Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport joined me in Folkestone last week for a guided tour of the Triennial Arts exhibition, with Roger De Haan and the Creative Foundation’s chief executive, Alastair Upton. We visited a number of the most popular works including the new Payers Park by the London […]
My motivation for getting involved in politics was to use the position of being Member of Parliament to work to help everyone have the chance to achieve what they want to in life. At the last general election four years ago, the greatest threat to the opportunities people wanted to pursue was the weak state of the […]
On Wednesday morning this week I met with Greg Dyke the Chairman of the Football Association, to discuss his new report on investment in grassroots sport in England. In particular he is calling for more investment in all weather artificial pitches and for councils who no longer wish to maintain local sporting facilities to transfer them […]
When the internationally renowned artist Banksy recently placed one of his works (worth an estimated £400,000) on a wall at Clacton on Sea it was scrubbed off by the council. Yet the appearance of one of his distinctive paintings in Folkestone produced an entirely different response. Banksy's painting near Payers Park, was instantly protected by the council. People […]
I was shocked to be told last week that 130 people currently being held in the asylum system were being placed in the Grand Burstin hotel in Folkestone. Like Shepway Council I had not been given any notice of this decision until after it had been made and the people concerned were already on their way […]