JON BIGGER, pictured, on besmirching, Thatcherism and how his Croydon South general election rival is blatantly electioneering

Last week, I wrote about what I, and others it seems, have seen as blatant electioneering by Chris Philp, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Croydon South at next year’s election.

I read Philp’s response with great interest.

I was very disappointed, but not surprised, that he chose to misrepresent my position on the issue of potential cuts to train services in Coulsdon. My original article made it quite clear that there are proposals for cuts to off-peak services into Victoria.

The issue at the heart of this is Philp’s involvement (he does not, yet at least, hold any elected office for the area) and the way in which he uses his position within society to influence events. It all seems to be stepping on the toes of the very well-paid elected MP, Richard Ottaway.

As a businessman with a massive amount of money, Philp has me at a disadvantage. While he claims to be able to get into meetings with the chief executive of GoVia, my position as an unemployed Class War party activist means I get emails from office juniors of that company which quote their press releases back to me.

Philp benefits from the hierarchy of capitalism in everything he does. In that respect – and that respect only – he has the advantage over me.

It’s one of the reasons he will win the election. He should be aware, though, that in every other respect, I will beat him. There is a spectre hanging over his campaign and it is the spectre of Class War.

In his article, Philp claimed that I “besmirched” his character. Everything Philp stands for disgusts me. I’m going to besmirch him to within an inch of his life over the next few months.

He claims to be a Thatcherite. I suspect he shed a tear on the day that she died. I was giving a speech on a picket line and then I spent the afternoon drinking champagne. The reason for the joy was because of what she did to people and communities.

Chris Philp electioneering in his previous, unsuccessful, attempt to become an MP. The keeping police stations open bit didn’t work, either

Philp likes what Thatcher did, from the snatching away of shoolchildren’s milk, to the snatching of public assets to sell them off on the cheap to big business. He likes that Thatcher destroyed our country’s mining communities and her deliberate attacks on working people through chilling anti-trade union laws.

Thatcher was responsible for stifling freedom of speech by preventing Sinn Fein members from being able to speak in their own voices on British television. Evidence is mounting that within her government, a blind eye was turned to try to hide very serious allegations of child sex abuse.

I wonder what it is about Thatcherism that Philp likes? To me, Thatcherism stands for corruption, selfishness and the destruction of community life.

Someone should warn Philp against using words like “besmirch”. That word makes him sound bumptious, full of his own importance. Most people will interpret it that way, I feel. We can only guess what his posh Tory chums make of it. If only he’d highlighted my comments as “animadversion”, he could have impressed the toffs and made the rest of us reach for our dictionaries.

In the coming weeks I will be setting out my priorities for the election campaign. Mine will focus on democracy and participation. It will be radical in comparison to what Philp offers. It will offer hope while he will offer divisive policies aimed at helping the rich get richer and keeping the rest of us in line when we try to do something about our lot.

In my opinion, Philp failed in his right of reply to explain why he is already acting like the MP for Croydon South. He failed to detail on whose behalf he is acting and under what mandate.

I consider that he is using his societal position to influence the outcome of the election. It would be wrong to assume that I trust the press releases of corporations. I trust them as much as I trust Chris Philp: not at all.

Philp has failed to answer the points I raised about the way in which he has behaved in electioneering thus far. Residents in Croydon South deserve a proper appraisal of all his  activities in the run up to the election.

• Jon Bigger is the Croydon South parliamentary candidate for Class War

Coming to Croydon

• The Complete History of the BBC – Abridged, Spread Eagle, Sep 19-20
• South Croydon business breakfast, Sep 20
• Croydon Honey Show, Selsdon, Sep 20
• St Peter’s Church Book Sale, South Croydon, Sep 20
• Cinema Ruskin film show, Sep 20
• Music At The Unit, Lives Not Knives, Centrale, Sep 20
• Open House London weekend, Sep 20-21
• David Lean Cinema: A Night At The Cinema in 1914, Sep 22
• Activity to Work back-to-work workshops, Sep 23
• David Lean Cinema: Jimmy’s Hall, Sep 25
• Streatham Common 6M race, Sep 27
• Fancy dress family funday, Sep 28
• Ukrainian choir concert, St John’s Shirley, Sep 29
• Tree Sides, Spread Eagle Theatre, Oct 2-4
• The Goon Show, Spread Eagle Theatre, Oct 8-11
• Norwood Society Talk: From Fire Station to Theatre, Oct 16
• Cinema Ruskin film show, Oct 18
• South Croydon business breakfast, Oct 18
• Croydon 10km road race, Oct 19
• This Was The World and I Was King, Spread Eagle, Oct 23-25
• Albert Einstein – Relativity Speaking, Spread Eagle, Nov 12-15
• South Croydon business breakfast, Nov 15
• Norwood Society Talk: Lambeth’s Archives, Nov 20
• Choose Your Own Documentary, Spread Eagle Theatre, Nov 21-22
• The Last Sense of Sudden, Spread Eagle Theatre, Nov 27-29
• Ghost Stories for Christmas, Spread Eagle Theatre, Dec 3
• Fog Horn Funnies, Spread Eagle Theatre, Dec 6
• South Croydon business breakfast, Dec 13
• South Croydon business breakfast, Jan 24

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