04 Jun 2024
If there was any question about the importance of winning the new constituency of Harpenden and Berkhamsted in the General Election, then last Friday’s visits to Harpenden by two political heavyweights are undoubtedly the proof of the pudding.
Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey and Home Secretary James Cleverly were both in town to support their candidates Victoria Collins and Nigel Gardner in the race to win the seat.
But the visits took on the air of a great British bake-off with Sir Ed taking part in a school cookery club while James was presented with a tray of cakes for his security detail.
Sir Ed joined Victoria and St Albans MP Daisy Cooper at High Beeches School to launch the Lib Dems’ new free school meals policy, which involves extending them to all primary schoolchildren, starting off with the 900,000 youngsters living in poverty who currently miss out.
All three took part in the school’s half-term holiday camp Baking Buddies, making lemon ricotta cheesecake with some of the pupils before carrying out interviews with the media scrum present for the occasion.
Ed told the St Albans Times why he wanted to give his personal support to the Lib Dems’ Harpenden candidate: “I’ve known Victoria for quite a few years now. She’s a massive campaigner. She particularly wants to be a champion for Harpenden and Berkhamsted and I think she’d do it.
“Her commitment to the NHS and care, the fact she’s a really strong campaigner on the environment, she’s really been campaigning hard against the scandal of sewage in local rivers, I think she’d really be a breath of fresh air for people here in Hertfordshire.”
In recent visits by prominent Conservatives – including the Tory Party Chairman and the Deputy Prime Minister – they have been pushing the message that it will be a fight between the Tories and Labour to secure the seat.
Asked why he thought this was the case, Sir Ed replied: “They’re clearly worried about the Liberal Democrats, aren’t they? I think anyone in Harpenden and Berkhamsted knows that it’s the Liberal Democrats who are the threat to the Conservatives.
“They’ve seen the local council results, they’ve seen what a great Liberal Democrat MP there is in St Albans, and they’ve watched what a brilliant champion she is and they want a Liberal Democrat to champion Harpenden and Berkhamsted, and and they know that Labour can’t win here so they’re backing us.”
Later that afternoon saw Home Secretary James Cleverly giving his support to Tory candidate Nigel Gardner, including his new bid to re-open Harpenden police station to report crime, and his ongoing campaigning over free parking and VAT on independent school fees.
James highlighted the recent election of Jonathan Ash-Edwards as Herts police and crime commissioner as proof the Conservatives’ plan to have 20,000 extra police officers on the beat, and tackling anti-social behaviour and retail crime was making a difference in communities like Harpenden.
“I want to make sure that we get Conservatives elected right across the country. Nigel’s got a very energetic campaign, he’s really put himself out there and he’s putting his ideas forward and I’m really happy to support him. This is a lovely part of the country and it’s got many, many, many, wonderful advantages but you need a local champion to protect the things that need protecting and to fight on behalf of local people.”
Like his fellow ministers before him, James pushed the same message of the Tories vs Labour: “There are only two parties that have a credible chance of forming the next government. One is the Conservative Party, and any other vote, whether it’s the Lib Dems or Reform or Labour means the indecisive flip-flopping Keir Starmer who can’t even stick to a plan as to who is or is not going to be the candidate for Hackney [referring to the recent row over Diane Abbott’s selection], and if he can’t make decisions like that, how on Earth is he going to make serious decisions in this period of uncertainty? And that’s the choice.”
The controversy over removing free parking in Harpenden has become a massive election issue in recent weeks, something James feels reflects an anti-car mentality by the district council.
“If you look at the attitude towards people that need to drive, whether they’re driving to take children to school or whether they need their car to get to the shops or to visit family, you can either recognise that for many, many, many people a car is a necessity or you can try and squeeze all the money you can out of them and it’s that differential attitude that I think people really notice when it comes to General Elections.”
Nigel reiterated his fears over VAT on school fees: “Private schools are a major employer in this constituency, but the policy will hit state schools as well because they haven’t got the extra places they’re going to need to find.”
James agreed: “This is the thing that people need to understand. It’s not just about the private schools or the students that go to those private schools. The big famous internationally recognised private schools might be OK, it will hurt all of them, but they might be OK.
“But there are lots of local private schools that will probably not be able to survive, and if heaven forbid the Labour Party were to win the General Election, they’ve said they’ll bring this policy in immediately, which means there will be private schools that will not open in September this year, and if they go under there will be no VAT income anyway.
“Then suddenly state schools will have to pick up those additional students, unplanned, unbudgeted for.
“They will literally lose money on this. It will hurt education, all education, including the state sector. It will cost them money rather than raise money. It’s vindictive. It is driven exclusively by the politics of envy. And as we’ve seen with Keir Starmer’s constant flip-flopping over Diane Abbott’s selection, it’s driven by his desire, his need, to placate some very, very hard left voices with his own party.”
Does he think Nigel is going to win? “Yeah. I mean, it’s going to be a fight, there’s no two ways about it, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
Before being whisked away for another appointment in Wimbledon, the Home Secretary took the time to meet with local Conservative activists and take a walk down the High Street, picking up some cakes from Gails which Nigel had bought for James’ protection detail: “The unsung heroes of this General Election,” as he referred to them.
The high-profile appearances came after two new polls indicated vastly different results come July 4.
Projections by pollsters Britain Elects, predicting the results should the election have taken place last week, showed the Lib Dems securing 35 per cent of the vote in Harpenden and Berkhamsted, the Conservatives in second place with 33 per cent and Labour trailing behind with just 15 per cent.
But the website pollingreport.uk painted a very different picture, with a Tory victory at 31.93 per cent, Labour runner-up at 31.46 per cent, and the Liberal Democrats way down on 23.63 per cent.
There should be little surprise then to see Victoria and Nigel welcoming prominent politicians to the constituency, although to have a party leader and senior Cabinet minister visiting the town on the same day was perhaps unusual even for this ever-so unusual election.
