Potential Candidate for Bury North

[glambert]

Hi all,

I have been speaking to John Barron over great length over the past few weeks/months about standing in the elections for the Pirate Party in Bury North.

I would first of all like to tell you all about myself. My name is Graeme Lambert, I'm 18 years old and I currently live in Bury, Greater Manchester. I was born in Birkenhead, Merseyside and moved to Bury in May 2000. I am in full time employment and have been since leaving education at the age of 16.

In January 2007 I started playing wheelchair basketball for my local team, Bury Blue Devils. I moved to the Manchester Mavericks wheelchair basketball team in 2008 before returning to Bury this season. In March 2009, after being persuaded by my basketball friends, took up wheelchair tag rugby league. I went along to a trial day for the England squad in the summer of 2009 and was asked to train with the England squad on a permanent basis. As a member of the current squad, I was invited down with the squad to the House Of Commons on Tuesday 12th January for the World Cup winning team and coach(es) to be honoured for their achievements. For the record, I do not have any disabilities and I compete as an able bodied athlete.

Although many will probably mock at the thought of an 18 year old candidate in the local elections, I imagine many would seriously consider an honest individual with fresh and new ideas, being backed by a political party dedicated to ensuring the freedom of speech and protecting human rights - both which the current government seem dedicated to eradicating.

I am happy to answer any questions that any of you may or may not have, and I would certainly not stand in the way of a better candidate in Bury North or any constituency in the country needing the funding for a campaign.

Why do I believe Bury North is a good constituency to stand in for the Pirate Party? A number of reasons.

The residents in Bury North resent the current Bury North MEP David Chaytor with passion for his false expenses claims of a reported £13k on a London flat that he'd already paid off a mortgage on. Mr. Chaytor is, according to Wikipedia, currently under suspension from parliament whilst a police investigation is carried out. Mr. Chaytor has already announced that he will not stand in the next elections for Labour.

The Labour candidate replacing Mr. Chaytor is a young muslim lady called Maryam Khan. Maryam Khan is a 27 year old solicitor and if elected would be the first pakistani female MP, and also the youngest in Greater Manchester (obviously I'd more than trump that record).

The other 2 candidates standing for Bury North are Liberal Democrat Richard Baum and Conservative David Nuttall.

I am happy to declare my views on topics that the Pirate Party don't directly represent, however I make it clear to you and anyone who asks questions that these are MY personal views and NOT necessarily those representing the majority of the Pirate Party. The Pirate Party is a democratic party that votes on everything and should remain as such.

I will end my introduction there and once again extend the invite to anyone and everyone to talk to me, get to know me and decide on whether you think I would be a good candidate for Bury North and, just as importantly, if you think Bury North is good for the Pirate Party.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Graeme Lambert.

Contact email: g.lambert@pirateparty.org.uk

[glambert]

Now that my potential candidacy has been put to the membership vote, I would like to bump this thread to make it aware that I haven't actually had anyone contact me at all. If you aren't sure about me, please feel free to contact me and ask me anything you like to decide if it's a No or a Yes. Thanks

[PeterBrett]

I've been keeping an eye on your forums participation over the last few weeks, and you seem to be fairly level-headed.

A few questions, to get started:

• Have you got a campaign agent lined up? If not, what are you doing to find one?
• Are you willing and able to take time off work during the week or so in the run-up to the election to concentrate on your campaign?
• Suppose you're at a hustings, and a member of the public asks you a question about something contentious but outside PPUK's core policies (say, whether abortion should be legal, or whether you support sanctions against Israel). In what manner would you answer?

[glambert]

I've been keeping an eye on your forums participation over the last few weeks, and you seem to be fairly level-headed.

Thanks

A few questions, to get started:

• Have you got a campaign agent lined up? If not, what are you doing to find one?

I have 1 person that I would love to have as my agent in mind, with one or two as backups. I don't want to decide and ask them until the membership decide on me.

• Are you willing and able to take time off work during the week or so in the run-up to the election to concentrate on your campaign?

I have the week of 26th April - 2nd May booked off work, but I intend to holiday in Hertfordshire that week for mine and my cousin's birthday. I know it's directly before the elections, but I will be around for election week and before hand. I wont be able to take any time off work apart from that one week, however I will be shortening my hours from 35/45 to 25/30 a week to allow for attending events or doing what I intend to start doing straight away after I'm officially recognised as a candidate in Bury North, and that is knocking on doors and getting questions asked and answered.

• Suppose you're at a hustings, and a member of the public asks you a question about something contentious but outside PPUK's core policies (say, whether abortion should be legal, or whether you support sanctions against Israel). In what manner would you answer?

I would make sure the individual knows that my answer is my own personal view, which I would be happy to give whatever the subject, but if the individual wanted the Pirate Party's view on the subject I would endeavour to get a statement put up on the Press Office page on our website for us to be quoted on.

I wouldn't belittle any issue by saying that they aren't important because although they may not be our core issues, they may be important to that individual and MPs have to listen to their constituents' issues and try to resolve them, so as a candidate I need to do that myself from the off. Having said that, if I didn't know enough about the subject to give an educated answer, I would say that and if need be offer to contact them when I have researched the issue and have an answer for them.