Helen Harrison - Peter Bone's girlfriend talks about Wellingborough by-election - video Dailymotion

Northants Telegraph

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

Transcript

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.

Helen Harrison - Peter Bone's girlfriend talks about Wellingborough by-election

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