Worlds Apart (23 page)

The prayer ended and finally the hustings began. As we were sat in alphabetical order, I was first up to give my opening statement. One of the first things I said was
that my background was not political, but was varied, and I mentioned the fact that I had experiences with running a business, being in the British Army and being a governor at a special needs’ school. I noticed a few eyebrows rise when I mentioned the army. I also told them I was born and bred in the area, came from an impoverished background and understood the local people and communities. I have come with fresh ideas, I said, and have ample energy to work together and build this town into one of the best in Britain.

Then it was on to the questions. Our answers were limited to one minute, after which a red flag would come out from one of the pillars at the back to tell us to stop. That was when I realised that my answers were too long; that the best parts were being cut off by the flag.

The first question was about poverty and how we would resolve the problem. Thankfully, they started with someone else this time, and we weren’t going in alphabetical order for each question. It was good to hear other people’s views on the matter, since what they said would spark other points that I could add to my answer. Some of the candidates talked about food banks; others talked about poverty in Britain.

I had collated some stats for these questions, and told the audience that 27 per cent of children in Rochdale live in poverty. I scanned the audience and noted that
I had caught a few of them off guard, perhaps because I was the only candidate who had localised the answer and, even though I didn’t live in the area, I knew about Rochdale.

The next question was on the environment. I could tell by the looks on the candidates’ faces that they didn’t have much info at hand on this. I have to admit, I wasn’t very well clued-up on it either, which is why I had extracted Budget figures on investing £200 million to make cycling safer, £500 million to ensure every car is zero-emission by 2050 and building new flood defences to protect 300,000 homes. None of the others could challenge my figures as they hadn’t got any of their own. My opening remark was about the wind farms in Rochdale, which I now realised they all hated, but it at least made them engage with me.

A question was raised from the audience about Islamophobia and hate crimes in Rochdale. There were a few answers from the other candidates before my turn, some of whom said that there wasn’t a problem and that we lived in a cohesive community. In my opening statement I said that there obviously was a problem, otherwise the question would not have been raised. I also added, which I do strongly believe, that the media has a lot to do with it, and that we needed to challenge the way the media puts out its news.

The final question was based on the NHS and health-care. This was the most complicated for me as, to be honest, all the party policies for the NHS seemed to blur into one another and nothing rang true. If I just regurgitate facts and figures like the others, I thought, nobody will remember me – as it was the last question and I was the last on the panel to answer, I needed to make an impact.

I decided to speak from the heart. I started by saying that I had seen many political parties go into government with different strategies for sorting out the NHS, but for some reason it was not working. I told the audience about my background in project management, and about the many times that clients had asked for the job to be finished earlier. This was never possible because each project has a fixed timeline and a process that can’t be shortened, no matter how much money or what resources are thrown at it.

‘This is exactly what we are doing with the NHS,’ I continued. ‘We are trying to fix the problems within a term of government, which is not working. We need to take the NHS out of politics and give it a ten-year plan. Regardless of what party gets in, we continue to work on the project independently to ensure a robust system that’s good for the people, rather than a political party.’

The heads began to nod in the audience, and then the red flag was up. I managed to squeeze in my last
sentence: ‘The next best thing is to give another term to the Conservative Party so they can finish the job.’

The applause was amazing, and I knew it wasn’t because I was suggesting that we give the Conservative Party another term, but because I said we should take the NHS out of politics. Afterwards I had Labour voters coming up to me to tell me that, though they would never vote for me because I was Tory, they thought I talked a lot of sense about the NHS. I stayed for a while longer, mingling with the locals, then headed out of the church.

The journey back to London that evening was tiring, and I was emotionally drained from all the adrenalin of the hustings. To my surprise, one of the imams from the earlier meeting had invited me to another hustings. It was scheduled for a week’s time and amongst those in attendance would be ‘influential Muslims, community leaders, businessmen and women’s groups’. It was to be hosted by the Muslim engagement and development association.

As I entered the community hall on the night of the event, the first thing I noticed was that the room was about 95 per cent Muslim, and around two-thirds of the people were under thirty years old. I was soon approached a couple of young Muslim men who wanted to discuss my party policies, but they refused to shake my hand ‘as it
wasn’t Islamic
’.

As we took our seats I noted that UKIP had not been
invited for some reason. So it was just four of us: myself, candidates for Labour and Lib Dem and an independent candidate who had broken away from Labour.

I sat next to Simon Danczuk, who had a copy of the National Front leaflet with him. I did a double take when I saw the front cover: a picture of me, along with a few other Asian faces, with the slogan: ‘Don’t Waste Your Vote’. Surely, I thought, this can’t be allowed!

Not surprisingly, the first question put to the candidates was about Islamophobia. The Lib Dem candidate stood up and started his response by saying: ‘
As-salamu alaykum
… It’s the only Urdu I know.’

I laughed to myself. ‘
As-salamu alaykum
’ was Arabic, not Urdu.

Later, questions were thrown at us from the audience. The sex-grooming scandal was first on the agenda, again unsurprisingly. Most of the questions were directed at Simon, but then one man stood up and accused him of publicly linking the rape of white girls with Pakistani men. He of course defended himself. People’s expressions started to turn to anger as they accused Simon of stirring up racism within Rochdale’s Muslim community as a result of comments he had made to the media. How appalling, I thought, nothing could be further from the truth.

‘You should have been protecting us! … Why are you sat there laughing?’ The shouting went on.

I sat back and listened. The commentator tried to steer the audience away to another, more national question, but the audience kept coming back to this same issue. It was how they were being perceived, every minute, every hour, every day in Rochdale that mattered most right now.

I’d thought that life with the SAS would be rough, but I was quickly learning that the world of politics could be rough too, especially when racial issues came to the fore, as they were clearly doing here. There’s no doubt that my SAS training toughened me up mentally as well as physically, and made me ready to fight my corner. I can only imagine the kind of horrendous pressures the leaders of the major parties have to contend with.

Whatever the results in Rochdale and in the election generally, as I look to the future I realise what an invaluable grounding my experiences here have given me if I am to pursue a career in politics, as I most certainly intend to do.

I’d chosen a tough seat to fight and a tough area to fight in, but I don’t regret that for a moment, and I’m proud to have had the opportunity to fight for the issues I believe in.

For me, this was just a beginning.

I
AM INDEBTED
to my agent David Grossman, without whom this book would not have been possible.

My thanks go to all my close friends whose enthusiasm and encouragement made writing this book a rewarding experience.

Finally, a special thanks to the army, the recruits, my trainers, Mike 22 SAS (my mentor in the army) and my colonel.