Damn and blast. I was quite keen on becoming the Conservative candidate for Hammersmith, but the timing isn’t going to work. My hope was that the local association would delay advertising for a candidate until next year, at which point I would have thrown my hat into the ring. Unfortunately, they’re keen to get someone in place straightaway and I have too much on my plate at present.
That sounds like an excuse, but it isn’t. If the Conservative candidate in Hammersmith is to have any hope of overturning Andrew Slaughter’s 3,500 majority, he or she must devote themselves body and soul to the fight. Slaughter has no life outside politics — no wife, no children, no career to speak of — so he will be able to spend every minute of the day on the campaign. He is ruthless, tireless and implacable. It will be like going up against the cyborg in Terminator 2.
I quite fancy playing the John Connor role in this drama — he’s the saviour of mankind, in case you’ve forgotten — but I just can’t do it at the moment. As the chairman of a charitable trust that has set up two free schools and will shortly be opening a third, I already have a full-time voluntary job. The trust is currently advertising for a CEO and once he or she has been appointed I might have a bit more time on my hands, but that process will take time and, if we don’t get a strong field of applicants, I may have to apply for the job myself. There are 420 pupils in both schools at present, with a further 210 arriving next year, and my first responsibility must be to them.
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