I WRITE this letter from the perspective of having been a Conservative all my life and, for a time, a deputy chairman of the Forest of Dean Conservative Association.
Having attended the rally at Speech House to save our Forest, I find myself ashamed that our local Conservative MP Mark Harper did not have the courage to come and put his views to the meeting. Having recently attended a similar meeting at Cinderford where the Conservative county council leader Mark Hawthorne showed tremendous guts in facing a largely hostile audience on cuts in the library services, Mark Harper showed himself as someone more interested in his own political career than with the issues concerning those he is supposed to represent.
While as a minister, Mark may not be free to tell us exactly what the Government is planning for our forests, he could have attended to reassure those present that he understands their concerns and would fight to protect their interests. Instead his absence scored a political own-goal in an event that was specifically promoted as being not political!
No wonder questions are being asked about whether Mark is losing interest in the Forest because his party has lined him up for a safer seat elsewhere in the future?
It is all very well Mark saying that people should stand back and wait to see what is actually being planned for the Forest before they get up in arms but to do so would be madness as, by that time, the power will rest with the minister to make decisions without having to make reference to Parliament. The parliamentary process demands that people make their feelings known now – otherwise it will be too late.
I was also a little surprised to find at least two Conservative district councillors at the rally, who only a few days earlier had voted with their party against action by the council to seek an exemption for the Forest from the Bill. This hypocrisy raises serious questions over whether they were elected purely and simply to do the bidding of their party or to represent those who have elected them. I understand from comments by their leader Peter Amos that there is no Conservative whip – assuming this is true, one has to ask why they voted as they did if they truly love the Forest, as I believe they do?
While I remain a committed Conservative and member of the party, this does not mean that I necessarily agree with everything that the Government or the party does. However, I hope I would always honour my beliefs by making it clear exactly where I stand.
I would urge others to do the same.
James Winship
Alvington