Welcome to Witney

Well thanks to the thousands of supporters who voted in our Cameron billboard challenge today the campaign headed out West with a little message on a very large truck for the attention of one David Cameron MP.

So we parked up outside his constituency office in the Witney, Oxfordshire, a seat so safe it’s not changed hands in an election for a century.

When we hit the streets we quickly understood that Witney is not quite as ‘safe’ as it seems. At the last election Cameron enjoyed support of barely a third of his constituents, and less than half of those who actually bothered to vote – the normal state of affairs for our MPs with our crude winner takes all elections.

Most people in Witney, as with most people in Britain, didn’t want their MP. And at the bus stop, on the high street, and in the Market Square they weren’t afraid to tell us. But today we decided to focus on that minority of Cameron voters.

In recent weeks we’ve been gathering evidence. We had asked the people at YouGov to speak to voters across the country. We wanted to know what voters – of all parties – really thought about our call for a referendum, particularly the ones David claims to speak for.

The facts are that Cameron’s got it wrong on reform. And even Tory voters think so.



Voters want a debate. Conservative supporters want a debate. But David Cameron it seems doesn’t. He needs to have a little more faith in his arguments and in the common sense of the voting public.

This argument can’t be won by stifling this debate. And it won’t be won by the sort of disinformation Conservative Central Office has been peddling on the Internet. It will be won by making a compelling case to voters, and giving them the final verdict at a referendum.

Next week the referendum bill is back in the Commons, and in a matter of weeks we face a new barrier – The House of Lords. Barons, Dukes and Earls will have a vote that counts, and Cameron shouldn’t let his friends in that Medieval Chamber stop our chance to update a Victorian one.

Video's over on Youtube, snaps up on Facebook.

Well got to rush. It's a dozen odd Tory seats between Witney and Brighton, where we've got an appointment to keep with Tory Spring Conference.