Harrow, Is Mike Freer a bit lost?

We at Bugle Towers are scratching our heads as to why Mike Freer MP (Finchley and Golders Green) is commenting on a hospital rebuild in Stanmore, Middlesex.

Click to read more ...

Grumpy new MP, Mike Freer, throws a hissy 'twit'

We at Barnet Bugle HQ were a bit surprised that Mike Freer's tweets were no longer showing up on our Twitter application. This upset us, so we sent in our crack team to investigate.

First looking at Mr Freer's twitter page we were first disappointed that he wasn't following our tweets. In fact, clearly seeing himself as more of a leader than a follower, he only follows three twitters, namely:

1. The well known gay newspaper http://twitter.com/pinknews
2. The incisive Jewish Chronicle reporter, and our friend, http://twitter.com/MarcusDysch
3. Conservative activist, unsuccessful East Finchley candidate, and our friend, http://twitter.com/kitfriend

 But then we were mortified that when we clicked on the 'follow' button the following appeared.

Can anyone fill The Bugle in as to what, aside from reporting on his appearances in the House of Commons, we have done to warrant this most unfriendly behaviour? Isn't being reported on and scrutinised part and parcel of being an MP?

Comment below or tweet @mikefreer and ask him.

Video of parliamentary hustings at Finchley Mosque (7 April)

The video from this hustings has now been released after some delay.

Courtesy of Barnet Muslim Forum and Mustafa Arif. The event was chaired by Saqeb Mueen.

Previously Anti Cameron Blog now hosts videos specially prepared by Conservative Parliamentary candidates

UPDATE 2 MAY 2010: You will remember that the editor of the LDN boasted of their 'thousands' of readers and asked all three candidates to address them directly. See left a screenshot from their YouTube page 5 days after the videos were uploaded and heavily promoted on their site. This doesn't include the viewings from the videos below as we reloaded them to our paid for Vimeo account (although we did include a link below).

One can only speculate as to why Mike Freer's has a third of the views of the less entertaining other two Barnet videos.

Original article

Regular readers will remember our recent article that highlighted a broadside attack on David Cameron and the Conservative manifesto by a London blog often promoted by Conservative Councillor Andreas Tambourides.

We commented that it is seen by many as the in-house journal of the Town Hall, Barnet Conservatives.

They recently called for the General Election to be suspended due to the Volcanic Ash !?

Following our expose of their assault on the Conservative manifesto, their editorial seems to have rowed back and the LDN is now calling for a Conservative government:

The daily online newspaper The London Daily News is today endorsing the campaigns of Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green), Matthew Offord (Hendon) and Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) to be the Members of Parliament for the respective constituencies.

All three candidates have worked hard to promote the interests of their constituents, and local party, and have spearheaded the drive for change in London, that is so required after thirteen years of a Labour government.

And three 'videocasts' are published.

Unfortunately Matthew Offord is cut off in his prime....

Unfortunately Mike Freer can barely be heard, the amateurish video cameraman doesn't seem to have thought about the roaring traffic in Ballards Lane, or got the zoom right before starting to film !

Similarly popular local MP Theresa Villiers is cut off right in the middle of speaking after just a minute or so !

What seems to be most difficult to comprehend is that the voiceover from LDN asks the three candidates to address their 'thousands' of viewers. However a cursory gaze over recent videos over the past year show that most have between 100 and 200 views which would include people watching twice etc.

The Bugle has consistently stood squarely behind David Cameron and his ambitious manifesto (of which we have our own hard back copy!).

P.S. Rumours reach the Bugle that the aforementioned Andreas Tambourides has been emailing Conservative Councillors about a fantastic "boom and spike" in hits on the Hendon, Finchley and Barnet Conservative Association websites. The master of spin and hype has claimed that thousands and thousands of voters have been attracted there, a claim we find difficult to believe given there is hardly anything on any of them. Except that the Hendon Conservatives site has a video of Matthew Offord called "Time for Change" that was uploaded in January 2010. Strangely of the tens of thousands of visitors Tambourides speaks of the video has 192 views.

Maybe Tambourides has mixed up his hits (10,000s) with his unique visitors (100s) ?

Videos of Barnet Borough declarations from 1974 election

Will 2010 also bring three Conservative MPs but a hung parliament? Nostaligic stuff!

London Evening Standard report Labour have abandoned Finchley and Golders Green. Mike Freer has the seat in the bag.

They write

Has Labour finally written off its candidate Alison Moore? The bookmakers have. Here, they are quoting 1-20 on a victory by her Tory rival Mike Freer.

Private polling puts Mr Freer at least 12 points ahead of Ms Moore. While David Cameron clearly sees this symbolic win as safe in the hands of Mr Freer, 49, an engaging former banker and leader of Barnet council, defeatism has crept into Labour ranks. “I hope it's a close race, if you know what I mean,” Ms Moore admitted after a hustings.

The question the Bugle has is whether Labour have a chance of saving Woodhouse, West Finchley and East Finchley Wards. We suspect not...

Ooops! The Bernat Times announces "Sixtee candidates" including "Andre Dismore"

Courtesy of the Times Group (c) 2010Were the Bernat Times in a rush to get this story out? Anything to do with our scoop on the Barnet Council candidates that we were a full day ahead of them with?

Who knows!

Update on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 5:07PM by The Barnet Bugle

Good nesw teh Bernat Temis hsa udpated teh articel

Cnogartulatoins!

Exclusive - Full list of parliamentary candidates for Chipping Barnet, Finchley and Golders Green and Hendon

Constituency - Candidates Name - Party

Chipping Barnet - Stephen David Barber - Liberal Democrats

Chipping Barnet - Philip Gerald Clayton - Independent

Chipping Barnet - James Gordon Fluss - UK Independence Party

Chipping Barnet - Kate Tansley - Green Party

Chipping Barnet - Theresa Villiers - Conservative Party Candidate

Chipping Barnet - Damien Welfare - The Labour Party Candidate

Finchley & Golders Green - Susan Cummins - UK Independence Party

Finchley & Golders Green - Laura Rose Edge - Liberal Democrats

Finchley & Golders Green - Mike Freer - Conservative Party Candidate

Finchley & Golders Green - Donald Edmund Lyven - Green Party

Finchley & Golders Green - Alison Moore - The Labour Party Candidate

Hendon - Andrew Dismore - The Labour Party Candidate

Hendon - Matthew Frederick Harris - Liberal Democrats

Hendon - Robin Lambert - UK Independence Party

Hendon - Andrew John Newby - Green Party

Hendon - Matthew James Offord - Conservative Party Candidate