Helen Harrison Wellingborough by-election candidate for Conservative Party speaks to Northants Telegraph reporter Alison Bagley.
Ms Harrison could replace her partner Peter Bone as MP for Wellingborough
Ms Harrison could replace her partner Peter Bone as MP for Wellingborough
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00:00 How are you? I'm very well thanks Alison. How's the past few weeks been for you?
00:06 Really busy as you can imagine. It's been quite hectic leading up to the
00:10 selection of the candidate which took place on Sunday.
00:14 And since then I've hit the ground running. I've been out on the doorsteps
00:18 every single day talking to the voters who are the important people in this
00:21 election and getting the campaign off the ground. So yeah really busy.
00:25 So elephant in the room question. How's it been with the attention after the recall
00:30 petition? After all that you've been in the eye of the storm for
00:34 months. What's it been like for you in that respect? Being on the
00:39 centre of that recall petition and the reasons why it was triggered?
00:42 Obviously it's been a deeply unpleasant process but as you know Alison, Peter has
00:48 consistently made it clear that the allegations against him are false and
00:53 unfounded. And as his partner I'm one of a small number of people who's actually
00:58 seen all of the evidence in this case and I believe the allegations to be
01:02 untrue. The parliamentary authorities have insisted on me signing a
01:08 confidentiality agreement so unfortunately I can't say anything more
01:11 on the subject than that. But you know what I think the people of Wellingborough
01:15 and Rushton are really concerned about at the moment is actually why Labour
01:19 won't support our plans to stop the boats and reduce immigration. It's
01:22 issues like that that people are going to be voting on in this by-election.
01:25 Peter described the recall petition decision by the electorate as bizarre.
01:30 You're saying it's about what the voters care about. What do you think about their
01:34 decision? I think that the Labour Party had the campaign entirely to themselves
01:41 as is the case in all recall petitions. There's nothing you can do as the
01:47 sitting MP who's facing the recall petition to do anything that might have
01:51 created a different effect of that outcome. You simply have to sit
01:56 quietly and wait for that to happen. As you know something in the region of 10,000
02:01 people voted for it. I think it's in the region of what is it 67,000 people chose
02:07 not to. So you know I think what Peter meant was that the rules around the
02:12 around the recall rules are the bizarre part. That a mere 10% of people, a small
02:18 number of people can make such a decision that has in effect ended his
02:23 career. I think he was in Parliament and voted for that recall petition.
02:27 What's the truth behind the report that Peter threatened to
02:34 stand as an independent unless you were on the shortlist for the candidacy?
02:38 I think again we've addressed that issue when the Sunday Times first
02:42 approached us with that story. The truth of the issue is that we were contacted
02:48 by people within the party and it was suggested that Peter could resign before
02:54 the recall petition started and it was suggested by those people that I would
02:58 then be in the final selection to be the candidate. We turned that option down and
03:03 as you know Peter allowed the recall petition to go ahead. So that's the truth
03:07 of that situation. They have said to me they think that you're an electoral
03:12 liability for the Conservatives. You know you're the partner of
03:17 the former MP. You've got reform coming in with the same sort of policies that
03:24 stop the votes policies. Do you think that you standing, Helen Harrison standing
03:31 instead of Peter Bone, is that going to cost votes? No. I'm out on the doorstep
03:37 every day with Peter as you know and with our activists and the issue around
03:45 the circumstances of Peter no longer being the MP is virtually never raised
03:50 on the doorstep. The issues that are raised are exactly the ones that you
03:53 just mentioned about stopping the small votes, about improving our NHS locally,
03:58 getting the hospital built, getting our urgent care centre in Wellingborough,
04:02 making sure that we get the Aysham bypass delivered. It's issues like that
04:06 that people are talking to me about on the doorstep and you know it's
04:13 interesting that you're talking about me in the context of my relationship with a
04:17 man all the time. When I'm a professional woman who's you know I'm a chartered
04:23 physiotherapist, I've worked in the NHS, I've run my own business. In terms of
04:27 politics I've fought two previous parliamentary elections in Ashfield and
04:33 in Bolsover. Bolsover I got the second best Conservative result in the country
04:37 in 2017. I think I've proved myself politically and locally I've absolutely
04:42 proved myself politically. I've been elected both to the District Council
04:45 previously and to the new North Northampton Unitary Council. I've been the
04:49 Executive Member for Adults Health and Wellbeing, the largest spending portfolio
04:52 in the council. You know I think I, Helen Harrison, have proved myself both
04:58 professionally and politically that I'm the right kind of person to stand and
05:04 ask the people of Wellingborough and Rushden for their votes. And not only
05:07 that I'm absolutely 100% local. I was born in Kettering General Hospital, I was
05:12 raised and educated in North Northamptonshire. I live here in the
05:16 constituency in Urchester, prior to that in Wellingborough. I mean you couldn't
05:20 get somebody more local and more dedicated to the area. I've been
05:23 campaigning in Rushden and Wellingborough for years. I know what the
05:27 things are that people concerned about because I campaign on those issues all
05:31 the time and I'm out on the doorstep all the time, not just at elections. You know
05:35 what the Wellingborough and Rushden listening team get up to? We're
05:38 always out there listening to our voters, delivering for our voters. So am I an
05:44 electoral liability? Absolutely not.