Curtain call for Giles Watling?

Nigel Farage’s decision to run for election in Clacton is bad news for several people, not least the candidate originally chosen to represent Reform.

In truth, Tony Mack was unlikely to overturn a Tory majority of 24,702, one of the largest in the country, but another victim of Farage’s decision to stand in the Essex constituency could be the sitting MP, and here I must declare an interest.

You see, Giles Watling (above) sponsored the reception Forest hosted at the House of Commons in February.

He stood in at the last moment after our original sponsor, Philip Davies (now Sir Philip), pulled out because of a conflicting engagement.

It was a generous gesture by Giles because without an MP to sponsor the event it would have been cancelled and with hours to go we had very few available options.

In truth, I knew very little about the MP for Clacton so I did a quick online search (for my introduction) and discovered that he was, in fact, a former actor whose best known role was that of the vicar in the sitcom Bread (1988-1991).

More recently, in 2013, he appeared in the UK tour of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

He was also the younger half brother to actress Dilys Watling who I remember well. Her credits included The Two Ronnies (1972-1979) and the Morecambe & Wise Show (1976) on which she appeared as Flossie, a ‘serving wench’.

Having been a local councillor before standing for Parliament, Watling regained Clacton for the Conservatives in 2017, winning it back from Ukip with 61% of the vote, then increasing it to 72% in 2019.

Last night he reacted to Farage’s announcement, telling the local media:

“My first reaction is that it’s not entirely a surprise. He was probably waiting to see what happened to Donald Trump and his job out there.

“Plan B would be standing in this country, and he would regard Clacton as a high target because of its history.

“I don’t think he gives two hoots about Clacton, he doesn’t live here, this is all about sacrificing the residents of the town to his vanity.

“I intend to fight him all the way. He said a few weeks ago, when he was asked if he would want to spend his Friday nights in Clacton, he said no.”

A self-declared centrist, Watling voted to stay in the EU but I got the impression he accepted the result of the referendum with good grace, unlike many Remainers.

Speaking to him, he struck me not only as a decent man with a good sense of humour, but a pragmatist.

In January, for example, he urged Rishi Sunak to drop the generational smoking ban and raise the age of sale of tobacco from 18 to 21 instead.

It’s not a policy I agree with, but I accept it would be preferable to a generational ban.

It’s probably a stretch therefore to call Watling a friend of Forest. Nevertheless, it’s unfortunate that by standing in Clacton (an understandable choice, to be fair) Nigel Farage could defeat one of the minority of Tories prepared to oppose the generational smoking ban.

But that’s the brutal world of politics.

Let’s hope that, if the new leader of Reform is elected, he will make it one of his priorities – if and when a new tobacco Bill is introduced by the incoming (Labour) government – to vocally oppose the generational ban and further restrictions on smoking and tobacco.

Nigel Farage v. health secretary Wes Streeting? I’d pay to watch that.

That said, I won't be disappointed if Giles retains his seat. Farage may have energised the general election by standing but Watling appears to be a good local candidate whose commitment to his area – as a councillor and then an MP – should not be ignored or under-rated.

Parliament needs big characters but it also needs MPs like Giles Watling.

Below: Giles addresses our guests at the House of Commons in February