County Durham runs through my veins like coal did through my grandfather’s hands. I was born here, raised here, educated here. The values I hold — grit, graft, loyalty — were forged in this place. And for years now, I’ve watched the people who built this country be betrayed by the ones running it.
I didn’t grow up thinking I’d one day be standing for elected office. I thought I’d stay behind the mic, on your screens, giving a voice to people who feel like no one in Westminster listens anymore. But I reached a point — sitting in a GB News studio in London — where I realised something: I couldn’t just talk about it. I had to do something.
It wasn’t a glamorous decision. It doesn’t come with a big salary or a team of advisers. What it does come with is a deep sense of duty. Because what’s happening to this country — to our communities, our culture, our people — is unforgivable.
Four generations of my family voted Labour. They did it because Labour used to stand for us — the working-class families who dug the coal, built the railways, and fought in the wars. Now? Labour sends in party men from Oxford to "represent" us. It arrogantly assumes the North will just keep voting red, no matter how badly we’re treated. Well, not anymore.
I’m standing because I want my mam to feel safe walking to the shops again. Because I want kids in Tanfield to believe they’ve got a future here, not just in some faceless southern city. I’m standing because I’m sick of seeing pensioners penalised while illegal migrants get four-star hotel rooms. I’m standing because I believe this part of England still has fight in it.
We’ve been ignored. We’ve been patronised. And we’ve been forgotten.
But this place — County Durham — isn’t just where I’m from. It’s who I am. I’ve left the commentary box to get on the pitch. To fight for the people I love, in the place I call home.
This campaign isn’t about me. It’s about all of us who’ve had enough of being shafted by politicians who couldn’t point to our towns on a map. It’s about dignity. It’s about common sense. It’s about reform.
Let’s show them the North remembers.
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