Servant of all I survey

It's amazing how much you find out simply by listening to what people have to say. And it helps me greatly in my work to understand what people would hope to see. After all, if you don't know what people want, how can you work effectively on their behalf? So I am asking every voter in Dover & Deal what they think in a constituency suvey.

This isn't simply a homespun homily. Abraham Lincoln said in the famous "Gettysburg Address":

"Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth"

I also take this as a reminder that the job of everyone in public life is to listen, to serve and, above all, to represent. Too often politicians seem but slavish party toadies - lobby fodder who say little in Parliament and vote as they are told without much thought for the people who elected them. The worst tell their constituents one thing and then go up to Parliament and vote in the opposite direction. No wonder public trust in politicians is so low when this sort of stuff goes on.

No-one should be arrogant enough to believe they will do a perfect job or change the World - although we might hope to get lucky! Yet my hope is that I will never get tired or forget the interests of the people whose trust I would hope to serve.