UPDATE: Interview with Conservative candidate...

Philip Milton, Conservative candidate for North Devon speaks to Adam Wilshaw from the North Devon Journal during the 2010 general election campaign.

IN THIS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW:
- Electing a Tory MP will be good for North Devon if there is a Tory Government, he says- “I could have sorted out Northern Rock in a weekend” claim- Anti-sex education and abortion message -Attack on “Lib Dem legacy” for North Devon- no "received wisdom" on climate change, claim - Emphasis on local credentials- Candidate is well-off now but was born poor and worked hard- Cameron is a great leader because he surrounds himself with talented people and “appeals to ladies”- Labour and Lib Dems are for “over-powerful” state sector, he says

Question: What sort of questions are people asking you on the doorsteps of North Devon?
The biggest campaign issues are the NHS, where I have had the most practical experience possible, so I’m pretty much an expert in that quarter.

The economy in its various guises is very crucial as well; we have got the unemployment factor and in North Devon one of the lowest average incomes in the whole of the country, below £15,000 a year, which is linked to affordable housing to buy and rent.

On the doorstep people are telling me, as much as I've worked it out for myself, that its now been two decades when we've had a Lib Dem MP and we've not had the ear of Government, we've not had influence in Government and really we should be able to have seen some of the influence he has been able to wield.If anything, economically, things have got worse.

The last statistics are poorer now in terms of unemployed adults; we've got the poorest record in the whole of the Westcountry.

We had fuel poverty figures; 7,700 homes in North Devon in fuel poverty, and Tiverton and East Devon have almost half the figure we have got.So the question is: what has our Lib Dem legacy generated for us?

You can be a very pleasant chap and do constituency work, and I will work just as hard, but I don't think it's naive to believe it's part of your job to actually influence change, improvements to the economy, bringing business here and so on.

This is what people are asking me: why is it we haven't had any progress? Even such things as water bills and so on.

The water companies were privatised in 1989 and the Lib Dems have had a stranglehold of the Westcountry for most of that time so why haven't they been able to influence change so SWW billpayers haven't got to pay the highest water rates in the whole country?What's the problem?

Even on the search and rescue, where service is being cut, there are only two bases where a service cut is going to happen and both are in Lib Dem constituencies.

People on the doorstep are also saying they're fed up with professional politicians; they're fed up with the sleaze; they're fed up with the expenses scandal.I've said that's one of the reasons which encouraged me stand.

It's the first time I've ever stood for elected office in my life and my experience is not in professional politics; my experience is in being a truly a local community person and that resonates tremendously with the electorate, particularly because I'm the first truly local candidate of either of the two main parties for the best part of 60 years. Thankfully we haven't got any sort of mega scandals on the expenses front down here because I don't think it would be very good for North Devon, but our MP was the Lib Dem spokesman on the parliamentary committee that oversaw MPs' expenses and so from that perspective people are thinking...but there is this impression they were holier than thou.

Question: You have always made much of the fact you were born in North Devon and have always lived here; it is a central plank of your campaign. In political terms what advantage does being born somewhere have in terms of skills and aptitude and things which might help you when you become an MP?
We haven't sported a truly local candidate for the best part of 60 years. I am steeped in North Devon and am passionate about North Devon.

I love the countryside and I was brought up in the countryside on a small-holding. I was born in the heart of Barnstaple in a relatively-deprived area.

My mother's family go back centuries in the middle of town and to Marwood and I've got relatives in South Molton connected with the Kingdon family. My father's family are from Atherington going back to the 1700s. What extra thing does it give to me?

I think it gives to me a connection with the people here and I appreciate that anyone who has come from without knows how welcoming indigenous North Devon folk are but it gives me a feeling for this constituency that somebody from away won't have.

It will give me the ability to communicate with people from North Devon.

I am an ordinary local man from an ordinary background who with the support of people here will endeavour to do extraordinary things in parliament.

There's something that says I can be something North Devon can be proud in, in that North Devon is what moulded me, what produced me, what gave me the opportunities, which taught me, and my business was founded here 25 years ago.

If you like: an inspiration to other people in North Devon that the ingredients are here and you can aspire. I'm not saying I'm something super but hopefully it will give inspiration to people.

Question: You are local but you are also unusual in that you are in relative terms much wealthier (from your businesses and properties) than the average person in North Devon. Can you really claim to be a man of the people?
It's quite interesting because our Lib Dem MP attended a private school and the Conservative candidate had free dinners at school because we were very poor.

My parents were extremely hard-working and used to foster children to help make the money go around, so we didn't have any holidays, we didn't have any grand anything.I left school at 16 partly because my parents couldn't afford for me to go to college.I went straight into work.

I know what it's like not to have any money.I worked hard and studied hard and have secured since two degrees and an MBA, and other qualifications.

So I've got higher level qualifications than Vince Cable for example and more experience as well.I've taken big risks in my life, borrowed money on the house I shared with my dad to buy the office in town and many people said that was very high risk but I took it as a calculated risk.

Then I was able to borrow more and buy the next project and so on.I believe people will agree I'm a very hard worker. I drive myself very hard.

We live in a hotel. I don't live in some grand country pile. It is a functioning hotel.When we had to re-open it my wife and I were there on Sunday service to try and get the thing going.

Question: You are arguing it's a wise vote for yourself and the Conservatives because you believe it's more likely the Conservatives will form the next Government so then you'll have the ear of Government. The Lib Dems is saying that argument is empty because the region was, in their view, ignored during the last Conservative administration. They are saying if there were kingmakers in a hung parliament they would have more influence than a new backbencher. What are your thoughts on their arguments?
A hung parliament is a strangled parliament. It's where no decisive action happens at all.Our country is in such a financial mire.

If we get a bout of uncertainty which is what a Government without an overall majority would give us we will be downgraded and we will find all this £1.5 trillion of debt this Government has committed us to, we will be paying through the nose for that.As you become a bigger risk as a borrower you pay a bigger rate of interest.

The pound is likely to slump even further than it is; all of our imports will cost us a darn sight more.If anyone thinks that a bout of uncertainty, which is what you'd get with a strangled parliament, is a good thing they really need to have their head tested.

The Lib Dems would love to feel they are the ones to wield an influence but I can see swathes of the South West going blue this time.

A Lib Dem MP and a Lib Dem minority opposition is not going to wield the influence at all.

Question: All the arguments being made are being made as public perception of MPs is at a rock bottom low after the expenses scandal. Many electors are saying MPs are a "bunch of crooks". What can you do as an MP to help improve the battered state of our democracy?
First of all I would say not all MPs are crooks. The system was atrocious.

One of the first things I said to many was for goodness sake could they not have created a system that was simple, clear, practical, but instead they had this system which didn't discourage as bad as fraud but it encouraged the problems we are now facing and it's just unbelievable.

I have pledged absolute transparency in terms of expenses. I would love to be able to place some practical, business-minded, administrative solutions to some of these issues.

I know how you have to do your accounts. I know how you have to file all your receipts.Far too many professional politicians were divorced from the realities of life and this expenses thing was the last scandal of this divorced entity.

Question: That all relates to questions of trust. Looking at people who have criticised your leader, David Cameron, who have said he is like a highly-polished brand and perhaps doesn't offer anything other than empty rhetoric, he was a marketing wizard, he's been called things like a smoothie-chops, and he's almost like the Conservative answer to Tony Blair. Where's the heavyweight political substance?
Two big difference between Gordon Brown and David Cameron: the greatest leaders in the world surround themselves with very capable people, people who have the capacity to challenge their position so are therefore threats.

The worst leaders surround themselves with people who do not pose any challenge at all and are therefore lightweights.

If we use that simple analogy.If we look at Gordon Brown and see who is there who challenges him?There's probably only one and that's Peter Mandelson; he ain't going to be prime minister but he is a very clever, manipulative, Machiavellian person.

If you look at David Cameron, and he's a very clever person by the way, who has he surrounded himself by?William Hague, very capable, very clever man. Ken Clarke. Where's John Major? Yes, he's around, he's in the background.

He's got Liam Fox. David Davis. Iain Duncan Smith, who has done brilliant work on social justice.Tony Blair is and was a fantastic performer.

When Tony Blair came in he probably liked to see himself as an Obama. When Obama came in my concerns were so much hope was riding on his shoulders that it almost became inevitable that people would be disappointed. My vote would have gone for Obama because I believe America needed that hope to pull them out of things and he is delivering.

Tony Blair came to power anti-sleaze, well that was temporary. He came to power in 1997 with one of the biggest majorities but thank goodness he didn't drive through some of the policies he could have gotten through with that majority because it would have been very detrimental to our country.

I think that's why people's hopes were not met. Because he didn't perform as he should have been.I know people say "poor old Gordon, it's not his fault, it's the set of books he inherited from the previous chap". Who was that? I think he was called Gordon Brown.

Yes there's been a tsunami which has affected all the world but this was Mr Prudence; what a joke.Then they were like a rabbit in the headlights when they were faced with some of the economic problems.

We should never have had Northern Rock go bust. I would have sorted that in a weekend because I knew what the problems were and this is just me reading the news.And how many weeks was it took them?

And by then the whole thing had imploded because you had queues of people desperate to take their money out of the building society. Confidence is all-important in the economic world.I would defend our leader absolutely.

He has charisma. He's got an appeal. He appeals to ladies, women, as well and I can understand why, and I don't mean that in any obtuse sense.

Question: Can I ask you about the history of your own political beliefs? Have you always been a Conservative? Were you an admirer of Margaret Thatcher and her policies?
I suppose even at school I was interested in community, I was interested in society. I've continued that.

I'm not shouting, I'm raising my head above the parapet and I'm prepared to be shot down.

That's me; that's the principle that drives me.

I did become a member of the party because someone in my local village called around to collect a token subscription from my dad who was poor but he always believed in the principles of independence and looking after yourself and having a crucial safety net for those who need but not everybody which it seems to have moved on through a dependency culture, where the state tries to make everybody dependent upon it, which saps self esteem.

I was not a participant. For 42 years I lived in Georgeham and you get to know the local people and so I would go along to the AGM and might go along to a fundraiser to show my token support.

In about late-1990s I used to go along to the executive. In about 2000 Angela Browning came to address our meeting and it was interesting because they had done some research and the sort of person you need to find as a candidate for North Devon is somebody who is local, successful in business, someone who is involved in the local community.I thought this is quite interesting and agreed with this.

I suppose I started to get a bit uncomfortable because I thought she was talking about somebody like me. It is now some ten years hence that I am the candidate

Why? I have a young-ish family, I love North Devon, successful business, I don't need to do these things. Why am I putting my neck on the line?

There is something that has driven me. North Devon has made me. North Devon has moulded me. North Devon has enabled me to have the business success we have.If I can give something back that is the driver of me. I'm a Christian socialist if there is such an expression.I'm not saying that from a stance of piety.

Question: Are not many of the claims being made by the parties during this campaign entirely vacuous? Who in their right mind who argue for "more waste", "more unfairness", or "false change"? How can you persuade us there is something behind all these slogans?
I suppose in a way if you've never been in business and not had a real-life job, that is why you have a state bureaucratic machine that is profligate when it comes to spending other people's money.

I refurbished the oldest property on the Strand, the Old Custom House.That was a labour of love.

It cost me a sum of money to repair that building I'll never get back.I'm not saying it was a foolish decision. It was a calculated decision and I get business referrals from it, in other words it's all part of the PR machine, but I didn't do it for that reason. That is now a very successful restaurant; I don't own that, I still own the building.

I want that regeneration of the Strand to continue.

If you fill the House of Commons with people who haven't had that real life experience, is it any surprise if they love spending thousands and thousands of other people's money?

Question: There has been endless to-ing and fro-ing about which party would be able to make the most breathtaking efficiency savings, but don't parties always promise to cut waste during elections and never manage to do it?
Labour, Lib Dem believe in an over-powerful state.They believe in state intervention of everything.

They also believe, well-intended, that this dependency culture is an important thing.My belief is if somebody is starving you feed him a fish but then next week you give him a fishing rod and teach him how to fish.

The socialist, Lib Dem tendency is we better come back next week and give him another fish and another and another, so you ground out of him any capacity to provide for himself and for his family and to be able to be an economic unit.

At the present time, 52% of our so-called economic growth is generated by the state sector. Anybody with any common sense has to appreciate it's the private sector that generates the money that has to pay for everything else.

Question: Some economists and some on the Labour side are warning that any moves to cut public spending drastically or too quickly could lead to a worsening recession. What are your views on that?
I've tried to think of a practical analogy for this and I don't know whether alcoholism is a good one because first of all you have got to get to the point of acknowledging there is a serious problem, and I don't think the Lib Dems and I don't think Labour are prepared to acknowledge there is a very significant problem.

The Conservatives have said there is a humongous problem here. We are talking about a level of debt which the man in the street doesn't comprehend and doesn't appreciate how big it is because it hasn't really affected most people.

If they've got a mortgage they're actually paying the lowest mortgage rates they've ever paid.One out of four jobs are state jobs so they're doing extremely nicely.

They are worried so they have been building up sums of money.But we are talking about interest on the national debt that exceeds the amount we spend on education

Back to the alcoholic; you don't suddenly say "right, no more alcohol today".There needs to be a weaning process.

The Conservatives have not said on the 7th of May there will be wholesale cuts all over the place.We've got to prove to the international community we mean business, whoever is in charge.

Question: In relation to that do you believe the state has a role in cutting poverty and inequality and how should we go about that in terms of welfare and education, for example?
I'm impressed with Sure Start and what they are doing. We have pledged to support the Sure Start initiative; we have seen a few things where we think the concentration of effort should be in slightly different ways. We have not said we are going to cut Sure Start.

Question: And tax credits?
We have pledged we are not going to change anything of that at all but I have got some practical solutions to make that much better for the state and also for the beneficaries.

It's an atrocious, demeaning process that also has caused so many financial problems to so many people because administratively it is a ginormous, horrendous system. I've got some simple ideas of how I could make this lot a lot more effective.

Question: Can I ask you about affordable housing?
It's a very serious problem. We've got horrendous shortages and they (Lib Dems) have been caught napping.

You are not going to resolve that overnight.Last year we had the smallest new build in peacetime since 1924.I've got some novel ideas to encourage greater private landlord involvement and I speak there as a social landlord, for my sins, where I have first hand experience and it's not all pleasant I'm afraid.

I would love to use some of that practical experience in creating a system which means there is a more effective use of vacant properties and private landlords are falling over themselves to participate in it because it's all about choice.

If you do a small thing to help keep one family unit stay together, that's one affordable home you don't need to create.

NOTE: Further questions were submitted to Philip Milton by email because our interview time ran out on the day...

Question: UKIP claims the Tories are out of touch with what ordinary voters think about Europe. What are your views on the EU and EC?
I am a Eurosceptic but it’s in Europe and not run by Europe which has to be the way forward.

If people vote for me, they will help elect a Eurosceptic MP and for a party which for starters has pledged to revisit the Human Rights Act, the Social Chapter and the financial agreement, as well as a pledge that we shall pass an act of parliament to demand a referendum for any time any more sovereign rights might even be considered for passing over to Europe.

Conservatives pledged to vote on the Lisbon Treaty, Labour and Liberal democrats reneged on their promise and signed us up regardless.Liberal democrats want a federal Europe and they want us to join the Euro and no referendum for us to vote on that decision either.

If voters want even more federalist ties with Europe, then if they vote UKIP in North Devon then they will help return a Lib Dem MP and five more years of Gordon Brown. He gave us the Lisbon Treaty.

Everyone knew that if we’d had a referendum the treaty would have been rejected overwhelmingly.UKIP promised to not field candidates in seats where the Conservative was a true sceptic but they have not done this in North Devon; if they are patriotic then they would stand down and throw their support behind a Conservative who will stand up to Europe and throw back legislation which is not in Great Britain’s best interests.

There will not be a UKIP MP in North Devon and there will not be a UKIP government in Westminster.

Every vote UKIP attracts will support pro-federalist policies of Labour and Liberal Democrats, the exact opposite of what I think is good for a great Britain and also the opposite of what they want for themselves.

I should add that I have been in business in various guises over the last twenty-five years so have suffered from the creep of Euro-regulation over that time.

I want to do something about it and only from within a party in government will that be possible.

I relish the individuality of nation states and so do the individual countries of Europe; that doesn’t stop us working together for mutual benefit.In fact, I shall press for even more joint trade should I become the MP and I shall use my financial and business skills to help me in that.

Many people point to climate change as the biggest threat facing the world and humanity today. Do you agree with that view and what do you make of those who claim global warming claims are a “conspiracy” or “con”?
Comment on energy policy is contained within our latest North Devon Matters. Whatever one’s view on it, we need to think long and hard about our dependency on some very volatile places in the world for our gas and oil and do something about it.

That, in itself, is being enough reason to ensure we have alternative energy and its technology at the rising forefront of development, as well as nuclear.On the subject itself, what I dislike amongst anything is that anyone who says ‘no’ is considered a heretic and that is not right.

A balanced debate on most subjects includes the extremes of opinion and in my book there is no ‘received wisdom’ which has precedence over any other.(Immigration is another case to note here and is it any wonder the BNP has grown – we weren’t allowed even to talk about it, even if we may have wanted more, not less, however unlikely).

In the 1980s, fears then were for a global freeze; were they all wrong?Man is influencing the climate, yes.

The extent and the tax cost of provisions brought in to tackle it? Excessive and often inappropriate.Sensible use of diminishing natural resources, yes.Insulation and more efficient technology, yes and make it cost effective and not instead a bureaucratic tax to comply.

Threatened areas of the world: we must take action to support and protect them, most are also very poor areas already.

We want to see a new coal-fired, carbon capture power station.We have 200 years’ supply of coal under the ground here.

Alternatives, micro-generation is a core Conservative policy, using local natural resources and with community involvement.The technology is improving all the time and the Atlantic Array will be good for North Devon as long as we secure the right political pressure to see maintenance and servicing coming here.Using our woods better is imperative as well and this improves the biodiversity within these woods – burning dead carbon (trees) is carbon neutral and one of the best ways to generate heat, being 40% of our energy consumption.

Conservatives are acutely aware of the threat posed to our way of life, our economy and our environment from dangerous climate change.From the very beginning of his leadership of the Conservative Party, David Cameron made clear that Britain must take a position of leadership on the global, as well as our own, environment.

Conservatives were the first party to call for a Climate Change Bill and worked hard to improve the legislation as it made its way through Parliament.We believe that if we act now we can pass on a cleaner, greener planet to our children.

Each of us as parents, grandparents, or simply as citizens of this world, owe that to the next generation.

But the Conservative approach isn’t about creating new rules, extra laws and higher taxes to make people live in a more eco-friendly way.

We won’t bring down carbon emissions by just telling people what to do; we’ll do it by making it easier for people and businesses to go green.That’s why we have developed policies to cut emissions and create green jobs.

These core strategies include the following with which I agree totally.Our green policies include: offering every household a ‘Green Deal’, not building the third runway at Heathrow, rolling out smart meters to every home, working with local councils to pay the public to recycle.

Locally, I am an enthusiastic encourager of alternative energy and indeed, we are undergoing our own review at Trimstone.

I am very keen to pursue the whole industry for North Devon for the opportunities it offers in terms of the local economy which remains so deprived after eighteen years in the wilderness of opposition and this could present some of the solution with more business here and better paid, permanent jobs from the development of the technology.

We have the Atlantic Array and desperately need the servicing and maintenance to come here but labour’s stranglehold on South Wales and a Lib Dem MP with no voice could lose us that tremendous opportunity.

On top of this, I am a great enthusiast for micro generation.

Question: You mention your religious beliefs during your campaign; how does your Christian faith influence your political thinking and the way you might vote on certain issues, abortion and sex education, for example?
I became a Christian at the age of eighteen and have been a member of Croyde Baptist Church for thirty years now.

During that time, I have been a youth club leader for eleven years, deacon, treasurer and then secretary for fifteen years and I was part of the visionary leadership team which saw a transformation in our church from a spare-time pastor to a part-time one, to the first full-time appointment for many decades and then on to almost two pastors.

I have owned Dove’s Christian bookshop/centre in Barnstaple for 22 years as my personal charity all that time, something I have really felt has been the faithful thing to do to maintain the facility for the Christian community.

I shall be pleased to vote for a reduction in the number of weeks in abortion cases, based on the evidence, likely to be twenty weeks.

However, my biggest principle will be to hope that we can reduce the number of abortions, that is the bigger fear to our country, and of course it is a reflection of the gross deterioration in our society generally.

Have you had a look at the Breakdown Britain report? It makes sobering reading.There are now 174 pregnancies to teenage mothers every day.

We have the worst record for teenage pregnancies in Europe.We have one of the worst records for relationship breakdown in Europe.

Conservative policies to start gradually to tackle these structural problems excite me: 4,000 extra health visitors (most breakdowns happen at the birth of a child), recognition of marriage and civil partnerships as a stable relationship base for society, the participants in them and for the raising of children and doing something about the benefit disadvantage whereby couples coming together see less benefits than those staying apart, for example.

These fulfil my Christian desires too.We Conservatives have the most family friendly manifesto for a very long time, of any party and through the policies we encourage, we hope that in time and with a concentration upon support for long-term relationships and for marriage principally, that we shall begin to make inroads upon the problems in this particular area.

I am against the rolling-out of sex education to children at an ever-younger age and despite the clear evidence of even more problems as a result of more sexual activity, liberal policy says instead that we must tell children more about it and not less; have they lost the plot?

Sex is being marketed as a product and far too little consideration is given to the implications (physical and psychological) of intimate relationships or indeed the destructive nature of promiscuity and unfaithful liaisons.

People are not objects to be used and abused at will.Find me a single parent who, however hard he or she is working and succeeding in raising the children, wishes the same circumstances upon those children or find me a 12 year old who would vote for a series of eclectic casual relationships in life with partner after partner as opposed to a stable long-term relationship hopefully for life.

I appreciate that does not mean every marriage succeeds but in society liberal ways have begun to suggest that to aspire to married stability and mutual commitment is abhorrent and that is oh so wrong.

The church has much it could teach secular society now.However, at the moment, we need to fight this war in small steps as otherwise, society will lose the battle altogether and we are all paying the price in so many different ways.

What else does my faith drive me towards? Care for the weakest in society, fairness and equitable treatment, protection and particularly of the vulnerable, helping those in need and with problems, assisting other countries in need and indeed, ensuring our international aid and development is practical, effective and committed, using diplomacy rather than aggression if at all possible, looking for solutions and not strife in all situations, encouragement to independent living and self-esteem and not dependence upon the state as a way of life, opportunity for all.

However, I am an independent mind and no pushover.

My faith also gives me a confidence of a support network which has nothing to do with politics and indeed, there are Christians across the main parties in Westminster and I look forward to joining with them, even if we have different views about some things.

Question: How will electing you improve the lives of people in North Devon? Can you give any concrete examples?

We need an MP in Government, with the ear of the cabinet and influence to wield change.

If after two decades in charge as the MP I have not made inroads into some of the strategic problems we have in North Devon, I should consider standing down because I should feel I have failed.I shall work with the Conservative district council, county council and other South West MPs to bring influence to bear.

I plan to use my real-life experience to attract more business to North Devon and to build what we have.I have committed myself to business life here by investing very heavily and creating jobs as well as making improvements to properties, etc; what has our MP done in terms of committing his own money and efforts to projects?

How many jobs has he created by his hand and energy and how much risk has he taken to achieve that?I want to see the creation an alternative energy science park here in North Devon, building on the work already happening and attracting more here on the back of what must be a servicing contract for the Atlantic Array.

We could lose this to Labour South Wales if we don’t get proper influence in Parliament and soon.Tourism is crucial to North Devon.

I want to see more and especially the shoulder months and out of season.

To demonstrate my commitment, I have been at the thick end of the industry, with our own hotel, experimenting and investing with all forms of marketing and techniques, at our cost and a significant investment and I shall use this practical experience to boost visits and their value.

I am steeped in farming, having been raised on a small-holding. I have been listed as one of the few candidates with in-depth agricultural experience and I shall look forward to using that in Parliament.

I have among the highest levels of financial qualifications in the country, with more qualifications and greater practical business experience than Vince Cable so I should like to believe too I can use this to help people by participating in the design of effective savings and financial products to improve their lives.

Being a financial adviser in my own firm for quarter of a century means I know the intimate details of North Devonians’ finances and so I know where the pain is and where improvements can be made.