Good luck!

Excellent news, Craig. Let’s hope that you can get the message out and are not drowned out by the party machinery that will be wheeled out against you.

If you’re elected I may even start to read Hansard online.

Nice one Craig.

You’d get my vote dude.

Dear Craig. If you go on the stump without fully recovering from malaria, Cameron could be looking for a new father. I admire your enthusiasm, but you now have a responsibility of Fatherhood. Please take care.

Good luck Craig – I am sure the good people of Norwich North would be proud to have you represent them. Do let us know how we can support you in your campaign. Best wishes

I just used “out” three times in a single sentence. The only sentence I can think of offhand that also has “out” three times is “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, out, out, OUT!”. Let’s hope that’s a good omen for the election.

The people of Norwich North would be very fortunate to have you as their MP – I hope they come to realise this.

And you are a ‘Scot’ who believes in Scottish ‘independence’.

Utter vanity.

Good luck!

I’m from Norfolk and my family is, too. We intend to spread around the anti-English comments you made recently, you nasty little prick. If you think you’ll win a seat here, you’ve got another think coming!!

Good news. Good luck.

So you expect the people who you described as the “stupid English”to vote for you?wont any one in Scotland want you to stand there?………no thought not.

Given the current climate, I’d say it’s good as in the bag, Craig. Well done. Your “content” is already excellent – imagine if you had the House of Commons as a platform!

@Craig

” I am a lifelong Canaries fan.”

Oh, now the dirty little secrets come out…

But, seriously, good luck!

R

I hope you won’t be as crassly insensitive as your predecessor, Ian Gibson, who saw nothing wrong with proudly flying his country’s flag – the Scottish flag – in his English constituency and moaning that he wished he’d never left Scotland.

I have some fervent opposition already. Great fun. For the record, the only English people I said were stupid were the journalists at the Telegraph, for their lack of knowledge of Scots geography. But anyone who wants to try to whip up anti-Scots sentiment in Norwich is very welcome to try!

Bonne chance!

Ron

Yes. I told the good folk of Blackburn I was a Canaries fan. They were unimpressed. Jack Straw comes from Essex, but on becoming candidate for Blackburn many years ago immediately started wearing their colours. I despise anyone who does that. You can’t change your team as if it were a pair of socks.

“I shall be standing as an independent, anti-sleaze candidate.”

I think your civil libertarian credentials would also go down well in this part of the world. But good luck, and yeah, do get well before you hit the campaign trail.

Looking at Norwich North 2005 General Election Results – and Gibson (Labour) having a 5,000 majority and the General hatred of all the mainstream parties – I think you stand an excellent chance of getting elected – if you can get the message across.

If Martin Bell can do it, so can you. You will probably need some help from the National Press – but in the current mood that should not be too difficult.

Good Luck,

Tony

You have an interesting readership – the Norwich knockers didn’t take long to emerge from under their stones.

I see that Ms Flint has just flounced out from what is laughingly called ‘the Government’.

Good luck!

Hope you’ve recovered from your recent Plasmodic experience.

Strange, my new novel, ‘Joseph’s Box’ features a Scot in the RAF who is posted to Lincolnshire during WWII and marries a local WAAF girl there. http://www.josephsbox.co.uk

The voters of Norwich North are going to get the chance to vote for a TOP DRAW,QUALITY candidate in you Craig.

Funds must be low?.Hope your going to put an address up where we can send in donations?. We unlike some don’t expect anything back.We know what we will be getting in return…Somebody that cares about us the people.

Would be nice to see you and George Galloway together fighting EVIL.

Brown is speaking at about 120 words a minute at his press conference. Is he on speed or some sort of drug similar to the one described here?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6083840.stm

I believe it’s customary to have a campaign team. Do you have one? You can’t trudge round all those housing estates on you own. Can you?

MJ

I turned up in Blackburn, and a campaign team magically appeared around me! Volunteers are extremely welcome.

you are an impetuous man.

had you waited a while there would have been any number of seats to choose from.

Gordon isn’t going to have a general election; he’s going to have a series of bye-elections from now till the end of the year.

Oh good lad, get your arse on the green leather, and keep the light shining in all the nooks and crannies.

Goodness me, the Nu Liar Bores are here already. On that basis alone you must being doing something right, Craig! Well done, again.

@Black Country Ethnic – you recently remarked you were a proud Labour voter. Surely you must have some view on the morality of torture, and compliance with the spirit of UN-CAT?

Oh look, all the idiots (or stooges) who thought (or at least say so) Craig was slagging off all of England have spontaneously come out of the woodwork.

Get a clue, you morons.

PS I would happily vote for you, if you were running in my constituency )

Good luck with that, if I was a constituent in Norwich North, you’d get my vote.

You’ll be needing funds. Please let us know where to send them as soon as you have made arrangements.

I hope that many of us who came from outside Blackburn to be part of your campaign in 2005 will be ready to reassemble for a campaign that will attract much attention. Good luck!

According to the local press – the grassroots are completely furious about the way their MP has been treated by the Nazi high command. They will no doubt try and impose on them a fully paid up member of the gestapo and imposing he/she/it on them with no discussion.

I suggest you get your arse down there as soon as you are well enough to travel. You may have a ready made local support organisation available comprised of ex labour party members resigning en-block in disgust.

Get a Paypal donation button set up prominently on your website ASAP and I’ll send you a tenner.

If I can send $10 to Feeding America, I can certainly send £10 towards Craig Murray’s election campaign costs.

It will be my first political donation since the Fascists took over the Labour Party.

Tony

Yeah…get a Paypal donation system in place please Craig…??

I reckon it will be a General Election. Brown will pull the plug – or rather the plug has already been pulled.

This is incredible

Dear Gordon

I believe the achievements of the Labour Government to date have been monumental and you have played an immense part in the creation of those achievements.

However, I am extremely disappointed at your failure to have an inclusive Government.

You have a two tier Government. Your inner circle and then the remainder of Cabinet.

I have the greatest respect for the women who have served as full members of Cabinet and for those who attend as and when required.

However, few are allowed into your inner circle.

Several of the women attending Cabinet ?” myself included ?” have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing.

I am not willing to attend Cabinet in a peripheral capacity any longer.

In my current role, you advised that I would attend Cabinet when Europe was on the agenda. I have only been invited once since October and not to a single political Cabinet ?” not even the one held a few weeks before the European elections.

Having worked hard during this campaign, I would not have been party to any plan to undermine you or the Labour Party in the run up to 4 June.

So I was extremely angry and disappointed to see newspapers briefed with invented stories of my involvement in a “Pugin Room plot”.

Time and time again I have stepped before the cameras to sincerely defend your reputation in the interests of the Labour Party and the Government as a whole. I am a natural party loyalist. Yet you have strained every sinew of that loyalty.

It has been apparent for some time that you do not see me playing a more influential role in the Government. Therefore, I have respectfully declined your offer to continue in the Government as Minister for Europe attending Cabinet.

I served six years as a backbencher and, therefore, I am not unhappy to be able to devote myself to promoting my constituency’s interests and to support the Labour Government from the backbenches.

This is a personal decision, which I have not discussed with colleagues.

Yours

Rt Hon Caroline Flint MP

The very best of luck to you. No doubt you can rely on the support from many in the blogging community (Mr Dale being the exception of course ;-D )

Craig good luck Ian Gibson is an old friend of mine and he has been treated very shabbily by New Labour his crime was to help his daughter and is far less than many of the Cabinet.I think you will make an impact but dont discount some Esther Rantzen types appearing as well.Let me know if I can do anything to help.

Please don’t do it.

You won’t win and you’ll split the Green vote, they have a real chance of winning this seat (take a look at the Norfolk results, 5 seats gained today). The Green Party are the most credible anti-sleaze force in British politics anyway. So please think again, and back the Green Party instead.

Go for it, Craig! You are a man of great principle. The country needs more representatives like you.

However, your love of sharp invective and taunting polemics, while both entertaining and effective, could now be a liability. Image is everything in this business and the hacks will seize on anything to smear your reputation. People don’t want sleaze-bags in parliament, but neither do they want to be represented by trouble-makers or anarchists. (Especially in Norwich!)

On the plus side, it could generate plenty of publicity, and you’re great at cutting through the BS when given the chance to answer back. I doubt whether the papers will give you a voice, though. (Recall the Record’s shameful bias before the rectoral election?) You have a higher profile now and the rants on this blog offer a plentiful supply of tinder. It’s in the media’s interest to fan the flames.

It could get out of hand quickly, I fear. You may need a fire-fighting team to snuff out the incendiary smears before they spread. I’ll unfurl my hose and do what I can.

Tim Hiscock,

That was completely PATHETIC

Whilst I am a Fervent Environmentalist, I find the lunacy of The Green Party and Their Belief in The Religion of Global Warming even more Dangerous Than The Extreme Right Wing.

Were you the idiots who wanted to bulldose the sea wall and rebuild it west of Hickling – because you are so convinced that Sea Levels will continue to rise – when the Real World Data shows that Global Warming ended in 1998, and the real cause of Climate Change – The Sun has currently got its lowest level of Sunspots and Radiation for 100 years.

The Planet is Getting Colder and You are Pleading For Craig Murray Not To Stand?

And Yes I admit I didn’t get my boat through Potter Heigham Bridge this year – but there was a Full Moon and an exceedingly High Tide.

Tony

Craig, I admire you, and all that you have risked and what you have done.

But Tim speaks good sense. You may feel a sense of belonging to Norfolk, but it takes much more than being a Canaries fan to make a Norfolker… Yes, they are good people. Let them deliver Britain’s first Green MP.

Very best of luck at splitting the upper-middle class sanctimonious Green type vote (the sort of people who call themselves “dissidents” – ooh how radical!) with this vanity project: it’s great you can both lose!

Thank you peacewisher.

I have admired Craig Murray for some time, and I now him to be a good man. But he seems unaware of the local issues in Norwich, and how his candidacy would play into the hands of the establishment.

Parasite chooses a perfect name for his/her contributions. Nothing of any intelligence to say, just childish name-calling.

Craig,

You must already sense your strength – by the opposition lining up against you.

If you were not a force to be reckoned with, you would be ignored.

Tony

Peacewisher

I really don’t understand you. I was born in Norfolk and went to school there. On my mother’s side the family come from Nrfolk for at least the eight generations we can trace. My great great grandfather was the first ever coxswain of the Sheringham lifeboat. The Singing Postman was my mother’s cousin, for goodness sake!!! In what metaphysical sense am I not from Norfolk?

Of course Craig is a force to be reckoned with! If I didn’t respect him, I wouldn’t bother joining in the discussion!

The question is how he wants to use his undoubted influence. He says we wants to be an anti-sleaze candidate, which is a great idea. Except that there is already a party doing mighty well in Norwich who have an excellent track record on opposing sleaze, going back to well before the time when the Torygraph made it trendy. They also have a very good chance of winning the Norwich byelection, as we can see from the results yesterday.

So the question is, how is Craig best to use his influence to progress his anti-sleaze agenda? I suggest it’s not by splitting the anti-establishment vote and handing this byelection to either Labour or the Tories.

I am going to stand and I think I will win

My ballot paper for the Euro election yesterday had about 17 names – 20 years ago there would have been perhaps 5. It’s the Big Brother phenonemon – everyone wants to be a celebrity regardless of their abilities. Sorry Craig, but this is all about me,me,me and an ego that is out of control. Vanity, vanity all is vanity. If you want to be an MP stand for a party, stand for your beloved liberals.

Thanks, Tim. That’s the point I was trying to make. I can do the same as Craig just did with my ancestry… but you can’t suddenly go back and claim your roots like that. The locals might just resent it.

Whether you like it or not, Craig, you are associated with Dundee. There are many of crooked MPs around, it seems, that really need the presence of a “white suit” candidate against them – to expose their hypocrisy.

“In what metaphysical sense am I not from Norfolk?”

In that same metaphysical sense by which on most days you claim to be Scottish?

(Sorry, only being mischievous)

Tim,

apologies, I might have deleted one of your comments in getting rid of some duplicates.

I am aware of the green party’s history in Norwich and how well they did in Norwich today. You probably know I gave a high profile endorsement to Rupert for the Euros.

But at the parliamentary election the Greens came a very bad fourth in this seat – and I think lost their deposit.

When I stood in Blackburn, the Greens asked me to stand down and support them. I got 2,082 votes. They got about 500. And that was in the most rotten of NuLab rotten boroughs, in a place where I have no connection, against a senior NuLab cabinet minister in a general election NuLab won. I wasn’t allowed into the candidates’ hustings, I wasn’t allowed halls for meetings, my electoral addresses were not delivered until polling day. I could go on. I can do much better in Norwich where the authorities will not be sabotaging me.

This is also going to be a by-election that gets huge national publicity in testing public disenchantment with the main parties in this major political crisis.

It is therefore fair to ask which candidate has the experience of pressure and the ability to speak and argue on a national stage against the might of the big party machines? The Green candidate in the constituency is an actor and local councillor and I am sure very nice and capable, but he doesn’t have anything near my life experience. And I am a known figure who attracts a lot of media publicity which will be helful

So I am not convinced to stand aside for the Greens. In fact, I am inclined to wonder whether the Greens shouldn’t reciprocate my endorsement of Rupert. They felt I was well enough known to promote my endorsement in the national press…

Peacewisher,

My mum still lives in Sheringham. You might have difficulty convincing her that I only “think” I am from Norfolk. You would also have some difficulty convincing the half of the town who are related to me.

Dear Craig

Good luck.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

In fact I see on today’s results in Norwich North, the Greens would have been third a long way behind the Tories.

I hope the voters of Norwich North realise the power that will exist in their voting papers.

The very best of luck to you.

In 1942 my dad volunteered for the army on his 18th birthday, rather than wait for his conscription. (He had volunteered 6 months before but his real age was found out).

Before that, his dad had been a Labour council candidate in the borough of Westminster.

I’m thinking of continuing the line, and volunteering to be a parliamentary candidate, before there are so many vacancies and so few candidates that conscription has to be introduced to fill the House of Commons.

Or maybe there won’t be another General Election in the UK.

I think if he were to hold his tongue and regreting that he wrote on this blog then that is the gateway to sleeze. Surely he is promoting and offering his virtues of: clear and honest speaking (amongst others)

The Greens address a worthy cause but do sometimes peddle right stonkers! I can’tt believe someone is looking at county council elections and extrapolating into predictions of parlismantary elections. LOL. Yip, a stonker!

Go for it Craig! but don’t believe the seat will just come to you. A number of people still voted for that murdering scum bLiar even though they were anti-war.

A friend of mine once said “I’ll always vote labour” Ne was obviously saying ‘no matter what’. Each party will have a solid core vote.

Check out the rules on donations and then open your donations portal asap. Ensure all data is secured and that you have at least one backup.

Update here, ( or on a specific ‘elect craig’ site), what help you need.

Best of luck.

enjoy your blog and hope your getting better.well done on the nipper front.do stand,this country desperately needs men of honour and courage to sort this mess out.your work on torture has shown that you enjoy both of those qualities in abundance.to be able to pursue this work actually in parliament itself would be excellent progress that may well bear fruit.so go for it.if you need help email me.good luck

Hi Craig,

The downside to your otherwise good idea is that you will likely prevent the Greens getting their first MP. They have a great track record in local government in Norwich and would have a strong chance of taking Gibson’s seat. However, if you stood you’d likely split their vote letting in the Tory candidate.

Please reconsider. I’d really like to see you in Westminster but at the expense of Labour or the Tories, not the Greens.

Craig, I think I would be a great Home Secretary.

You know me; Golden Parachute or Golden Shower – it’s all the same.

Craig, where has your amusing piece about ugly MPs gone? Surely you haven’t started censoring yourself so as not to give your political opponents ammunition? Probably not such a bad idea come to think of it…

Phil

Except it is not true. If you total the Norwich North votes from the Council elections, the Greens come a distant THIRD.

Craig I must ask…

If you become an MP you will HAVE to swear allegiance to Herr mudjesty. Won’t that cause you a problems pledging loyalty to Elizardbeth who has responsibility for killing millions (and million in the foreseeable future) ????

Dear Craig

Thanks very much for your reasoned reply. I wish you the best of luck.

The thing that needs to be avoided if this byelection is to be an effective protest vote is for the vote to be split. You make a good case for your candidacy. I hope that everyone can get behind one candidate and make the best of this opportunity. If the candidate is you, I’d personally be delighted.

Best regards

Tim

Dear Craig

Thanks very much for your reasoned reply. I wish you the best of luck.

The thing that needs to be avoided if this byelection is to be an effective protest vote is for the vote to be split. You make a good case for your candidacy. I hope that everyone can get behind one candidate and make the best of this opportunity. If the candidate is you, I’d personally be delighted.

Best regards

Tim

Dear Craig

Thanks very much for your reasoned reply. I wish you the best of luck.

The thing that needs to be avoided if this byelection is to be an effective protest vote is for the vote to be split. You make a good case for your candidacy. I hope that everyone can get behind one candidate and make the best of this opportunity. If the candidate is you, I’d personally be delighted.

Best regards

Tim

How do we make a [modest] contribution to your election expenses? Don’t answer in these comments, too hard to find. Include in some later posting. Thanks.

The Greens _were_ third across Norwich North as a whole, yesterday, yes – but they have tremendous _momentum_, and in politics momentum is everything, Craig. I was impressed by their two shock Council wins in Norwich North. They normally focus their activity exclusively on Norwich _South_ – which makes these two wins even more impressive. You need to think Craig about what they could achieve if they focussed their attention on Norwich North – as they undoubtedly will, in this byelection. They have a huge activist base in the general area – they will mobilise more people on the doorsteps than _any_ other Party, probably.

I think that they might just win this seat, which would be a historic development in British politics.

Craig, I really think you ought to take things a bit more slowly, before you decide to throw a spanner in their works.

I read your blog with great interest and I appreciate your values and general principles when it comes to representing the people of Norwich North. We certainly need an MP who will place the common good of his or her constituents before personal gain, and someone who will driven by what is morally right.

The Green Party will be standing in the Norwich North by-election and we fit this criteria and more. We care about today’s constituents, and those of tomorrow. We have 13 City Councillors and after yesterday, 7 County Councillors, including two in Norwich North wards (Mile Cross and Sewell). We work hard all year round, knocking on doors, finding out local issues and personal concerns and we have an established record of delivering on our promises. We are a strong force in Norwich today because the people trust us, and they appreciate our positive agenda.

So that is why I urge you not to stand in the Norwich North bi-election, and to support the Green Party. We stand for the people, for social justice and for positive change.

Best wishes,

Councillor Phil Hardy

Thorpe Hamlet Ward

“you will live in the constituency”? Craig, that’s very attitude party politicians have. Surely you could leave it to an independent who is actually a resident now? Or do you just want to become an MP?

“you will live in the constituency”? Craig, that’s very attitude party politicians have. Surely you could leave it to an independent who is actually a resident now? Or do you just want to become an MP?

“you will live in the constituency”? Craig, that’s very attitude party politicians have. Surely you could leave it to an independent who is actually a resident now? Or do you just want to become an MP?

Why are some messages being repeated three times?

Craig,

There already is an anti-sleaze party in Norwich – The Green Party.

If you stand you’ll split the vote and allow the big parties to win, at the expense of the Greens.

Please support a party that is campaigning locally and already representing the residents of Norwich.

Please don’t stand in this by-election.

Thanks.

Craig. I hope you can address the kween allegiance issue. It is tricky I know but important. If Herr Saxe-Rottenberg (or whatever their name real is) decided to sign up to killing more people, then from loyalty, doesn’t that men you should support the old hag?

As for the Greens, why don’t you stand down in that single constituency??? If as is predicted Craig can split the vote a sizeable number of people will want him to stand. The claim ‘momentum is everything’ is laughable. ROFL.

“Think what we [greens] could achieve!” propably involkves the same kind whipped party crap largely responsible for what we see today.

Tell me oh greens.. What’s YOUR policy Nuclear energy, Nuclear waste management and decomissioning?

The latter ones should some of the most discussed politics amongst you so you should be able to quickly indicate what your policies are and brief outline as to how they can be achieved.

Then, what’s your foreign policy in relation to on what’s known in some circles as “Israel”, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan?

Whats the bet ‘read out manefesto’ which will propably contain vague references to a general idea and not answer my Q, or that the Green won’t bother to answer. Prove me wrong.

This is excellent news!

I am a Norwich resident (though to my irritation in Norwich South).

I know a few of the Norwich Greens one way or another and while personally good people I still feel their party is not a credible political force. I am a staunch environmentalist but believe single issue parties are a mistake.

You can have some of my evenings and weekends to trudge around, Craig, and I can probably find others willing to do some of the same.

With you human rights credentials, speaking to the local stop the war coalition may well be wise, they hold protests in the centre of the city all the time and in fact I was promoting you and your books to some of them recently! I really do think you would be the best candidate for a protest vote in the area.

If nothing else, let me offer you a pint in one of Norwich’s many, many pubs when you come down.

Good news for Norwich!

stanner,

with modern careers, people move around all the time. In just my adult life I have lived in 11 different homes. I think the notion you can only stand for parliament where you happen to be living at the moment is a peculiar one. Of course if elected you should live in the constituency. I was born and bred in Norfolk. The many Green commenters who want to try and rubbish me as some kind of foreigner will have some difficulty.

Were you there, Stanner, at the League Cup final v Spurs, when Kevin Keelan made the most incredible penalty save? It was a low well-placed penalty just inside the left post, and Keelan got down just incredibly, diving absolutely horizontal to the ground, as only he could. His palm, in the green gloves he always wore, got to ball miraculously, on the end of his outstretched arm, and he deflected the ball onto an inside post.

Cruelly, it returned almost straight back to the penalty spot. Coates – who looked like a shorter, chubbier Bobby Charlton, with calm precision placed a shot low and hard inside the opposite post.

Unbelievably, Keelan performed a lightning contortion like a comic book super hero. He was streaking, again flying horizontal, towards the opposite post. Noboy elese – not Banks, not Bonetti – could have got near. But it just eluded those magic fingertips, and Spurs won 1-0.

Out hearts broke. There was a last minute reprieve when Duncan Forbes got onto the end of a corner at the far post with the kind of header that he routinely split the net with. He nodded it down and just wide. Afterwards he explained that he had been told he should head down, something he never did. He tried it and it didn’t come off.

Were you there, stanner? No, didn’t think so. I was. Got the coach at dawn from Sheringham and football special from Thorpe Station.

I was also at Pompey the very first time we got promoted to the old First Division. Martin Peters – two goals.

You spend your time going around telling people not to vote for me because I am not from Norwich. I would love to fight on that ground.

Kevin Keelan? Duncan Forbes? Now we’re talking. What about Graham Paddon, Ken Foggo and David Stringer to bring the memories flooding back? Or huddling in the ghastly, uncovered Riverside End as the rain lashed down?

You are not alone on this one Craig.

Barclay End, me, then South Stand after the place got too rough for a young teenager.

The infuriating Ted MacDougall. Hands on hips, head down, silly perm. Then strike like a cobra. Three touches the whole game, two goals. Charlie Boyer working his arse off around him.

My very first game Tommy Bryceland scored twice. Paddon never the same after he broke his leg.

Trevor Hockey – mad axe murderer.

Have a little scrimmage.

Barclay End? You must have been mad. My dad wouldn’t take me in there and I’m glad he didn’t. It looked frightening enough just seeing it from the other end. We moved to the South Stand eventually too. Covered, seating, very posh. But not quite the same.

MacDougall was a twilight-of-career purchase from Man Utd I seem to recall. Remember seeing him in their side that hammered us in the first season up, Charlton in full flow but Besty sadly absent.

MJ

my memory was we got him and Boyer together from Bournmeouth, but I might be wrong. He did have a not succesful stint at Man U.

Peters has an incredible career twilight with us. Chivers less so. We’d better stop – we could bore on for ever!

The reason I gave you a hard time earlier was that I’ve been reading your blog for years and there was hardly a mention of Norfolk, but plenty about Scotland and even Italian ancestry. I thought there might be better causes for you to address, but it could be that there isn’t an election until 2010, so why not have a go now.

I can tell from your responses that you have made your mind up anyway, and good luck to you. IMO, the best political site is http://www.politicalbetting.com, and the good folk on there are still debating candidature for Norwich North even now. Judging by 2005 voting figures, all you have to do is get most of the Ian Gibson votes to go your way…

I followed with interest your campaign in Blackburn, and it was clear that you were disgracefully squeezed out by the media… as was David Icke in David Davis constituency, not that I ompare you with him, but the media will try to…

I couldn’t understand why your youtube videos didn’t got greater exposure, and you need to make sure that important aspect of modern campaigning doesn’t get neglected.

Having said all that… best of luck. Hope you win!

Hi Craig

I’m trying to arrange a hustings event for the Norwich North bye-election regarding civil liberties and electronic surveillance, with each political party’s views on these issues, and so would be extremely interested in your participation.

I am only just getting the details together, but please get in touch at my email address, which I believe is provided, as your contribution would be most welcome!

Best regards

Tom Read, Norwich NO2ID Coordinator

If you think you are another Martin Bell you must be joking. Hamilton was a disgraced MP and Bell had a national profile. Gibson is a respected MP and you have no profile. Vanity. But I guess your six years’ taxpayer-funded salary must be running out so anything for a bit of publicity eh? A thousand votes if you are lucky?

Craig,

Why not set up some kind of national party that would/could really make a difference instead of standing on a (negative)platform of anti-sleaze? (I’m not suggesting you stand or not)

You have a readership, don’t know the numbers, perhaps some could be pursuaded to contribute time to building this national party and its manifesto. A manifesto that would be binding. A manifesto that would enable people to actively participate in politics instead of the sham we live with now. At least something positive for people to aim at and more importantly contribute to.

Big project perhaps, but…

After thought,

Perhaps it’s too dangerous politically, and physically; have you had your heart checked lately?

You really are a nasty piece of slime Eddie or whatever your real name is.

eddie: the current climate demands strong, independent candidates. They do not need to have a national profile. The contest is not with disgraced individuals (disgraced or not, Gibson is not standing) but with a disgraced, corrupt, tired and complacent parliamentary party system that has outgrown its usefulness.

Vanity? Sure, name an MP who doesn’t have a bit of vanity. It’s requirement number one on the checklist.

Craig is obviously an intelligent, informed and, above all, decent and principled man the likes of which the country clearly needs. It does not need your dreary cynicism.

Craig may not win, but if he is not subject to the dirty tricks of the Blackburn campaign he should comfortably improve on that result. And that would be a healthy step in the right direction. Wouldn’t it?

(By the way Craig you’re right about MacDougall. Bournemmouth it was).

Hugh Kerr, stop telling people it is bad for democracy for people to stand in elections. Far from it. If Craig want to stand it will strengthen democracy even if I won’t be voting for him.

As for the lies being peddled about the Greens, please note that only two of their gains were in Norwich North and they came 4th in the popular vote across the constituency.

Mary thanks for the ad hominem abuse, whoever you are. Have I touched a raw nerve?

“Nich Starling – Norfolk Blogger”

You got the wrong man.Look again,the posters name is at the bottom of the post not the top.

Hope you don’t make the same mistake when you vote for Craig.

“You really are a nasty piece of slime Eddie or whatever your real name is.”

mary

I concur.

Ah the Tommy Sheridan fan – perjuror and seedy sex fiend.

You really are a nasty piece of slime eddie or whatever your real name is…lol.

Possibly there is a solution that avoids any conflict between the interests of Craig and the Green Party. Why not have Craig join them, help them formulate a complete political programme (perhaps as the Liberals might have had if they had not merged with the SDP and lost their reforming vigour, but with a special emphasis on environmental concerns), and then stand for them in Norwich? That might benefit both parties (pardon the pun). Greens in Norwich, what do you think of this idea?

eddie

I don’t think I am another anybody.

I woujld not stand against Ian Gibson if he were standing. I think his expenses sins were very minor indeed compared to Purnell, Hoon etc. But they picked on Gibson and protected the party elite. It is just because he is a good man that your beloved New Labour kicked him out. They don’t want people with minds of their own.

Norfolk blogger – thanks. I made it third when I added it up. But definitely this is not a seat the Greens are going to win.

Tom

Delighted to take part in any No2ID event. Would suggest it is broadened onto civil liberties generally in order to maximise public interest?

Craig

So why are you standing. Seriously. Do you want to be another Martin Bell? Is it money that you seek? Or fame? I would like to know. I am thinking of similar people to you -i.e. civil servants who have “gone off the rails” for whatever reason, David Shayler, Clive Ponting. Perhaps you would tell me if you are offended at being lumped into the same category as people like that. What is your motivation? And why won’t you stand as a liberal? Do they not want you?

Oh dear, a rash of independence has broken out from under the bed. celebrities are falling over themselves to give Gordon brown a bloody nose on the back of Ian Gibson immediate resignations.

That Independent slot might get quiet crowded. next to the

Independent for banning criminal Uzbek oligarchs, there might be the

Independent to abolish academics in power, or the Independent for the Legalisation of Cannabis, or the Independent for spinning Independents chances of avoiding incoming shoes in mid air.

Norwich North was once a marginal Conservative seat and will go back to the local grain barons and east Anglian mafiosis, ‘no need to get a bloody nose in Narwich boare’

I strongly advise against unless you want to spent your life arguing the toss with them on a daily basis.

Oh, I cut my political teeth fighting the Tories and the hedgerow-rippers in Norfolk. No worries.

Why do you think an independent can only have views on one subject? I know you have been looking at this blog for years. Do you really think I can contribute on nothing but Uzbekistan.

I am genuinely surprised how many people can’t think themselves out of the political party box.

I was going to reply to eddie but his last post clears any doubt he is anything but a troll. Anyone confused about him should search for “Troll (Internet)” on wikipedia. Comparing Craig to the very slimy Shayler did give me a chuckle though, so ridiculous is the notion.

Craig, will you post details for those of us that want top volunteer for your campaign when they are available.

Why not contact George Galloway and stand as a Respect Party candidate? Seems like Gibson will be standing as an independent, relying on loyalty voting.

Why not contact George Galloway and stand as a Respect Party candidate? Seems like Gibson will be standing as an independent, relying on loyalty voting.

“I am genuinely surprised how many people can’t think themselves out of the political party box.”

I’m not. It’s been clear to me for a number of years now, that the length of stride of zUK Goosestep in Britain has increased over the years.

When eddieTroll(TM) is being tasered (assuming he isn’t the one doing the tasering – which from what he writes seems a distinct possibility!) for thinking about turning down the volume of his ‘off-buttonless’ TV, he and most Brits, will still convice themselves that the zUK is a democracy, a world leader, a country that commands respect around the planet and somehow radiates ‘Kiplingesque benevolence’ all over the planet. That is the mental self-deception the vast majority fo Brits have. Political heads so far up their …. that all they can see is …. and can’t comprehend anything different.

They believe they have a good system but just it needs band-aiding.

It doesn’t. It needs wholesale binning. The prostituting of the political process to corporatism and those who own the corporations (MSM is included in this), as well as the related personal financlal sleeze of the hookers in the commons (common prostitutes) means the system is dead. CPR and ECR will fail.

Discard the pac of bandaids or extra strength condoms. Overhaul the system from scratch.

Personally I’d build it on unspun monotheistic principles, but that ain’t gonna happen. For the unreligious out there, and oxymoronic secular theists, building it on a Bill of Rights FOR THE CITIZEN would be a good start as would lifelong state provision at a reasonable level for anyone entering public service (civil servants), cutting them out of the world of financial greed. No MP’s but local councils. One of which meets in in a regional assembly and one of then meets in a national assembly. Laws for the electorate to vote representitives out. Laws so that citizens can take action against Corporations in their area. No kween. She and members of her lazy racist scrounging family to be booted out of _uckingham palace and sent to Oldham to live and get proper jobs.

Radical reform.

Yawn.

“Radical reform” – yes towards a fascist state by the sound of it. Monotheism, you must be joking. Most people aren’t scared of the dark any longer and if mad mullahs and paedophile priests aren’t enough to put people off religion I don’t know what is.

You are nuts, but I will bung a few quid into the kitty !

Craig, I have and can think outside the party boxes, hence my objections. This bye election will be the magnet for all sorts of political opportunists, inlcuding the Greens who have not got much support in Broadland, a part of the constitutency.

Off course they would like you to support their candidate, but who is it? Will it be Adrian Ramsay trying to be the fastest,first and youngest Green ever elected to Parliament, a short cut from his target seat in Norwich South, or will it be a bussed in, newly converted, quickly selected Green like Tony Juniper?

The Green party will increasingly be seen as an easy springboard into Parliament and I would not be surprised if old mama Parkin will soon put on the slap and her nurses uniform in order to look good at the camera, whether she would do the required footwork is questionable.

Should you support the legalisation of cannabis you are assured of some support, dare I say foot soldiers prepared to do some leafletting, let us know.

Alternatively do the populist thing and join the Green party, maybe they let you jump above their own shadows and fight the seat for them, a double whammy, but would they play ball? I somehow doubt it.

I was not infering that you stand just on the Uzebkistan issue, just lamenting all opportuinists alike.

If you do stand, consider taking on some single issues and you will get a lot of support with the practical side of things.

good luck with it anyway, you will need a press officer and agent, someone who knows the local media and is not overburdened too much.

I totally agree with your anti-sleaze stance, but as the Green Party have done so very well in the recent elections in Norwich, including Norwich North, and have an unblemished reputation, I urge you to join and support them rather than stand against them.

A long discussion about Ian Gibson’s expenses in the Guardian here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/07/ian-gibson-expenses?showallcomments=true

Craig,

I’m a Green Party Member and former Blackburn resident.

I supported you in 2005 because although you were not local, you had more reason than most to oppose Jack Straw, and seemed to have an outside chance of beating him.

The Green Party in Blackburn was weak – myself and other local Greens tried to persuade Graham Carter (the Green Candidate) to pull out and endorse you, but having stood numerous times in local and national elections in the borough, he was determined to carry on.

I urge you to reconsider standing in Norwich North for the following reasons:

Norwich North is a completely different constituency to Blackburn. It has probably the strongest Green Party in the country, with a genuine chance of causing a shock, as last week’s local and European election results clearly demonstrated.

The Green vote in these elections isn’t a just a protest vote against MPs expenses – Norwich Green Party has been growing strongly for years, and has a large presence on the City council.

Although I’m a member of a party, I accept that the party system has it’s faults, and applaud independent candidates (as I did when you stood in Blackburn).

You mention the dirty tricks employed by Blackburn Council such as barring you from the hustings. You will probably recall that these were also applied to Graham.

The fact that Norwich has such a strong anti-establishment voice is a clear indication that the cronyism you encountered in Blackburn doesn’t exist there. There is no Lord P**** (you know who) pulling the strings.

If sleaze the issue you wish to highlight, the sleazy MP in question is no longer there, hence the need for a by-election.

I appreciate that given the way major parties select their PPCs, there is a good chance the next MP could also be without morals, but there are plenty of proven sleaze-bags who aren’t stepping down. Why not stand against one of them? Hazel Blears for example.

The Green Party is probably the only party with no history of sleaze, and is likely to pick up anti-sleaze votes in their own right. If you stand, that vote will be split, which in our archaic electoral system benefits neither candidate.

Chris,

Thank you. I guess graham had earned his last run in Blackburn.

I keep having to say this. In Norwich North last Thursday, the Greens came fourth, after the Tory, Labour and Lib Dems. It is simply rubbish to say they have a realistic chance of stopping the Tories. And it’s not a close fourth in a four horse race.

The Greens last Thursday were fourth in Norwich North constituency more than 30 per cent behind the Tories. And they also came fourth at the last general election.

If I thought the Greens had a chance of stopping the Tories, I wouldn’t stand. But it’s utter delusion.

One thing is certain: If you and the Greens both stand, you will both lose.

Can anyone tell me the date of this forthcoming election?

It sounds as if Craig is standing for good reasons, but how would we form a government of independents? They need to have a shared agenda in order to take over from Labour.

Can anyone tell me the date of this forthcoming election?

It sounds as if Craig is standing for good reasons, but how would we form a government of independents? They need to have a shared agenda in order to take over from Labour.

i’m not saying he is not a good choice. but in his campaign leaflet it states Craig murray is not in it for the money and can’t be bought then later it tells us he is executive chairman of Atholl Energy and chairman of Westminster development Ltd a gold mining company as if that was not enough he is a best selling author. to me this suggests he is fairly well off and buying him off is pointless because he has plenty of money and nothing to do with morals.