Greg Stafford speaks to The Herald and other media following his win of the new Farnham & Bordon seat.
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00:00Against the Lib Dems and the OECD, tonight, coming out on top, though, you must be incredibly pleased.
00:06Yes, of course I'm pleased, but I'm more pleased that the people here in Farnham and Borden
00:11recognise the things that I was trying to achieve here.
00:14I mean, when I was talking on the doorstep, the things that were coming back to me were around the NHS
00:19and I think my background, if anything, probably tipped the advantage to me on that
00:24because I really understand what's going on and I think being able to talk about it nationally
00:29but also translate that locally is so important.
00:33It's quite an unusual seat being a Surrey-Hampshire seat.
00:36Does that mean you approach it in a different way?
00:38How do you meet the needs of people in Surrey and Hampshire as well?
00:42Well, of course, crossing a county boundary does make it more complicated.
00:45You've got two sets of local authorities, two sets of police forces, an umpteen number of NHS authorities.
00:51But actually, when I've been knocking on doors, I've found that the line on the map is fairly arbitrary to residents.
00:57You know, when they shop, people in Hindhead go off to Greyshot to shop.
01:01So I think that's not going to be a problem.
01:04I think for this constituency, the biggest thing pan-constituency is about infrastructure.
01:09And that's roads, that's doctors that I've already talked about, that's leisure centres, schools.
01:14And that is an issue and something we need to resolve across the constituency.
01:18So it will have challenges but I think there are also benefits too.
01:21You've mentioned the NHS quite extensively obviously now and in your speech.
01:24How can you affect change in the NHS in a minority government?
01:27Well, I've always said that I'd like to take the politics out of the NHS.
01:30I've said I think we need some kind of royal commission or something similar where all parties and none can come together to discuss this.
01:35Because I think it's so... we've treated the NHS in a very short-term way.
01:40Every five years, another government comes in and promises a little bit more money.
01:43But the reality is we have an ageing population with complicated needs.
01:46We have a diminishing birth rate for people to pay for it.
01:49So together, we really need to get together and really have a sensible conversation about how we're going to sort this out.
01:53How important will success look like in Farnham, let's say over your first 100 days?
01:58Over 100 days in Farnham? Well, I think the first thing I've got to do is we've got a big Farnham infrastructure project.
02:03I want to get to grips with that.
02:05When I was speaking to local businesses, they're very much in favour of it but they need to get it phased in the right way
02:09so that we don't end up damaging the businesses through it.
02:12I think that's really important.
02:14But constituency-wise, the thing I'd like to see in the first 100 days is some of those big infrastructures projects,
02:18especially in Borden, actually start to take off again.
02:21It's been a bit of a slump.
02:23I think having a new person as a Member of Parliament will give it the impetus to start again.
02:28Would you start with me? Who's leading the party?
02:31Do you know what? I don't know.
02:33I made some reference in my speech just now about the sort of values that I think the Conservative Party needs to recapture.
02:38It's not to me about left or right of the party.
02:40It's about competence. It's about integrity.
02:42It's about listening to the public and delivering for them.
02:45If I can find whoever is left as a Member of Parliament, whoever ticks those boxes for me will be the person I vote for.
02:53Building on that, you mentioned Jeremy Hunt in your speech.
02:57He's represented the area in the past.
02:59Would you be urging him to at least consider running for leadership of your party?
03:03I think it would be very cheeky of me as someone who's just been elected to be urging the Chancellor of the Exchequer to do anything.
03:11Jeremy's been a fantastic Chancellor of the Exchequer in very difficult circumstances.
03:15If he wants to put himself forward, I say to him, go for it.
03:17You've got NHS experience, so you'll believe that will give you a real boost in being able to improve the NHS services in the area?
03:26I've got to be honest. Nothing's going to happen overnight.
03:29It's not going to happen in the first hundred days, I can tell you.
03:31But the reality is I know how to deal with the NHS.
03:34I've worked in it for over seven years now.
03:36I know the doors to knock on.
03:38I know the things that need to be done.
03:40I think that's going to give me advantage over other people.
03:43It's a new constituency, but it's a new reality for you as well.
03:47Your life has somewhat changed in the last couple of minutes.
03:51Personally, how are you feeling about the next couple of days revolving into this new role in your life?
03:58I think it's very exciting. I'm really thrilled.
04:01Obviously, I'd like to have a little bit of a rest on the rest of Friday if I'm allowed.
04:05But I'm going to be off at the Horne Fair and at the Linford Fair tomorrow.
04:11So I'm going to go straight back into it.
04:12And of course, there's all the administrative stuff to do as well.
04:15Setting up an office, getting staff, and starting to respond to constituents' concerns and queries.
04:20And of course, whatever I'm going to be doing in Westminster as well.
04:23What's your favourite part of Hull?
04:25Oh, that's very cheeky. I love the whole of the constituency.
04:29I think we're really lucky in this area.
04:31There are so many brilliant places, and I love them all.
04:37It's just sort of unbelievable.
04:39So essentially now, you're the last seat to be declared in Surrey.
04:42You've got six Lib Dems, six Conservatives.
04:45So it's half split between you now and the council.
04:48That's a very different political picture though, isn't it?
04:50From what's happened historically in Surrey before.
04:52Yes, absolutely.
04:53Of course, it must be clear, because those people who live on the Hampshire side would not forgive me if I did not mention them.
04:59They're obviously a split constituency.
05:01Yes, I think the new political reality, not just in Surrey but across the country, is going to take some getting used to.
05:06My view is I will work with anyone from any political party or none if I think they've got good ideas and I think they're working for the benefit of our area.
05:13Thank you.
05:15Thank you very much.