The Croydon Constitutionalists are delighted to announce that the Brexit Alliance London Assembly Member David Kurten, Harry Fone Grassroots Campaign Manager for the Taxpayers’ Alliance, Izzy Montague a Croydon mum and Christian who challenged a local school over forced ‘pride’ celebration and Sean Finch Libertarian Party candidate in the Lewisham East by-election, will be speaking at our live event in Croydon on the 18th September.
‘Freedom of speech…. just watch what you say…’ will be a
series of speeches from free speech advocates followed by a Q&A.
Our freedom of speech is being eroded by both government and private institutions, come and support this event and our fundamental freedom!
Further guest to be announced soon. Put the 18th September in your diary.
Supporting pro-Brexit candidates in our area. The Croydon Constitutionalists caught up with Yasmin Fitzpatrick Brexit Party PPC for East Surrey.
Yasmin has worked for the NHS, as a language teacher and a television executive at Channel 4. In East Surrey she is up against the existing MP Sam Gyimah.
You’ve worked for
Channel 4 and in Education, this doesn’t seem a likely background for a
candidate for the Brexit Party.
There are so many myths about voting Brexit and the Brexit
Party itself – I hope I can explode a
few of them!
There are people in television, in the NHS, in schools who voted Leave – but they tend to be in a minority in the public sector and in the media, even though they tend to underestimate their own numbers and they honestly fear for their jobs if they say openly how they voted and what they think. I know from personal experience that Remainers can be extremely intolerant in the workplace, especially where they feel they are in the majority. They can make things uncomfortable for people who do not agree with them and do not uphold freedom of speech in practice, often demonising opponents by branding them as racist, stupid or misguided.
“Recently, someone high up in television whispered to me that they had voted Leave and begged me not to tell anyone – so of course I won’t – but I’m sad that we can’t feel free to express differing political opinions”
One of my concerns is that political discussion in general has coarsened: people attack the person, rather than their ideas when they disagree. Recently, someone high up in television whispered to me that they had voted Leave and begged me not to tell anyone – so of course I won’t – but I’m sad that we can’t feel free to express differing political opinions, because that’s how we test out and refine our own thoughts and opinions.
Many of us think of
somewhere like Channel 4 has a metropolitan group think, is that fair or
unfair?
I think it’s fair to say there’s a bit of ‘metropolitan bubble’ in some of the bigger cities. Certainly in London, we have grown used to hearing little or nothing from anywhere else in the UK. Many of the people I know when asked, confess that they have never spoken to anyone who says they voted Brexit and so tend to make assumptions about them based on what they are told by other people in the same bubble. When they talk to me, they concede that I’m not racist or stupid – so I must be sadly deluded!
Journalists, with a few honourable exceptions, and news outlets generally, do have a lot to answer for when it comes to peddling myths and prejudice about people who voted to leave the EU and spend little or no time talking to or generally engaging with them. I am always impressed when a Leaver pops up on Question Time or in a news item: they invariably speak out in ways that surprise, inform and often impress listeners. If BBC, ITV and Channel 4 news over the recent period had fairly and impartially represented the 52% of the electorate who voted Leave in their news coverage, I doubt we’d have had the misinformed hysteria we witnessed on the streets over the weekend.
And it would be good to hear more from all those elected MEPs from the Brexit Party!
What first got you
involved in politics?
I grew up mostly in Belfast, even though I was born in
London and lived for a few years in Germany when I was a child. I lived on a
Loyalist housing estate in Belfast and my Irish grandfather was in the Orange
Order, although my mother was passionately anti-sectarian. My father was a
Muslim businessman, whose family had had to flee India during Partition and had
arrived in Pakistan with the clothes they stood up in. So I had a lot to be curious about. I got
involved in left-wing organisations and activities that allowed me to
understand and move beyond my own immediate experience.
The Brexit Party was an easy choice for me: increasingly, I have seen what used to be the left in Britain become increasingly intolerant and irrelevant when it comes to standing up for freedom of speech – and now for democracy itself. Increasingly, they talk to themselves.
The left effectively abandoned Labour Party voters who wanted to leave the EU and then condemned them for it. That’s what finally confirmed to me that the old left/centre/right divisions are now irrelevant – but so are the old left/centre/right political machines, who make policy over our heads, with scant regard for their own supporters.
I’m in the Brexit Party because firstly, I want the wishes of the majority of the electorate to be enacted and leave the EU; secondly, I want to help build the kind of political party that will represent the people in their constituencies, at a local, national and international level, without deferring to a party political machine. Will that happen? I hope people join us and make sure it does!
” I also want to make sure that I help reconnect political decision-making with the people, so they can get on with their lives, knowing that their opinions are respected and their concerns properly addressed.”
You’re standing
against Sam Gyimah, someone we’ve organised our own events to protest
against. Any thoughts on your opponent?
Well, I respect Sam Gyimah for sticking to his principles – but if he is not even prepared to support his own Party’s commitment to leaving the EU, as set out very clearly in their 2017 manifesto, I think he needs to consider his position. People often feel they can’t trust their politicians to speak for them when they reach Westminster: I have no commitment to advancing the interests of a party machine at the expense of the people. I have no private agenda for self-advancement at all costs. I simply want to honour the decision people made in the EU Referendum and help bring that political and economic dividend home to all of the the voters in East Surrey. I also want to make sure that I help reconnect political decision-making with the people, so they can get on with their lives, knowing that their opinions are respected and their concerns properly addressed.
What are your
thoughts on East Surrey Politics?
I’m not sure that it’s a great idea for politicians to feel
that their seat is so safe, that their majority is so large, that they can take
the electorate for granted. I obviously think it’s time for a change: important
local matters will also form part of my campaigning – more about that
later. I also want voters to tell me
what they think matters: let’s see what
we can do locally, alongside the national election campaign.
What surprised you
most about getting actively involved in politics?
I was incredibly impressed when I met many of the other
prospective parliamentary candidates who got through the rigorous Brexit Party
selection procedures. Such a wide range of lived experience, from every region
and from every walk of life. People who spoke with passion and intelligence
about the need for a politically independent UK. People who genuinely cared
about the future for their locality and region, as well as the UK as a whole. And
people who are open to and tolerant of others.
Being involved in the Brexit Party also currently means working a lot of things out as we go along. Party policy is still in development and we all need to be involved in that – remember, the Party as currently constituted has only been in existence since April – but you can’t rush policy making. For us, it’s not about making promises we won’t keep once the elections are over – that’s what has contributed to the erosion of trust in politicians and politics more generally.
If you introduce or
repeal 3 laws (other than for Brexit) what would they be?
I’d prefer not to make policy on the hoof at this stage.
I’ll be looking to defend personal freedoms, hold politicians to account, try to ensure that the many different voices
of people in the UK are respected and that people are treated fairly.
Any other thoughts
you want to leave us with?
Boris Johnson has played some good moves against his political
opponents. But BEWARE! If you voted to leave the EU, don’t be side-tracked in
the coming weeks by any reheated May deal offerings, with or without the
backstop. I’ve looked at the Withdrawal
Agreement – there are at least four reasons why we should reject it and walk
away without a deal:
1. we would not be able to develop new trade deals whilst in
this ‘transitional period’ and that
period could go on indefinitely;
2. despite remaining in the EU, we‘d have no right to vote,
no voice in debate and no veto over existing or any new legislation;
3. we would continue to be hit by EU rules and those billions
of pounds of EU membership fees;
4. To add final insult to injury, it isn’t clear whether we’d
ever be able to leave the EU without the consent of the 27 other member states.
No, non, nein!
I say, Vote for the Brexit Party to ensure we walk away from
bad deals, keep up the pressure on Government to build a political and economic
future under our own control and hold all our politicians to account both now
and after we leave. A tall order!
Londoner Peter Sonnex has been just been announced as the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Brexit Party in Croydon South.
Peter, an Army Veteran and London bus driver, will contest the constituency in the next general election standing against Conservative Chris Philp MP.
“It is as humbling as it is daunting to be selected as the PPC for Croydon South. The outpouring of local support has been extraordinary for an ordinary chap not used to being thrust into the public eye – but, I am ready – now is the time to stand up for ourselves and our democracy”
Peter Sonnex
Serving in the Falkland Islands, Bosnia Herzegovina, Iraq and elsewhere, Pater is a former Chief of Staff at the Royal School of Military Engineering. Today he drives a double-decker London bus, as part of a glidepath to what was going to be a quiet retirement in Biggin Hill. Peter likes to say as a former bomb disposal officer “if you see me running, do your best to keep up…”
“I am delighted Peter is our Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Croydon South. He brings a wealth of real world leadership experience from some of the most challenging environments as a Veteran, and none too few insights now as a London bus driver. He has been a selfless representative, one way or another, for most of his life; his is ready to represent Croydon South.”
Ben Habib MEP
Keen to support any who puts themselves up in favour of a real Brexit. The Croydon Constitutionalists spoke to Peter to find out about the man who might represent one third of our borough.
Peter thanks for the interview….
You spent many years serving in the army, any good stories from that time?
The enduring service and sacrifice of extraordinary young men and women will stay with me forever. I am still not sure, even in the aftermath of two World Wars, that the public at large really appreciate what it means to send volunteers – very deliberately to this day – into harm’s way in the UK national interest. I am very encouraged by the establishment of a department for Veterans Affairs in Whitehall. Access to housing and healthcare should be genuine priorities for local authorities if we are truly to show we value our Armed Forces and their families.
That’s the serious bit! The Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst is where all Army Officers are trained. It is where we learn that we have to Serve to Lead – eating last and looking after the soldiers we are given the privilege to command. Sandhurst is also where the vital sense of humour is honed, led by the Senior Non Commissioned Officers: Pointing animatedly at an officer cadet, an SNCO said, “There is something nasty on the end of my pace stick, sir” – “Not my end, staff” came the cheery, but seriously misjudged reply…!
“No rules with no predictable response to any given action was hugely unsettling. This was a graphic example of what the absence of democracy, tolerance and respect for the rule of law looks like.”
You’ve been stationed in the Falkland Islands, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Iraq, what surprised you most about each place?
You say stationed when extreme camping may be a better description. As Military Engineers, we may be called upon to build accommodation where there is none for our troops, beginning in the past with the bar! In the Falkland Islands, we began with poncho shelters, pitched tents to be ripped apart in gale force winds, and once we had built weatherproof containerised barracks we moved on to the next windswept wilderness to start all over again.
During 7 months in Iraq in 2003, I spent 3 nights with a roof over my head, albeit in one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces in Al Basrah. Bosnia and Herzegovina was rather different: feeling like rural southern Germany; a short flight away; and, Europeans like us, but gripped in the most awful tribal conflict. Stark was the absence of rules or proportionality with barbaric inhumanity displayed on all sides. No rules with no predictable response to any given action was hugely unsettling. This was a graphic example of what the absence of democracy, tolerance and respect for the rule of law looks like.
What first got you involved in politics?
I have been largely apolitical for most of my life. If pushed, I have described myself as a social democrat with no natural home to the left of centre. I have really been driven to serve my soldiers, Her Majesty’s Government and the will of Parliament whatever the flavour. I have been deployed on operations under Conservative, Labour and coalition governments. Things unravelled a bit in Iraq in 2003 when I was unconvinced our dogs of war were being unleashed as a last resort. The Foreign Secretary and Minister for International Development had resigned and we were woefully inadequate in fulfilling our obligations to the people of Iraq as the Occupying Power. Please don’t get me going on the Chilcot Inquiry, Public Interest Lawyers and the Iraq Historical Allegations Team… I served as an official in the MOD in Whitehall under Labour, coalition and Conservative Governments with only minor challenges to accommodate principles and party political lines, but there were some…
Really, I am only now engaging with politics because an overly heated and emotional debate over Brexit (what else would divide families) with my son ended with him saying, “so dad, what are you going to do about it?” Well, I could take to the streets with my Guido Fawkes mask – yes, I do own one! Given the Brexit mess, I felt compelled to attend the Brexit Party launch in Coventry and the rally in Birmingham the following day – in part to see what they might be about. I signed up to be a supporter and be considered as an MEP candidate for the EU Parliamentary elections.
My EU application was rolled over into the vetting and interview process for prospective parliamentary candidates. From over 4000 applicants and over 1300 interviews, I was as surprised as anyone to actually pop out the other side as a Brexit Party PPC.
What do you think is next for Brexit?
Well, if I was to trust our political leaders, I would have said the question should be moot. How many times were we told we would be leaving the EU on 29 March 2019? Or, that no deal is better than a bad deal? We are now being told we are leaving on 31 October “do or die, deal or no deal”. There are, I fear, many more painful weeks of political shenanigans to come before any of us actually know what is next. Personally, I think it is further humiliating delay and more chaos only slightly ahead of leaving without a deal. Throw in the prospect of an election and your guess is as good as mine…
Be clear though, if the PM commits to and delivers a clean break Brexit by 31 October, if asked I will step aside as a candidate – putting country before party.
Dealing with a remainer incumbent who voted for the Withdrawal Agreement is another matter, but that will be for Boris and Nigel to figure out…
What are your thoughts on Croydon Politics?
Trust appears to be a whopping issue. Trust in politics and trust in our elected representatives needs to be restored; they serve us, not the other way around. Housing and public transport appear to be ever-present challenges for Croydon. House building numbers hide poor design, small rooms and overdevelopment producing “slums of the future.” Transport links through Croydon South look enviable on a map until you overlay delays and poorly planned and announced engineering works.
I am always going to be on the lookout for exemplary implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant, supporting our Armed Forces and Veterans locally.
What surprised you most about getting actively involved in politics?
It really gets personal, and fast!
It doesn’t look efficient and effective from the outside. It is even less so on the inside… Beyond the restoration of trust, there are plenty of things that require reform – mostly to achieve less government and less politics.
“I would look at anything that may be holding back entrepreneurs and wealth creation. We must educate ourselves, train and innovate: it is what made Britain Great!”
If you introduce or repeal 3 laws (other than for Brexit) what would they be?
As a representative, not a politician – my first duty would be to listen. Then, if I said I was going to do something, I would actually do it. Now wouldn’t that be new! You are pressing me, so. I would look at anything that may be holding back entrepreneurs and wealth creation. We must educate ourselves, train and innovate: it is what made Britain Great!
The corollary is to ensure tax revenues are better distributed to provide a level playing field across the Borough to provide inspirational and aspirational education, first class healthcare, community services, social services and public transport.
Thirdly, there are the emergency services, law and order. We should all enjoy a protected and safe environment – one in which we learn to respect each other and the intervention of authority when necessary.
What do you see as yourparty’s route to electoral success?
Well, who can you trust? I cannot find anyone who doesn’t think we need to change politics for good. The career politicians and the political classes have never been more out of touch. Let’s do something about that. Let’s feel properly represented.
We have incredible prospects as a sovereign, independent nation able to do whatever we want in the national interest in relation to our laws, borders and money. It is in our national interest to be outward looking, reaching out to our European friends and those in the Commonwealth and the rest of the world. It is in our national interest to protect the oppressed and the disadvantaged at home and abroad. The UK Aid budget must be used effectively in the UK national interest.
Any other thoughts you want to leave us with?
I am exhausted, and we aren’t even in campaign mode. But, I am ready! And, I am building a great team.
Peter thanks again for agreeing to be interviewed by us.
I am ready to stand up for democracy as the Brexit Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Croydon South. Let's change politics for good. pic.twitter.com/uCKR3gWAXO
— Peter Sonnex ? #Unlock ? #Reclaim (@SonnexPeter) August 28, 2019
TPA Town Hall Rich List reveals massive 6 figure salaries paid to fat cats at Croydon council.
Despite a bumper salary of £212,000 for the Chief Executive we still have an ’Inadequate’ Children’s Services department, a Westfield Shopping centre development going nowhere and ongoing bin collection problems in Croydon.
Croydon Council has been a calamity in recent years, but even more shocking we pay a king’s ransom for senior staff that often hinder rather than help the front line.
“Many locals are outraged that council bosses are receiving six-figure pay packets whilst front line services are in disarray. Council tax rose by four per cent last year and many will wonder where taxpayers’ money has gone. Spending on council fat cats needs to be brought under control immediately.”
Harry Fone the TaxPayers’ Alliance’s Grassroots Campaign Manager.
In Selsdon we will be asking people to sign an open letter to the leaders of all political parties in Croydon, asking them to agree in future that no newly appointed council employee will earn more than the Prime Minister. We have made contracts with those already in post, but surely we can all agree, with all its challenges running Croydon shouldn’t pay more than running Britain.
Members of the Croydon Constitutionalists
and TaxPayers’ Alliance’s staff will be available for interviews and photo ops
on the day.”
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Michael Swadling or email at [email protected].
We discuss Boris Johnson’s first weeks as Prime Minister, the implications for Brexit and his interesting Cabinet appointments. Mike talks about DEMOC, a new local campaign for an elected Mayor of Croydon and we reflect on our recent Taxpayers’ Alliance Street Stalls, our upcoming event in Selsdon and our next Leavers of Croydon social in Purley.
With reports of MPs engaged in talks on plans to amend parliament’s standing orders allowing the House of Commons power to block a no deal Brexit. Sputnik spoke with Michael Swadling from the Croydon Constitutionalists.
“the MPs effectively are in their last chance saloon with the people they are meant to represent, they have to get out on 31 October, and I think most MPs when it comes to it, will realise that”
“the thing you do when the vote comes out, and you’ve not won, is in my experience go up to them, shake their hand, and you accept the democratic outcome. These MPs are only prepared to accept when they win”
“Labour simply don’t understand the <working class> people and areas, and they fail to understand why people might vote for Brexit, and why people feel passionate about their country”
Michael Swadling from the Croydon Constitutionalists reflects on whether there are any chances of this to happen and what a no-deal Brexit would mean for the UK.
“It’s an appointment; we didn’t elect the President of Europe, we don’t know what manifesto she ran on, I don’t know where I can run to get rid of her, it’s an appointment, the EU is not a democracy and it’s really important to underline that.”
“if the EU changed the withdrawal agreement that gets us nowhere, if they just sat down and said you’re a free and sovereign nation, let’s talk sensible terms, then we can get somewhere.”
“They are globalists; I think many do not believe in the nation-state, they do not believe in Britain, they don’t have the confidence of the people who elected them, unfortunately, they’ve proven themselves to be a bunch of liars.”
