Kelly Tolhurst: A local history...

Fake picture, true sentiment?  Only Kelly knows...

Kelly Tolhurst, Strood and Rochester (and Cuxton and Halling’s) Tory MP is very much a local lady. Born in Gillingham and raised in Rochester, she went to school at old Chapter girl’s school before starting out her working career in marketing (for New Zealand Lamb) and then working for her own marine survey company.

Kelly first got involved in local politics after campaigning with residents to stop Borstal Recreation Ground from being lost to development, and between 2011 and 2018 she represented Rochester West as a member of Medway Council. In 2014, she stood as the Tory candidate in the by-election caused by the defection of Mark Reckless to UKIP.

To the area’s eternal shame, UKipper Mark “Rotter” Reckless won the 2014 by-election, but was thankfully dispatched off into political oblivion by Kelly in the subsequent 2015 general election, who secured a thumping 15,000 majority in the process. “He means nothing. He’s history. I’m the MP for the next five years”, she crowed after a bitter campaign conducted in the media spotlight, showing a ruthless streak one wouldn’t necessarily expect from her.

The oleaginous PM at the time, David Cameron, used newly-elected Kelly to bolster his shaky female-friendly credentials, though her no-nonsense demeanor helped her avoid being pitched as one of “Cameron’s Cuties”. Nevertheless, her parliamentary voting record shows her unswerving loyalty towards her Tory leadership, seldom failing to vote for just whatever her Prime Minister of the day wants her to vote for.

"Oh, come on, Kelly. Just call me Dave..."

Given that she has this tendency to “go with the flow,” it is difficult to know what Kelly Tolhurst really believes in at any one time. She certainly seemed to tie herself in knots over the vexed question of Brexit. During her campaign against Mark Reckless, her views on the EU and immigration seemed to be more UKIP than UKIP, and yet in 2016 she took the pro-Cameron line, campaigning on the "Remain" side and saying:

“Having listened to the debate, looked at the facts, and spoken to prominent campaigners on both sides, I have now made my own decision that I will be voting to remain on the 23rd June. I believe that the risks to my country will be greater if we leave than if we remain part of the EU at this point in time.”

This surprised a few people from her anti-Reckless campaign days, earning her the sobriquet “Turncoat Tolhurst” in some circles.

Following the Tory party post-referendum paroxysms, Kelly soon reverse-ferreted again and became a born-again Brexiter, writing to her few constituents who didn’t believe in national economic suicide, telling them that they were just “members of the London metropolitan elite” (a lazy insult straight from the desk of Dominic Cummings).

Such somersaults of conviction have done little to damage her popularity with her constituents. In 2017’s general election, she was returned with a majority of 9850, 54% of the vote, following that up with a massive 17072 majority and 60% of the vote in 2019.

Her constituents like her.

Cartoon by Gerald Scarfe...

Kelly seemed to get the itch to further her career after getting re-elected for a third time. She was already well-known for her debates with fellow MPs on matters of national importance, and fortunately for Kelly, loyalty is the one key factor when it comes to building a Tory ministerial career. As a result, she was finally rewarded with a position in January 2018 as Assistant Whip (HM Treasury).

Unfortunately for her, one of her first tasks back then was to be packed off to give a TV interview on BBC Newsnight. It was rather nasty of Euan Davis to ask her a question to which it was impossible to give an honest answer (“Apart from Brexit, what are you going to do?”) and Kelly fell at the first hurdle. Of course, the Tories had nothing to offer the country at time other than slogans (and still haven’t) and Kelly might as well have been sent into the studio in her underwear for all the support she had on that one.

The resultant car-crash of an interview, both for the government and Kelly herself, seemed to taint her subsequent career. She was shuffled around Westminster in a series of Parliamentary Under-secretarial roles, none lasting more than about six months, until she formally resigned from her last position in January 2021, citing “devastating family news” as the reason.

Unlike some of her local MP colleagues, Kelly is an intensely private person, refusing to live her life on FaceTube or whatever, and using social media strictly for business only.  She has never publicly explained what her “news” was, but Kelly has yet to return to the deranged, febrile merry-go-round of Tory ministerial politics. And I think she is well out of it at the moment.

The "official" Kelly...

Whatever you may think of her political leanings, there can be no doubt that Kelly Tolhurst is an immensely hard-working local MP. Her Facebook pages show her attending meetings and photo-shoots and generally doing her best to represent what she believes to be the best interests of her constituents. 

But take a look at her voting record. It’s grim reading for anyone who thinks we need to reduce the gap between rich and poor, or take positive action on climate change and the environment.

And there is one vote that stands out…

At the behest of her Prime Minister she voted not to support sanctions against MP Owen Paterson, who had been found by the Parliamentary Standards Committee to be taking money from healthcare company Randox and then apparently promoting their interests. The PM then did one of his trademark U-turns in response to the tidal wave of public outrage, making Tory MPs like our Kelly look craven and foolish in the process.

Kelly then showed just how out-of-touch she now is with the mood of her constituents, by saying that she actually believed that Paterson was somehow unfairly treated! “A standards committee is actually not a particularly pleasant process for anyone to go through… we needed to look at it,” she opined.

Er, no, Kelly, it’s simple. If MPs don’t break lobbying rules, then they won’t have to go up before those oh-so-beastly people at the Standards Committee, will they?

All of which brings me to Kelly’s stated support for the Vineyard Farms to build on Green Belt land at Upper Bush.

In common with a lot of people in Cuxton, I wrote asking her to support the Parish Council’s opposition to the winery project.  She wrote back saying “no can do…”

“I can confirm that, on balance, I am in favour of this application due the jobs it will create both on site and in the supply chain, the financial benefits to the community and wider area, and it could help to secure the surrounding land use as agricultural rather than leaving open to housing developers….”

“However, I do note that local people are concerned about the traffic impact which the winery could have on local roads and traffic. I know that traffic is an issue throughout the area, especially at peak times. However, the winery has provided information on their proposal to keep this as minimal possible.  I hope this has helped to confirm my position on this.”

But (rather like Brexit) nothing about Kelly's views is as clear-cut as it seems...

Only a few days after I received her letter, there was Our Kelly on her Facebook page, buffing up her environmental credentials in support of some RSPB initiative to help endangered birds.

Kelly going "green" on Facebook...

Someone had the temerity to point out that her sudden “keen for green” stance was at odds for her apparent support for the winery. 

Kelly’s response was indignant… 

As several people subsequently pointed out, that’s clearly at odds with her written responses to her constituent’s concerns about the winery. There are only two possible explanations for this:

1)      She has adopted her Prime Minister’s standard approach to being caught out, or:

2)      She has changed her mind.

Kelly and Boris. Discussing Peppa Pig World, perhaps...?

After all, this is the same Kelly Tolhurst who recently spoke and presented a petition in the House of Commons against the development of the former Deangate Golf Club on the Hoo Peninsula.

But why would she publicly support the residents of Hoo in their bid to prevent loss of their green spaces, but not the residents of Cuxton? 

Clearly, quite a few people had been getting in touch with Kelly to express their concern about the winery development.  Never one to stand firm in the face of public opinion, she subsequently sent out a letter "clarifying" her position.

Kelly's various public pronouncements on the winery can therefore be summarised as follows... 

“I’m in favour of this application, except that I am not supporting any tax exile to build a restaurant and wine bar complex at all. But I did say that I am in favour of it in principle, although I have never confirmed that I outright support the application.”

There, that makes it all clear now, doesn't it?  

In truth, I believe that Kelly is a bit conflicted with respect to the winery development. I think she personally believes in the preservation of green belt land in general, but knows that both local and central governmental dogma dictates that Cuxton and the ANOB that is Bush Valley are to be sacrificed to a "greater glory".   

I guess there are a couple of factors at work here.

First and foremost, at December's Planning Committee meeting it became immediately obvious that Medway Council's Planning department are 100% behind Vineyard Farms and are actively working with them to ensure that the billionaire tax exile behind them, Mark Dixon (boss of international office company IWG and weekend hobby farmer-cum-land speculator) gets his own way.  

Central to this is a decision to ignore NPPF guidelines that preclude developments of this scale and nature in green belt land. Instead, Medway Council have given Vineyard Farms the green light for the project, allowing them to hide behind the disingenuous excuse that a £30m restaurant, wine bar, visitors centre (with a wine factory almost incidentally tucked away in the basement) is an "agricultural building", like, say a barn or a cow shed. 

This is such an outrageous decision that I can't help wondering if Medway Council's planners would not have made it unless they were confident that central government (in the shape of arch-Brexiter Michael Gove, Secretary of State and final arbiter on major planning decisions) was fully on-board in the first place. 

Senior Medway council officials want their swanky city status back. Gove and his Brexity chums desperately want an investment project to trumpet as a success for their disastrous Brexit.  

Cuxton and its green belt land doesn't stand a chance in the face of such dogma. It's all about saving political face rather than about local or national environmental considerations.  

There is simply no way that Our Kelly would want to get involved in any of that.

A second factor is around Kelly’s undoubted love for the River Medway and her connections to its associated businesses.

It is worth noting that Kelly is still patron of the MBSA (Medway Boating and Sailing Association) of which her dad, Morris (who owned Beacon Boatyard at Manor Lane in Borstal, and who sadly passed away in July this year) was treasurer. Kelly herself is a keen yachtswoman, something she spent a lot of her childhood doing with her dad on the Medway.  

Amongst the many distractions being belched forth by the Vineyard Farms PR smoke machine is the proposal for “river taxis” to bring vineyard tourists to Cuxton.

Clearly, this scheme will have no impact whatsoever upon the traffic situation in Bush Road: even the small fraction of the projected 70,000 tourists a year arriving by river taxi will still have to be funnelled across the insanely busy A228 and down little Bush Road, past people’s houses, the shops and the school, weaving in and out of the school-run Mums, the tourist’s Audis and BMWs, the parked-up visitor’s cars that couldn’t squeeze into the undersized winery car park, and the vineyard HGV traffic. 

Nevertheless, some of the winery supporters are hugely supportive of the "river taxi" idea. Indeed, one of them (a Mr. D.P. Taylor, apparently of Cuxton Marina) appears to have met with Dave Harris, the Chief Planning Officer, and some redacted people, and in an e-mail (subsequently posted as a letter of support for the winery on the Council Planning portal for the winery) suggested:

“The main obstacle along Bush Road seems to be on-road parking because some of the houses/flats do not have their own facilities for parking. One solution would be to request that The Kentish Wine Vaults purchase suitable house/houses when they become available along Bush Road and demolish the houses to provide off-road parking. (my emphasis) This solution would not only solve the existing traffic congestion but would adequately provide for the new traffic movements created by The Wine Vault project…”

(The e-mail itself was very revealing, and hinted at many meetings between the Council, local business people and various people whose names were blanked out - Vineyard Farm reps, or maybe even an MP or two?) that seem to have been going on behind the scenes. Needless to say, Parish Council representatives of Cuxton’s residents have been granted no such access to these folk…)

Whether Kelly supports the initiative to demolish Cuxton resident’s houses in support of the Vineyard Farms plans is unclear, but I think she would be in favour of anything related to use of the river, no matter how inconsequential to Cuxton's problems that may be. Maybe Vineyard Farms have sold that idea to her.

Kelly Tolhurst is not deaf to environmental concerns. As shown above, she acted on behalf of Hoo residents to try and help save their green spaces. She cares about the little birdies at Chattenden.

Yet at the moment, she hasn't publicly supported Cuxton Parish Council in its struggles against Medway Council, where a company (with the backing of a billionaire tax exile) are planning to finish ruining one of Medway's last areas of Green Belt land and an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty by slapping a massive concrete bunker on it, all with the Council's blessing.

For the life of me I can't understand why. Kelly hasn't explained her thinking consistently clearly and publicly, hence my speculation above.

As shown above, Kelly is not averse to changing her mind. That's a good thing. It shows she has one to change. 

So perhaps if enough people write to her, they can get her to speak out publicly about the Vineyards Farms plans for Upper Bush.  Her e-mail address is kelly.tolhurst.mp@parliament.uk.

You might want to tell her that building concrete bunkers with luxury restaurants and cafes on top isn't a good precedent to set for Green Belt land. Maybe you might want to mention that funnelling 70,000 tourists a year, plus all of the maintenance, construction traffic, plus thousands of chalk spoil waste lorries down Cuxton's narrow residential main road isn't a good thing for her constituent's quality of life.

You might also want to ask Kelly why she is happy to openly support Hoo residents in their fight against development of their green spaces, but not Cuxton's.

One of the few times Kelly Tolhurst has ever voted against her own party line was in opposition to privatised water companies being allowed to dump raw sewage into our rivers and seas.  

Yet she seems happy, by simple inaction, to let Vineyard Farms dump their massive turd on Upper Bush...