With all the votes now in - here's the summary:
In nine hours the polls open. Whatever happens tomorrow we will all receive what we deserve. I have learned so much, and gained a few friends along the way. Friends that don't want to take. It has been an inspiration, and that in itself is enough. I would strongly recommend anyone who is true to their thoughts, and their thoughts bring them to public office, to go for it.
You can't mess with the size of the billboards in Watford. Then again you could mess with the Newsnight "focus group" from Watford that managed to edit the feedback from the group they had assembled on Independent candidates as having no chance of influencing the debate in parliament. It makes me even more determined!!! The propaganda is unbelievable....but we can overcome it.
There is one fundamental difference between this picture and that of the previous post...see if you can spot it :-)
The campaign camper visits Hitchin, Letchworth, Cambridge and Huntingdon, and calls in on Ian Tyes and his campaign manager/friend Gus (picture). This shot is taken by Jules Sherrington, who did a great job at the PCS Huntingdon Hustings later in the evening (photo to follow). The truth is irresistible and the Jury Team's advantage of Independent thinking in Parliament at this time is it's USP and undeniable....
Great coverage on radio cambridgeshire this morning for Ian Tyes, The East of England group, and The Jury Team as a whole. To listen to this great interview click HERE and fast forward to 1 hour and 40 minutes into the two hour show. Enjoy! Great example to us all Ian...
It's ramping up over the bank holiday! Jules has been taking the camper where no independent candidate has been before up until today - when Ian, his friend Gill and the Shezer took the Van on the run to Cambridge. Here we see Ian converting a respectable duo to the Jury Team message in time honoured leafleting fashion. The power of this type of campaigning can't be underestimated. Each individual has access to many multiples of other voters. Five minutes explaining things can mean five or ten votes come the day of reckoning - more when talking to the really disenchanted. With the team of supporters in the East of England growing daily we really are giving this a good old go! Well done to the team....the Vantastic journey continues after the bank holiday. To all other independents - 1 hour is a long time in politics - let alone eleven more days...we CAN do this!
I'm posting a new poll - now that the last one has expired (with an overwhelming 100% of visitors voting for MP's only being able to claim for expenses 'exclusively and necessarily incurred in the course of their employment'). This time I'm changing things up a bit, and talking about the process of voting itself. If you're picking this up through a feed then you'll have to visit the blog to see what I mean, if not - just scroll down and place your vote - we're listening already :-)
This is Leon Benjamin - I met him for the first time today after talking a bit on skype and via email and what a pleasure it was. Leon's "two word" core process (click here for more info on core process) is "unlocking truth" - so, for those of you that know me, you can see why we would have hit it off! Leon is a truly INDEPENDENT thinker, and we had a great discussion about the big things in life, and interestingly he helped me unlock potential visions for true open and transparent democracy (2.0:-) that the Jury Team has the possibility of provoking as it grows in the consciousness of the public. Funnily enough, he might have ended up sneaking into the broadcast due on the 28th as an "extra" - but WHAT an extra - thank you Leon for your support!
Hilarious! Now the other parties - especially the conservatives - are claiming innovation in terms of solutions to the complicit greed in behaviour in the house of commons. The Jury Team came up with these solutions months ago - and here they are claiming it for their own - oh how the fearful lie to save their necks! Here's the toe curling audacity on film
Well the official launch of the Jury Team went well, and (I hope) the appearance of Esther Rantzen (who I chased all day yesterday) seemed to be of great benefit. It certainly meant nearly ALL the terrestial channels were there, BBC, Channel 4 and 5. I hope it doesn't overshadow the powerful message that underpins the Jury Team - and that it is seen favourably, and that it's not just about whether Esther will run to be MP of Luton South or not. It's a funny thing really, as Independents agreeing to the Nolan Principles we stand for ideals, and for not compromising on those ideals, and yet here we are leveraging celebrity for the PR it gets. I suppose when you have a "why" you can stand any "how", but I hope the power of the truth isn't in fact lessened by the Trojan horse of using Celebrity to get a message across. I managed to pass her my number stating I'd love to discuss Luton South (as it does fall into the Eastern Region), but I was fighting for her "airtime" with the BBC interviewers at the time so I'm not sure if she heard - I hope so...
It's going to be cosy on the campaign trail....I hope it's got WiFi. I cannot stress how wonderful it is to have independent candidates coming together to support each other's efforts to make a difference in politics - regardless of the outcomes for the individuals themselves. When united behind a truthful cause amazing things can happen. It's time to elect people like Jules (on the right) and Andrew (on the left) that don't want to take, but are happy giving just as much. As Andrew (Parker) was filming the whole experience I'm hoping all my media training from yesterday comes in handy...we'll soon find out I guess - watch out for the video on the Jury Team SocialGo website
All the campaign printing and signage arrived this morning after a very kind donation from Peer Teeuwen. Peer - it looks amazing - thank you!
Maximum respect to Martin Searle in campaign central for getting the SocialGo Jury Team site up and running - for all things Jury Team it's fantastic! My blog here, automatically gets posted to the News tab in the website there - 'nuff said - check it here
Well that was a lot of fun - I got to meet 25 other Jury Team candidates and compare notes and swap ideas, as well as seeing the campaign office and team in full flow. Lots of great energy and enthusiasm from the centre. Very reassuring. We also met Martin Bell (who incidentally ran as an MEP in the East of England back in 1993 - I'll post a picture soon). Ian Tyes (2nd on the electoral list) and I asked (rather cheekily) whether he would endorse our candidacies. We also got to talk to camera a fair bit, some of which will hopefully be included in the Jury Team's National TV political broadcast - currently scheduled to run on the 28th May...I think I'll need to get an agent at this rate! :-D
The Jury Team have kindly offered up some media training today - so I'm just off to Pimlico. I'm hoping this isn't as a result of my rather inauspicious appearance on Newsnight last week....they say others have been invited - but maybe that was just to make me feel better....
I've been advertising on the w4mp website for anyone who has similar values and ideals as myself and the Jury Team, to voluntarily support us with the campaign. After a couple of weeks of responses and meetings I'm pleased to introduce you to Gibson Ikanone. A charming man, with a deep shared passion to remove social injustice, and a sense of the bigger issues that prevent those in positions of responsibility and influence from addressing those things that the electorate want their politicians to deal with. Gibson has pledged to support the campaign over the next couple of weeks. You might find the two of us travelling the region in the campaign camper (see earlier post) convincing the electorate of the need for political change.....thank goodness for people like Gibson!
The Party's Over....
...I've been doing more printing than usual with the campaign literature and all that, so I just took my printer cartridge to the local re-fill centre because it had run it's course, and the very helpful chap behind the counter advised me that I was asking him to refill a "starter" cartridge. I asked him what the difference was to a normal cartridge and he said it's the cartridge that the manufacturers, (all of them apparently), include in the "starter" pack. It only contains roughly one third of the ink in a normal cartridge. However, for all other intents and purposes it is identical to a normal cartridge. I'll let you work out just why the manufacturers would do this, and what it means in terms of refill costs, the need for different size cartridges for the same machine, the environmental cost etc, but more than anything I realised that someone somewhere decided that this was a good idea (maybe for commercial reasons), and that as soon as one manufacturer did it, others followed. And apparently this is a fairly NEW phenomena. More compromising on integrity, and complicity in that compromise - it frankly permeates almost every aspect of our lives.....must stay positive, must stay positive, must stay positive, must stay positive.......
Sorry about the quality of the photo - but this is Stephen Fry launching the new awareness raising website Vote Match in the Apple Store in Regent Street about two hours ago. Despite Stephen being born and raised in Norfolk, I missed the opportunity to advise him that I was aiming to be one of the MEPs representing the region in the next European Parliamentary elections (he wasn't around for long). Anyway, it was a great chance to meet up with a few other Jury Team members - namely Reza Tabrizi of London, and James Lowey from East Midlands. They're both doing some great things with their campaigns - it was really good to see their energy and commitment. Keep up the good work chaps! I'm off to Blog Stephen now....oh and try Vote Match out for myself. You might like to try it, or forward it to others, it's a great tool for getting people at least intrigued, if not more engaged with the whole election/political agenda. Click here.
I attended my first official "Question time" event as an MEP in Southend on Friday evening. The Public and Commercial Services Union had arranged the event, inviting candidates from all the parties, and advertising to their 300,000 members UK wide and through local media outlets. It was an interesting event. There were 15 people in the audience (half of which were supporters of the 6 candidates), so it was an intimate affair. Nevertheless it was still a heated event, with both candidates and audience members getting hot under the collar at times. As an Independent candidate most of the questions were not a problem to handle (especially if you get a grip of the local issues as well) - although I (and the Jury Team) did get attacked at one point over the diversity of our candidates. I pointed out that diversity of opinion from candidates all peddling the party line was not a strong position to criticise on, and when considering the 'open' primary nature of the list selection, the argument all but faded away. Overall, I'm not sure there were many 'floating' voters in the room, although I did get some encouraging feedback from Marion (the only non PCS union/candidate support person in the room), and she was particularly pleased when I was able to hand her a concise explanation of the Lisbon Treaty. I feel much more prepared for the Norwich event next week, where I'm promised a much bigger turn-out, (a Thursday evening rather than Friday I think helps). I encourage as many Independent candidates as possible to get along to these events, if nothing else they are great learning experiences.
Can you believe it!?! Loo seats, mock tudor beams, gardeners, the list is endless. Since when are hanging baskets "good value" for tax payers money. You cannot argue on ANY level that buying 17 silk cushions is in ANY way behaving in an honest way in line with the green book of guidance on claiming MP expenses (sent to each and every one of them every year!). This is all rather tiring isn't it. I know the claims are technically "within the rules" (rules incidentally created by the MPs themselves) - and I know that very few people are completely squeaky clean when it comes to expense claims - but this just appears to be collective complicity in greed, and another sign of the compromises politicians are making on their own integrity. If you want a change then vote for the Jury Team candidate in your area, as a core commitment of the team is honesty and transparency in behaviour. 
The national and local PR campaigns are about to kick off which will raise the profile of the Jury Team but I wanted to introduce you to the "Campaign Camper". Jules Sherrington - another Jury Team candidate in the East of England has kindly allowed the use of the camper van for the duration of the campaign. We plan to adorn the van with various Jury Team posters and messages, and use it to spread the message. We hope to be running a competition also with the voters, to get in touch with us when they spot the van in their area. So keep you eyes peeled. I'll post an image of it in all it's regalia soon.....
Vote? Me? Why?
Why? In the European Parliament laws are created that affect us all; government is governed and you can have your say on how that happens. I am an independent candidate standing for a post as an MEP because I believe in having a say.
I am not standing to forward my career, increase my prosperity or enhance my social status. I am standing because I believe that it is possible for the individual, speaking for the community, to make a difference. My background in business, and running a not-for profit movement that supports individuals and organisations to unlock their fullest potential, supports this fact. I believe in a Parliament that has a positive impact on all our lives and creates directives that are more meaningful. Directives that reconnect communities with each other and with the world around us. If the decision makers cannot do this, I will ask them to step aside and let those that can, get on with it.
I am passionate about education, commerce and the environment. As a father I struggle to understand why we accept that we can't get our children into the local schools we want and why our children have to feel an unhealthy anxiety and pressure to succeed. Why do governments really own stakes in the banks and use tax-payers money to pay for the failings of city fat-cats? Why do we accept the excuses as to why we can't cut our dependence on fossil fuels? And ultimately, why do we accept the inequalities in so many aspects of society when it leads to such divisions and terrible conditions? Why do we let politicians compromise our beliefs? It would be wonderful if we all took responsibility for our own actions, but that doesn't always happen. However, in government, it must. Those in government have an added responsibility that comes with the post. They have a duty to challenge the lies and the compromises that burden all of us. This duty I take seriously.
Current party political systems have turned politics into the reserve of a small and increasingly distant group of career politicians - politicians out of touch with the electorate. As an independent candidate supported by The Jury Team, my connection to the electorate is of utmost importance to me. The Jury Team supports as many independent candidates as possible in order to restore democracy and integrity to our democratic system. It is this independence that creates a voice for the electorate.
This blog is so you have direct contact with me. On it you may follow my campaign activity, review some of my specific policies, post comments and ask questions. This blog is not just a campaign tool, it serves as a real example of my ethics and beliefs; transparency, accountability, integrity, and a truly democratic government that reflects the beliefs and desires of the electorate. If these reflections resonate with you, make sure you use your vote on 4th June.
Vote for The Jury Team. Vote Andrew Armes. Vote to ask why.
The East of England region includes: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Herts, Norfolk and Suffolk
