Initial feminist impressions on local Parliamentary candidates

Tonight was the Parliamentary hustings in my town, with the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative candidates invited to answer pre-selected questions from the audience. There was a small gang of U.K. Independence Party campaigners attempting to form a picket of some sort at the entrance, who contented themselves with handing out leaflets - I didn't see any of the Green Party candidate's campaigners anywhere.

I may or may not get around to writing up the evening's comments more fully, but there were a couple of points that I did want to mention.

The only female candidate in this constituency is the Labour candidate, Lorna Blackmore. In her closing remarks, she mentioned that the last female MP in this area was elected in 1955; she also made a point of listing the percentages of female MPs in each party: 27% of Labour MPs are women, she said; 14% of Liberal Democrat MPs and just 9% of Tories.

I had emailed yesterday a list of questions, some focussing on social issues (surveillance issues and unemployment), but most focussing on sex-positive issues. I was able to have a conversation with Ms Blackmore about the first of these issues, the decriminalisation of prostitution. Ms Blackmore was very pleasant to talk to about it, and admitted to feeling ambivalence because of her Christian beliefs (she feels that prostitution is wrong and would rather it didn't exist). However, accepting that it is unlikely to disappear for good, she and I talked about harm reduction strategies: she apparently favours a licensed brothel scheme, believing that to be the best approach. I wasn't fully prepared this evening to debate the issues surrounding that, but I suppose there is hope that with reasoned argument she might be persuaded to accept the full decrim. platform of organisations like ECP and IUSW.

She and Chris Bowers (the Liberal Democrat candidate) both told me I could expect their replies to my email in the next week or so, so I'll have more info on their take on sex-positive issues then.

(NB - I was tired when I wrote this originally and accidentally put the Green candidate's name, David Jonas, instead of the LibDem candidate - oops!!!)

The other candidate present this evening was the current MP, Conservative candidate Charles Hendry. (I haven't emailed him this election, because I have written to him as a campaigner on these issues before, so I feel I have a good idea where he stands on them.) What I want to mention here are some of his opening statement remarks. I do feel he was playing to the gallery a little here, because the hustings were organised by the local church alliance and so a lot of those present were members of the local Christian community. However, I do know (again from reading his literature and from contacting him on occasion about these issues) that he was genuine in his stated beliefs.

I think I managed to record this verbatim (writing longhand as he was speaking, but definitely got most of it):

"Abortion is too often used not as a last resort but as a form of contraception. Abortion should be one of the most difficult and traumatic decisions." He voted in favour of the proposal (that was defeated, thankfully) to reduce the time limit on abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks (and then again when they went for 22 weeks, which also failed) , and said that he was proud to have done so. He certainly made noises to position himself as the "pro-life" candidate (also opposing assisted suicide).

I just want to repeat what he said about abortion: it should be "one of the most difficult and traumatic decisions". How creepy and evil does that sound to you? It chills me to the bone, that does. I'm kind of used to hearing that shit from USAian rightwing bigots, but to hear it in my own country is - well, it scares me.

Make no mistake, people of Britain: this is still what the Tories are.