The Murrison camp is gearing up for the election. Andrew Murrison is my current MP, and although voting Tory isn't in my DNA, I have to admit he's dealt promptly and effectively with the issues I've raised with him during his time as my representative. In particular I remember writing to him before the vote on whether to go to war in Iraq. He voted against. Here's my original email:

From: Tony Locke
Sent: 16 March 2003 23:27
To: Andrew Murrison
Subject: Impending war in Iraq

Dear Andrew Murrison,

As one of your constituents, I am writing to express my view on the impending war in Iraq.

I think that the overriding concern is that any action must have the full support of the UN. In this case the UN has not unambiguously sanctioned war, and so I would urge you to vote against the UK going to war with Iraq.

Regards,

Tony.

and his reply:

From: MURRISON, Andrew
To: Tony Locke
Subject: RE: Impending war in Iraq
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 10:18:09 -0000

By now you will no know that I voted against the government again but unfortunately overnight events have overtaken us.

I've got one of his leaflets in front of me now, entitled Trowbridge Residents' Survey. This post is my reply to the first item on this survey, the NHS.

I think that any organization should be able to set up a hospital providing it meets the minimum standard of the regulator. The NHS should always be free at the point of use, so funding should follow the patient. The government should not have a monopoly on [providing]{style="font-style: italic;"} state funded health services. The patient should be given choice, to drive up standards.

The leaflet says a Conservative proposal is [A new scheme to help older people insure against the cost of residential care so they do not have to sell their homes]{style="font-style: italic;"}. I think that residential care should be funded by the state, from general taxation, just like the NHS.

I've written a list of what I'd like the Conservatives to do.