12 Jan 2024
There’s something quintessentially English about sipping Earl Grey and nibbling on finger sandwiches in the environs of a village tearoom, and the same could also be said about Nigel Gardner.
The Conservative Party’s Parliamentary candidate for the newly created constituency of Harpenden and Berkhamsted has an intrinsic quirkiness and flamboyance about him which draws comparisons to British icons Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes: somewhat odd, yet surprisingly likeable for it.
Whether this will prove too much for Tory voters used to backing largely invisible and unremarkable MPs remains to be seen, because there is little to no chance of Nigel remaining a quiet and unassuming backbencher should he take the seat.
“I don’t think there’s any point in being in politics if you don’t speak up for what you think. It’s the reason you’re there. But the way the British system works is that you’re there for a party and you’re there for a place. You have to be an advocate for them both coupled with your own point of view and conscience.
“I feel most people I meet here might be upset with the Conservative Party, but I can get where they’re coming from, and they’re all coming from the same place – which is the middle ground.”
“One’s retiring but the others are fighting their neighbouring seats, whereas this is the constituency I wanted because I grew up right in the middle [in Flamstead]. It’s kind of been built around my childhood home. I grew up virtually at the geographical centre point, so it’s a dream for me. It’s the opposite of new, it’s home, and actually that gives you a huge advantage because it just means it’s so much more fun.”
So he’s enjoying the campaign then? “Oh God I love it!”
That is in spite of the short-term backlash he faced because his public affairs firm GPlus entered into contracts with the Russian government in 2006.
“I think one of the things I found which I didn’t expect is that there’s more that unites us than divides us, and there’s no real place for personal attacks. I’m very grateful that people stand for other political parties because it’s really important that the arguments happen and that people participate. But there’s a lot of toxicity out there, which is not very British really, you know. I would never launch personal attacks on my opponents. I welcome them to the game.”
It hardly seems only a few months since he was selected to run in September, but during this time the political landscape has shifted towards the inevitability of a General Election later this year.
“I don’t think it will be in 2025. It’s basically May or October, potentially November,” he muses.
“There’s already a Reform candidate, there’s already a Lib Dem candidate, we’ll get a Labour candidate soon and the Greens will definitely stand, so it’s all becoming real, and that focuses people’s minds.”
Just before Christmas local Tories were dealt a bloody nose when Lib Dem Allison Wren took the county council seat of Harpenden Rural, overturning a 1,580 majority, but Nigel is not unduly concerned by the result.
“I think it’s quite difficult to draw conclusions because the turnout was only 23 per cent. I actually think what happened was that traditional Conservative middle ground voters didn’t go out and vote, so the challenge is to persuade the people who went out and voted Conservative in 2019 to come back and vote again.
“It’s not that they’re inspired by Starmer or anybody else, they just don’t feel inspired by the Government’s record, be it on the NHS or tax, so the challenge is to bring them back into the fold.
“But it’s hard to motivate people. There are a lot of reasons why people are not going out to vote for the Conservatives. They are disillusioned voters, but they’re not going out to vote for someone else.”
Having spent time knocking on doors in the run-up to the by-election, he has a good idea what issues people are passionate about.
“They’re really concerned about the NHS and how hard it is to get a doctor’s or dentist’s appointment. For me that’s square one. There has to be easy access to doctor’s and dentist’s appointments.”
The challenges faced by the NHS are also very much in the forefront of his campaign: “When I was growing up, there was virtually no childhood obesity at all. Rates were tiny. Now about 30% of the population is obese, which means the NHS is spending more money on treating the consequences of obesity than on all the different kinds of cancer treatment combined. It’s quite extraordinary. The challenges facing the NHS in terms of people’s lifestyles, diets and obesity are huge.
“There’s no party in British politics which wants to wreck the NHS, it’s part of our DNA. It’s never been perfect, but it’s been getting worse and worse. I think what the pandemic did was push a lot of people towards virtual consultations, but I think people should have the right to an in-person consultation if they want one. We have a lot of evidence from the medical profession that you can miss clues by not having an in-person consultation.
“People should not be foisted off with virtual consultations because they’re quicker. They’re not the same. It should not be a battle to get a GP appointment. I think the British people are very sensible in the way they use healthcare. They don’t rush to the doctor’s unless they really need to. But it is our NHS, we pay for it, and we need access. It’s non-negotiable.
“I’d actually be in favour of writing standards into law. We have minimum standards for a whole load of public services so I think you need to be guaranteed a doctor’s appointment.”
He said many of the people he has spoken to are also very concerned about tax and potential rises.
“There are many more people paying higher rates of tax than there were before, and they’re worried about this, especially in a cost-of-living crisis scenario. I don’t think higher rate tax patterns are the way you motivate people to work, so I want to see lower taxes as a priority.
“But I think tax needs to come down in a sensible way, and you should think about the tax take rather than the tax rate. You can’t have unfunded tax breaks. You can’t have unfunded expenditure on public services. You can’t do anything without a competitive, productive economy.
“Personally, I feel that lower taxes stimulate business. Higher taxes do the opposite to people’s desire to set up businesses and make money, whereas low taxes are the way to a competitive economy, which is what enables you to fund good quality public services.
“You can’t take the NHS into the future without an economy which is capable of paying for it.
“We know there are going to be tax rises under Starmer. We know there’s going to be VAT on private school fees. Now I was lucky enough to go to private school [Nigel attended St Albans School], but it was very, very difficult for my parents. It was a real struggle and that extra tax would have broken them.
“It isn’t just about parents who send their children to private schools. If you send your children to state school there’s going to be more pressure on places because you’re going to have all these parents who suddenly can’t afford private due to the VAT. For me it’s an ideological tax which won’t raise income but will put more pressure on the state, so there’s no reason to do it.
“In some ways it shows me the reasons why people shouldn’t be tempted to vote Labour.”
Although he was born in Slough, Nigel’s parents returned to St Albans when he was a child, and he first lived in Chiswell Green before moving to Flamstead when he was six, attending Aldwickbury in Harpenden before St Albans School, and eventually winning a place in Oxford.
Now living in Redbourn, he’s a short hop, skip and a jump from his High Street cottage to the Queen of Herts tearoom – based in a Grade II listed building and priding itself on “lots of old charm and style” – which has become a regular haunt for the would-be MP, and serves as the venue for our interview.
Nigel is naturally very keen to protect the countryside he grew up in, and prevent it being developed for housing as part of the proposed St Albans Local Plan.
“There’s a lot of chaos locally about housing and I don’t think the [district] council’s been very transparent about what it’s trying to do.
“Here in Redbourn it will join up the village with Hemel Hempstead, and that’s miles away!
“People are very angry about it. I remember Redbourn before the bypass was built, when there was countryside everywhere.”
As part of his campaign, he is calling for Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty status to be given to the countryside around Redbourn, Wheathampstead and Harpenden.
“This is not because it solves all your problems, but it really does give you some extra powder to fight development on the Green Belt. I’m proud to be a NIMBY. You can vote for me as a NIMBY or you can vote for Starmer who says he’s a YIMBY. I don’t want development in my backyard. I don’t want housing joining Redbourn to Hemel Hempstead. I just don’t want it.
“This country has changed and the demands for housing have changed. What I don’t understand with the Lib Dem district council is why they’re insisting on following yesterday’s rules. Why do you want to prop up a policy that destroys the Green Belt, when we have within our grasp, if we work together, a policy that protects the Green Belt? It’s almost like they’re on the other side of the fence. That’s what I don’t understand. I want them on my side of the fence in a cross-party bid to protect the Green Belt, as I’ve seen far too much of it lost during my lifetime.”
He is referring to recent changes made to the National Planning Policy Framework, in which Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove set out reforms to the planning system which were aimed at preventing unnecessary Green Belt development.
“Of course people need houses to live in, but there are other solutions rather than building on the Green Belt. We can free up the housing market by reforming stamp duty, for example. There are a whole range of policy options you can use to free up the housing market and make it easier for people to get on the property ladder.
“Simply sticking a load of homes somewhere doesn’t guarantee anything anyway. They’re not going to be cheap, they’re not affordable, nor are they the kind of homes that the demographic wants.
“What is built is driven by the profits of the house builders, not by the needs of those who need to get onto the housing ladder. There are ways of freeing up the housing market to provide opportunities for everybody to do what they want without concreting over the Green Belt.”
The sandwiches have been cleared away, and the teapot is empty, but Nigel requests a refill and suggests we share a slice of flapjack. He’s in full flow now, so I am keen to keep the conversation going, but further refreshments are obviously in order…
He returns to his central theme of people and place, and why his connection to the constituency is so important, but also reflects on how the inevitable General Election will be fought.
“For me this is about people and this is about party, but it’s also about place.
“Many generations of my family are from here, I grew up here, I know this place and it’s the only place I want to represent.
“I think if you’re going to be an MP you have to be there on behalf of your party, but you also have to be there on behalf of your people and the place and feel a real connection with where you represent. I just think it’s absolutely essential.
“I say to people that they might not feel like they want to hear from the Conservatives, and given events in Westminster I can understand why. Things went very badly wrong in Government. What happened over Partygate was unacceptable. But that is not what this election is about.
“The Conservative Party is now under new management, and Rishi Sunak is a professional, committed, middle-of-the-road, common-sense Conservative, which is what I am.
“He takes the job seriously. He’s a bit nerdy, he reads the papers, he’s a bit like me, I’m nerdy. But details are important in politics, and I think over the next six months things will get better and he will start to make his mark.”
The thrust of his political campaign is opposition to Labour, rather than the Liberal Democrats, despite their local upswing, because he feels preventing a Starmer government is the key objective to ensure a Conservative victory.
“The Lib Dems are never going to form a government. If you vote Lib Dem, you will prop up a Starmer government, and that means all the things we’re talking about in terms of a £28 billion tax bombshell, VAT on private school fees, and all the other things you may not want to see from a Starmer government.
“We will face a Reform candidate here, but all voting Reform will do is let in the people you don’t want to let in. If you vote Lib Dem you’re letting Starmer in, if you vote Reform it’s essentially the same result.
“So do you want middle-of-the-road, common sense, local Conservatism, or do you want a taxing, super state Starmer government? That’s the choice people face in the General Election, the Lib Dems are neither here nor there.”
In the next few weeks, every household throughout the Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency will receive a leaflet setting out what sort of MP Nigel Gardner aspires to become, and there is a key message running throughout which serves as a perfect coda to our interview: “I’m standing on the basis of common sense. I think people want common sense. They don’t want ideology. They want responsible, middle ground, common sense.”
