It was a real pleasure to spend a sunny day in Crowthorne. Not only did I get to meet lots of people in the High Street, I also got to visit the food market and have the honour of judging the pie competition.

My hard-working activists and I set up our stand in front of the library at around 1030 am. It didn’t take long for us to hav met many locals who were Conservative supporters. Clearly, the local support for a future Conservative government was very strong. I then moved on to the food market where I got to meet many more Crowthorne residents, was interviewed by local school children doing market research for the event and got to sample plenty of wonderful local food. My final duty was to help judge the pie contest in the social club.

All in all it was a great day out. I hope the rest of the campaign is just as enjoyable!

Coincidentally, just prior to witnessing the great efforts of John McCormack and the skipping children of Sandy Lane Primary in Bracknell, I was asked by MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition….Do It!) to Chair a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Spring Forum in Brighton to discuss the serious implications of childhood obesity. The meeting at the Hilton was addressed by representatives of the medical profession, a former President of the Royal College of Nursing, a representative from the Fitness Industry Association and the Chief Executive of MEND. It proved to be a very interesting meeting, attracting over 40 attendees in the audience.

I was pleased to hear that the challenge of childhood obesity was now viewed as a key political issue. Originally set up at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, MEND is an impressive social enterprise which uses ‘evidence-based’ techniques to reduce obesity levels in the young. The cost implications of obesity across all ages are immense, so any interventions which can prove effective to address the problem get my full support.

On Saturday afternoon, I spent time on the square in Harmans Water. The local Conservative councillors took the opportunity to outline the impressive plans for the development of the square and nearby St Paul’s Church. Councillors Turrell, Pile and Kensall have fully supported the church’s plans for the area since the outset. They initially secured £18,000 of council funds to ‘get the ball rolling’ on plans to build a new church, a library, a community centre, additional housing and a police point. I was very impressed by the scale of the project and the undoubted benefits it will bring to the neighbourhood.

Today, I’ve been out campaigning in Harmans Water and Martins Heron. For lunch, we took sustenance at the Fish and Chip shop on the square near St Paul’s Church. A very good meal was had by us all. By chance, today was also my father’s sixty-fourth birthday and so we celebrated with a cake (kindly supplied by my outstanding agent, Mary Ballin). Not only was my father ‘chuffed to bits’ with his cake, my whole team went home very happy with the positive response we had received on the steps. People are clearly fed up with Mr Brown. Bring on May 6th!

Yesterday, I was invited by John McCormack, founder of “skip2bfit”, to join him at Sandy Lane Primary school in Bracknell. John’s great idea is that by introducing skipping events to schools, fitness levels amongst children can be raised and thereby improve their general health. As you can see in the photograph above, I did my best to join in with John and all of the children. It’s fair to say that the children’s performances with the ropes were easily much better than mine!

Last night, I was invited to attend a meeting held by the local branch of the Federation of Small Businesses. At a time when the local economy is struggling to survive through the recession, it was heartening to meet over 30 local businessmen and women who were still working hard to generate new business in Bracknell and the surrounding area. Being from a family of small business, I fully understand the present difficulties of maintaining cash flows and finding new customers. I spoke about the Conservative Party’s pledges to reduce corporation tax to 25% (and 20% for small business), remove NI contributions on the first 10 employees for new business start-ups and the goal to place 25% of government contracts with SMEs (small medium enterprises). It was a pleasure to meet everyone and I left The Bull Pub in Bracknell Town with a positive belief that, despite the present government’s economic ignorance, local business owners have the drive and wherewithal to survive this tough recession.

Last October, I was selected as the Conservative Parliamentary candidate at an Open meeting to which all voters in the Bracknell constituency were invited to attend. In the circumstances, the decision to hold such a meeting to select a candidate was a brave decision by the local Conservative association. It was, however, the right decision, as it was held in an attempt to address the problem of a lack of trust in politicians that had grown out of the so-called ‘expenses scandal’. At last weekend’s Spring Forum, I was asked by the Conservative Party Chairman, Eric Pickles, to speak to the Hall about the experience of the selection process here in Bracknell. I said the following:

“GOOD MORNING LADIES AND GENTLEMAN.

THANK YOU”

From today, I will be blogging my campaign to be the next Conservative MP for the Bracknell Constituency. Over the next few weeks, I will post regularly about my political activities in the constituency and elsewhere. Bracknell has always been represented by a Conservative MP and I intend to continue that long tradition by working hard to garner voter support from all parts of the constituency. If you want to help with my campaign you can either contact me by telephone at the constituency office in Bracknell, by email or via my campaigning site .

I am very pleased to report that on Saturday evening I was successful in being selected as the Conservative Party candidate for the Bracknell constituency at the next General Election. It is truly an honour to now be the PPC for such a fantastic constituency. My website is due for an update and hopefully by next month it will include features related to my up-coming campaign to become the next Member of Parliament for the Bracknell constituency.