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Oi! That's OUR MP!


Leon Roskilly

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For immediate release:

10th March 2005

 

COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE TO CAMPAIGN

AGAINST SHOOTING & FISHING MP

 

Reacting to the announcement by the Countryside Alliance that they plan to ship in hunting supporters to help the Conservative party in Reading West Labour MP Martin Salter and the Government’s Parliamentary Spokesman for Angling and Shooting claimed that this was “proof positive” that the Countryside Alliance was nothing more than a front for fox hunting and has never had the interests of either angling or shooting at heart.

 

In January the Alliance confirmed that whilst it was not willing to field its own candidates at the forthcoming general election it was planning to ship in members to help Martin Salter’s Conservative opponent. An Alliance spokesman said:

 

“We would not be surprised if our members got involved in the election campaign because they feel extremely strongly about this, particularly about Martin Salter who has consistently rejected evidence put before him and chosen to vote in favour of a ban.”

 

On Boxing Day the joint Master of the Vale of Aylesbury with Garth and South Berkshire Hunt David Flemming said of the Newbury and Reading West MPs:

 

“It only takes 50 people in each constituency to get rid of David Rendel and Martin Salter. We will go round the doorsteps and give people a reason to hoof them out. We will pound the streets and talk about the issues that hurt the most.”

 

Martin Salter said:

 

“I have always suspected that the Countryside Alliance was nothing more than a front for fox hunting and that their professed support for angling and shooting was simply an attempt to hoodwink others into backing their doomed cause. We now have proof positive that the Countryside Alliance only supports those anglers who support fox hunting. I am the first ever spokesman for angling and shooting to be appointed by any government and I would have thought that if the Alliance was serious about these sports they would want to work with me not against me.”

 

 

The High Court has rejected a legal challenge by the Countryside Alliance over the use of the Parliament Act to by-pass the opposition to the Hunting Bill in the House of Lords.

 

Mr Salter added:

 

“Their involvement in the election campaign in Reading will only help my chances of retaining my seat as my constituents will take a dim view of those Countryside Alliance supporters who have invaded Parliament, attacked police officers, assaulted and threatened MPs and their families, blockaded motorways, dumped dead animals in the public highway, denied land for training facilities to the British Army and threatened to poison reservoirs serving major towns and cities. These people think they are above the law of the land whilst the vast majority of anglers and shooters are decent law abiding people who do not want their sports tainted by these characters.”

 

Terry Mansbridge, Executive Chairman of the National Association of Fisheries and Angling Consultatives (NAFAC) that represents the views of over 400,000 anglers and others interested in the well being of our aquatic environment, said:

 

”We are disappointed that the Countryside Alliance has chosen to attack Martin in this way given that they purport to represent a large number of anglers. It is our experience that Martin has achieved much for our sport in his role as Parliamentary Spokesman for Angling and we are very grateful to him for all the support and assistance he has given us in this capacity. His re-election is a matter between him and his constituents and should not be influenced by outside interests with a specific agenda”.

 

David Bird, Chairman of the Specialist Angler’s Alliance said:

 

“Martin Salter has opened the doors of power to angling’s voice in a way no other MP has ever done before. It would be a sad day for angling if he was not in the next parliament.”

 

 

-ENDS-

 

Further information:

 

Martin Salter MP

Terry Mansbridge, NAFAC – 01553 829411

David Bird, SAA – 0208 398 0806

RNLI Shoreline Member

Member of the Angling Trust

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The CA have shown, with singular clarity, just where Angling, and democracy, stands. The Countryside Alliance is an affront to Angling in my honest opinion, and this episode shows just why. They should be ashamed of themselves.

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Peter - from a distance I have wondered about your stand re: the CA and your seeming paranoia on the whole topic.

 

Well Oops on me. Looks like you had the straight story all along. These folks have really pulled a dumb stunt here by showing their true colors in a way they really can't spin later to have another meaning.

 

Hmmmm. One wonders about such a strange move by an organization that hasn't made such a major mis-step in so public a fashion before. Wonder whose bright idea this was.

" My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!" - Harry Truman, 33rd US President

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Peter Waller:

The CA have shown, with singular clarity, just where Angling, and democracy, stands. The Countryside Alliance is an affront to Angling in my honest opinion, and this episode shows just why. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Yup.

 

I have just sent the following mail to Martin Salter:

 

----- Original Message -----

From: paulboote

To: salterm@parliament.uk

Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 7:20 PM

Subject: the Alliance affair

 

 

You have my full support here, Martin. I have had the idiots on my back for the past few years. Indeed, I received a punishment beating (at 9 o'clock night, near my home) three or four years back from two of their number after Alliance members had gatecrashed a talk I was giving to a private group of fishers. I wasn't fulminating about foxes and hunting (I couldn't care a monkey's about either), I had merely told the audience (when asked and pressed to answer in a Q&A session) that anglers should have nothing to do with the Countryside Alliance. The two gatecrashers created a near-riot before being ejected.

 

A fortnight later I was dragged off a pavement and into a park near my home, and given a right kicking. I gave one of the thugs -- real Hunt Servant sorts -- something to remember me by, though -- a deep gash from eye to cheek, a classic "Stitch This!" job -- with, interestingly, a Salter key!

 

I have posted your 10/3/05 press release to several friends of mine (some anglers, others non-anglers) in the Reading / Oxford area. Be assured, plenty of people will hear about it.

 

ATB

 

Paul

"What did you expect to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically...?"

 

Basil Fawlty to the old bat, guest from hell, Mrs Richards.

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Newt, I hope that do we meet when you come over to the UK, the invite still stands to you and Jan. You will find that we are quite an ordinary, and I hope decent couple.

 

I grew up on 'that' side of the fence, private school and all that, and whilst many of my friends, and business associates, are 'nobs,' I have to admit to prefering 'this' side of the rustic fence . But it does mean that I do know how some folk, who should know better, operate.

 

I can understand why you, and others, saw it as paranoia. I am always happy to be proven wrong, and I might be yet, but increasingly I doubt it.

 

By the way, if I read it correctly, there has always been a touch of rebel in my family. Apparently one of my 'family' is a signatory on your Declaration of Independence. Don't know how true that is but I like the idea!!

 

[ 10. March 2005, 08:06 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

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For once it seems I didn't have the wool pulled over my eyes.

 

Looking forward to the replies of those that think we as anglers should hold hands with the CA.

 

 

Eat right, stay fit, die anyway.

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'These folks have really pulled a dumb stunt here by showing their true colors in a way they really can't spin later to have another meaning.'

 

 

Seems like damning evidence to me too Newt, but what worries me is to what extent is it already spinning?

Slodger (Chris Hammond.)

 

'We should be fishin'

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It says,'reacting to the announcement by the CA' Peter, where have they announced it? I've just checked out their official web-site which has a daily bulletin board, and I can't find any trace of this story.

Slodger (Chris Hammond.)

 

'We should be fishin'

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If I was standing for Parliament, the last thing I would want is "help" from members of the Countryside Alliance. However, the fact that they have named Martin Salter as someone they wish to oppose speaks volumes - both about their total ignorance and their true allegiance.

English as tuppence, changing yet changeless as canal water, nestling in green nowhere, armoured and effete, bold flag-bearer, lotus-fed Miss Havishambling, opsimath and eremite, feudal, still reactionary, Rawlinson End.

 

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