DEAREST Claire Throssell being in number 10 with Keir Starmer. Making MASSIVE news. For Claire this was a monumental moment.
A change in policy she has been fighting for too many years and too many governments – this is the sixth since Jack and Paul died.
All that Claire will now be concerned with is that what she has wanted to happen, is happening. And so she should rejoice.
So allow me to be the bad man. The alacrity with which the change has occurred tells me how little effort it would have taken any of those six governments to act. Keir Starmer has been pressured and SHAMED into doing it and that’s quite different from him being proactive because it was the right thing, so all that self-congratulatory nonsense doesn’t wash with me.
He didn’t even mention it at the recent conference even though it was supposedly part of his manifesto, so that’s how much he cared about the boys.
As for Jess Phillips, she was very very keen to be involved years ago when Claire and I were going to write her book and she asked to write the foreword.
Distanced herself when the book finally was written by Claire and Michelle Rawlins though, said the home office forbade her from writing the foreward.
Yeah course. She did bugger all to help get the repeal through despite her ‘protect women’ stance. But there she was on the TV hugging Claire as if she was an integral part of her success.
Years ago, Angela Smith had ignored Claire – and also me when I asked her to get involved. It was only thanks to Michael Dugher doing a nifty bit of politics that she was FORCED onboard (never forgotten what Mike did there) and then she realised there was glory to be mopped up.
But there is someone who really should be getting some very public recognition, especially because she hasn’t acted for personal acclaim: Marie Tidball.
She met Claire at a Remembrance Day ceremony and promised that if she was elected to Parliament she would do everything she could to help her.
And boy did she fulfil her promise. A belter of a genuine woman. There – it’s said.
I’d like to give a huge thank you to Nicola Grierson, Joanne and Mel the porter at the Town Hall for helping to make my book launch there the success that it was (as well as White Rose Tea Room for the to-die-for buffet).
I wanted it to be a proper treat for people and show off our formidable Town Hall and it was mission accomplished.
They were brilliant, it was a fab night and I think it has the breath of my mum behind it. On that day I had won a lucky dip on the lottery (whoop-di-doo). The numbers were 26 and 3 – the day and month of mum’s birthday.
It felt like something more than coincidence and one of the messages of my book is to ‘accept the mystery’ so I did.
No, the lucky dip didn’t bring me a fortune, but the feeling she was with me was worth more than money.
Shout out for your diaries. Brampton Parish Hall, Sunday, November 2 10am-2pm, there is a Christmas fair. It has been running for seven years and is organised by a young lady called Amelia Newsome and her mum to raise funds for a local group called ‘A Christmas Wish’ which helps to provide gifts for local families at Christmas who are struggling. I’m pretty sure if you go along with a donated raffle prize, they’d be delighted to receive it. What a special young lady she is for doing this. Good luck!
