Danny Chambers selected by Liberal Democrats in North Cornwall
North Cornwall Liberal Democrats have selected Danny Chambers, a local vet who grew up on a farm near Launceston, as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC).
The son of a farmer, Danny Chambers has vowed to win the seat back from the Conservatives and stand up for Cornwall, which is yet again being overlooked by the government.
Ann Kerridge, chair of North Cornwall Liberal Democrats, said:
Danny has won the hearts and minds of North Cornwall Lib Dem members. I’m sure he will go on to do the same with all Lib Dem voters and everyone in North Cornwall at the next general election, whenever that may come.
In his hustings speech, Danny Chambers vowed that the party will win back North Cornwall after it was lost for the first time in 23 years to the Conservatives at the 2015 General Election:
The Conservatives may treat Cornwall as a forgotten corner of the country, but no longer will we be ignored.
As a vet, my calling has been to care for those who have no voice of their own. Children living in poverty in Camelford, Bodmin and across North Cornwall do not have a voice. The poor and destitute of our communities do not have a voice. We must be that voice. We must speak up for them. We must give them hope. Cornwall demands better.
A member of the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and of the British Veterinary Association Policy Committee, Danny Chambers has a long history of campaigning, including as a trustee of Vetlife, a charity that supports mental health among veterinarians.
In 2016, he worked as a project manager on an agricultural improvement programme in Iraq. He has also been involved in human health, wellbeing and poverty alleviation projects in Morocco, Gambia and India. He has been published in New Scientist and Veterinary Record and appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today and Farming Today. He has spent the last couple of years teaching at the University of Bristol Veterinary School in Somerset.
Opening his hustings speech, Danny Chambers explained how important the fight against poverty is to him:
I have spent much of my career fighting extreme poverty in some of the world’s poorest communities, in the deserts of Africa and the slums of India. I’ve worked in Iraq and seen with my own eyes the rows of tents housing Syrians fleeing from the atrocities of civil war. And I’ve seen the United Nations delivering food to these desperate families.
So imagine my anger and shame when the same United Nations published a report about the massive rise in child poverty in our own country blaming Conservative austerity.
Cornwall is already an area of severe deprivation, so austerity hit us even harder than most.
4 in 10 children in Camelford and Bodmin are living in Poverty. 4 in 10 children.
The North Cornwall seat was held for the Lib Dems from 2005–2015 by Dan Rogerson, who welcomed the selection of Danny Chambers:
The Conservatives are starving Cornwall’s schools and services of fair funding. Their man in North Cornwall has only hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. Danny is local, talented and will win national attention. This useless, failure of a Conservative government needs to go and we need Danny as our MP to get things done for North Cornwall.
There’s a full list of Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate selections so far here, and some starter advice for the newly selected here.
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I Colin Stevenson and fully paid up member of Lib / Dem and about to start my Degree in Environmental Studies with Open University , have for some time ask my current M P for North Cornwall to start a debate within his own party to concern themselves about a stronger policy about plastic on land and sea . I,am a strong supporter of Greenpeace , and have been since the sinking of the original Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour back in the early 80,s one crew member died in the hull . It was thought it was the French Secret Service had carried out this act . Greenpeace had been tracking the French Nuclear Testing across the Pacific Ocean . Last year I was invited to Exeter University to have a conversation with the science teams , along with other Greenpeace Supporters into the cost of plastic in our oceans and rivers and lakes . There conclusions so far are frighting and conclusive . By the way these teams are supported and paid for by Greenpeace . I,am hoping when you are voted into the position as our next M P for North Cornwall you will remember this email . I have also ask Cornwall Council and Mr . Scott – Mann to install a Plastic Bottle Return Schemes as policy across the South West . That has fallen on deaf ears . In a small way I,am trying my hardest , why can,t our leaders see it before the problem gets really out of control . I thank you for reading this email . be assured I shall keep contacting the powers that be .
I am new to the area and I was very pleased to see that the people of North Cornwall have chosen someone to be their PCC candidate who has seen for themselves the impact on people’s lives of absolute and extreme poverty. How inspirational to read about how Danny Chambers helped others on his travels to some beautiful but desperate places. His description of this has sensitivity and passion. I believe he will make a difference.