As there’s an election in the offing we are being courted by the politicians. I spent today with Tobias Ellwood, the Shadow Minister for Culture Media and Sport, whose brief includes tourism. His pitch is that if the Conservatives get in there will, for the first time, be a dedicated Minister of Tourism. Tobias and I were interviewed by ITV news at the Windermere TiC, which the local Lib-Dem council are planning to close (see Oct 16th posting). The TiC Manager said he was utterly non-plussed by the closure proposal as they get 1,000 plus visitors through their doors every day in summer. Tobias made all the right noises, short of an actual pledge to keep them open.
In the evening we hosted a dinner for 60 at the Damson Dene, with Tobias and Gareth McKeever as the guest speakers. The best line came from Yvonne, the Head Receptionist at the Damson Dene who said she was delighted to meet the Shadow Minister, if only because when he became the real Minister she could say that she knew him when he was a shadow of his former self.
The video shows the Lookaround piece on ITV News, which features Tobias’ interview, starting off with short clips of Colin Monk and myself.
Tags: Damson Dene