According to legend the young Jimmy Goldsmith was being admonished by his father for failing to learn to read. He listened attentively and then replied. ‘But Daddy I don’t need to know how to read. When I am big I will pay someone to read for me!’ Edward’s young brother was just seven at the time.
In my archives is a hand-written letter dated 26 March 1997 from Sir James Goldsmith addressed to me as the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Oldham West & Royton. ‘Dear William Shepherd. Marc Gordon tells me that you are doing a superb job, and I just wanted to write to congratulate you, to thank you, and to say we are all behind you. James Goldsmith.’
The letter came from Dean Bradley House, 52 Horseferry Road, Westminster, London SW1P 2AF. It was here I first met Priti Patel ten years ago. Jimmy Goldsmith had declared the Referendum Party into existence in a television interview. Many professional firms…lawyers, public relations, accountants…received a significant portion of their annual income from the Goldsmith coffers. They were all caught off-guard by the announcement.
The Referendum Party had just taken a lease on the Horseferry Road premises. There were crates and boxes everywhere. Priti was at the centre of the storm…answering phones, directing removal men, greeting candidates and party supporters, and spreading good cheer among her fellow-workers…a mix of Alistair Campbell Political Operatives and Sloan Rangers on Day Release from Roedean and Benenden. Finding a young Asian girl brimming with confidence and directing operations came as quite a surprise…and for me a very refreshing surprise.
I had a couple of run-ins with Horseferry Road over the next six months…a section in my election address explaining that as an MP I would work for average wages with the rest of my salary going to a lottery for those on social benefit in the constituency and concern about my Fortnightly Update…which was otherwise extremely well-received… reprinting Flanders and Swann’s Song of Patriotic Prejudice. On each occasion Priti gave me her take on mood and substance…and on each occasion I took her advice and withdrew the offending piece. Priti was 23 at the time.
Last week Priti Patel was picked to fight Witham in Essex for the Conservative Party at the next election…a first for the Cameron A-list Strategy where HQ candidates challenge Favourite Sons to win selection on merit. In her Selection Interview Priti Patel had made clear her Conservative beliefs. Fortunately for her chances these beliefs were those the committee wanted to hear…like ‘I will never vote for the euro because I want to see a Britain that is governed by the British for the British.’ A bigger hurdle for Priti was keeping her place on the Conservative Party’s A-list nine months earlier when she just scraped through after much online criticism 49% to 48% with 3% undecided.
Here is a transcript of the Three-Minute Speech that won me selection as the Referendum Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Oldham West and Royton ten years ago. Election Result? Meacher 58.8%, Shepherd 2.5%. Hmm!
‘Good evening. Thank you very much for coming today…I am William Shepherd…I live in Rye...a small town on the south coast of England…I travel to Boulogne more often than Ashford or Hastings…I am a committed European… my son studies engineering in Sweden…my daughter is fluent in Spanish...and her best friend’s father is French...but I live in Rye because it is English…and because I love its Englishness…this Englishness is being destroyed…not by invasion from without...nor by corruption from within…but by stealth...stolen by a thief in the night.'
'Now I have decided enough is enough…I want a Nobler Europe...a Europe of the People…governed by the people...and for the people…but this is not the way it is going. The Referendum Party is going to change that…our aim is to secure a fair referendum…on this country’s future in Europe…twenty years ago we voted for a future as part of Europe…our politicians told us this would mean we could go to Bruges or Salzburg without a passport…buy wine, beer and baccy at French prices…compete for contracts in Dresden on a level playing field…the politicians lied to us…they were embarked on their own private millennium project…to create a United States of Europe.’
‘We lend our power to politicians…we lease it to them for five years...then we expect it back…as the Referendum Party we are saying…return the power borrowed from the people of Britain…we will decide our own future in europe…we insist on being consulted.'
'As a party we have no interest in whether you agree with Tony Benn and Ken Livingstone…or Margaret Thatcher and Virginia Bottomley…the Referendum Party is saying Yes to Europe…but as a party we are also saying a Nobler Europe is only possible by first saying No to Maastricht...a treaty too far in Margaret Thatcher’s words.'
'This election may be your last chance…once power has slipped away to Brussels…It won’t matter who you vote for in British elections…your Members of Parliament will be men of straw…Tony Blair will not have the power to reduce income tax to ten percent…John Major will not have the power to allow our farmers to grow healthy crops.'
'But a vote for the Referendum Party will change this…as a party we are saying…Let the People Decide if Westminster or Brussels governs Britain…as a party the Referendum Party has one policy...and one policy only…to obtain a fair referendum on Britain’s future in europe…once we have secured this...we will dissolve the party...now let me hear what you think...starting with your questions…thank you.’ [2m45s].
