‘I’ve not decided if I would stand in an election again’

Sir Julian Brazier is clearing out his office at the House of Commons this week and saying goodbye to his small team of staff who have also lost their jobs.

His huge constituency caseload is being handed over to his successor, Rosie Duffield.

Yet he bares no malice towards her, despite the feisty campaign against him.

“I wish her well and I want to see the best for the area but I think she will find it hard work,” he said.

It was one of the social media claims against him, that he was lazy and had done nothing for Canterbury that most upset him, his wife and secretary Kate and his election team.

He said: “It particularly angered us because of the long hours I have put in over the years. I was conscious of the fact that I’m a bit old school and wasn’t doing enough on social media to challenge what was being said but I was more engaged with traditional print and broadcasting.

“Having said that the biggest factor was the colossal student vote, with 8,000 registrations in the last six months.

“I should have done more on campus but the biggest reason students voted Labour was because of all the promises on scrapping students’ fees.”

He added: “If you promise people huge amounts of extra spending including scrapping students fees and more money for extra public services that has to mean very large rises in taxes, not just a bit on corporation tax.”

He thanked his hard-working team and the thousands who did

vote for him, adding: “I know where I went wrong and can feed that back to the local party.

“But since the election, I have also had a huge number of emails and letters thanking me for the

‘I wasn’t doing enough on social media to challenge what was being said’

help I have given to numerous people and organisations over the years.”

Now out of Parliament, the 63-year-old former Territorial

Army officer, who was knighted last year for his long service to politics, said: “Personally, I’m over it and moving on and there is an element of release.

“But it is also frustrating that I will not be able to see through some of the issues I was fighting for locally, like a new medical school in Canterbury which is the only realistic way we are going to get a new acute hospital.”

“But Kate and I plan to stay in the area and I will keep an interest in local issues.”

A keen campaigner for family values and activities for young people, one of his favourite projects is that Canterbury Sea Cadets of which he is a staunch