favour of an English Parliament. That will be my little bit of subversion for the week. After his speech in Scotland last week, I’m not sure Mr Cameron would approve.
