Welcome to my weekly update no.339

Welcome to my weekly update no.339  An eventful week in Davos where even though a disaster over Greenland was averted, it feels like America’s relationship with the rest of the world changed for good (or in fact for bad). Here Keir Starmer’s leadership was visibly weakened by his decision to block Andy Burnham’s return to parliament. All of which rather eclipses the local news that we are at last making some progress on mobile phone coverage but there is much more to do on potholes in Cranleigh and Ash in particular.
 

WESTMINSTER WHISPERS

NATO LIMPS ON President Trump’s ambitions for Greenland posed an existential threat to NATO which were averted but not without serious, possibly terminal damage to the alliance. Trump appears to have backed down after securing the “framework” of a deal but no one will forget his threat to invade an ally as I discussed on Newsnight on Wednesday. Nor will we forget his insults to NATO allies who stood alongside America in Afghanistan which were deeply disrespectful to soldiers and their families, as I said on World at One. He did sort of climb down by calling UK troops the greatest of all warriors but the lesson is clear: Trump thinks anyone who can’t defend themselves as weak. If we don’t want to be pushed around, we had better stand on our own two feet. The standout speech at Davos was from Prime Minister Mark Carney, leading some  commentators to say that Trump leads the most powerful nation in the world, Xi Jinping is the most powerful leader in the world and Carney is the leader of the free world. It’s desperately sad but whilst we should not assume a future American president will be any different, we should not assume the opposite either. We should keep the door open to America coming back – one day – to its rightful place in the family of democracies.

CHAGOS CHAOS It looks like the Chagos Island deal may be on the brink with a debate in the Lords delayed thanks to Conservative opposition in both the Commons and Lords. Let’s hope so as it is a catastrophically bad deal (on this at least Trump is right) – and it looks like the only hope is if the US vetoes the deal as it has the power to do. As Foreign Secretary I refused to negotiate on them, as I know did David Cameron when he was in the role. Why put at risk one of our most important military bases – and have to pay rent on it instead of spending that money on our Armed Forces?

BURNHAM BLOCKED Over the weekend the Labour party’s NEC blocked Andy Burnham’s bid for a return to Parliament – purportedly due to logistical and cost considerations. In truth Keir Starmer could not afford to have him as a rival in parliament so doing this was a major expression of weakness. The best write up is from the well-connected Patrick Maguire in the Times. I doubt this will be the last we hear about from Andy Burnham, though, as his backbench allies are already making accusations of a stitch-up.

LOCAL LIFE 

VODAFONE-THREE – PROGRESS AT LAST! Great to receive the good news direct from the VodafoneThree team in Westminster last week that 18 sites in our area are being upgraded bringing dedicated 5G technology to Godalming for the first time as well as delivering wider 5G coverage in Ash, Ash Vale and Tongham. The upgraded sites also bring a wider 4G coverage and better capacity in villages such as Elstead, Milford, Shalford, Bramley, Shamley Green and Thursley. We need to include Cranleigh, Shere, Peaslake and Gomshall though which I am assured are in the pipeline. Next up: O2 Virgin Media who I am seeing this week. A bit of a personal interest for me as I am an O2 customer with no signal at my house…

WAVERLEY CIL SCANDAL Tonight the CIL Injustice group (people Waverley wrongly slapped massive charges on for doing home extensions) bring a petition to Council asking once again for Waverley to change tack. But their heads remain firmly in the sand. To date only Steve Dally has received a refund from Waverley (probably because he was the most vocal) and another Waverley CIL victim  has won a judicial review against the Council. I have met Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook twice with opposition Leader Cllr Jane Austin: he has publicly confirmed he is working to fix the legislation and publicly called out Waverley for not applying common sense by refusing to follow West Berkshire Council's successful review and refund process. Will Waverley Lib Dems finally listen? Here is a plea from Steve Dally.
 

TONGHAM MANOR FARM PUBLIC MEETING Hot off the press… please put Friday 6th February 2026 at 6pm Ash Manor School (south entrance) in the diary. Tongham Parish Council and I will be hosting an open public meeting to hear directly from residents about the application for 420 new homes at Tongham Manor Farm. Your feedback is essential part of the planning process – and the council needs to hear the many concerns people have. 
 

VERY SMART CRANLEIGH Brilliant to attend the Cranleigh and Villages Health and Wellbeing event – absolutely packed with community groups, volunteers and local activists all working to support Cranleigh and our wider villages. As well as mobile phone coverage, I gave an update on other things I have been working on including expanding services at Cranleigh Village Hospital (one of which is a new DEXA scanner for bone density and osteoporosis screening.) I also talked about the new Royal Surrey Cancer Centre opening (hopefully) this year and how Cranleigh’s public transport between health hubs also must keep pace. A huge thank you to everyone who came and particularly dynamic duo Rosemary Hurtley and Marc Scully.
 

POTHOLES POTHOLES EVERYWHERE! Lots of emails about the state of the roads following the interminable rain and cold in recent weeks - take a look at my vid below about Cranleigh’s Parsonage Road/St Nicholas Avenue which has been in a terrible state for a while. Lots for Surrey Highways to fill, but brilliant to see the Wonersh Cllrs Kevin, Jane and Michael have pushed to get Wonersh Common Road resurfaced - overnight work starts next week. And over in Cllr Phoebe Sullivan has been busy dealing with SGN causing mayhem with long detours from road closures over in Elstead!

ASH POLICE EVENT Thanks to everyone who joined my Ash, Ash Vale & Tongham Public meeting on Crime tonight.  Good to have an honest debate about the issues the wider Ash area is facing - with lots of questions to Guildford Borough Commander Inspector Blaine Rafferty including on catapulting. I was really struck by Blaine’s comments about how important it is to report crime to Surrey Police - no matter how small - because it helps the police prioritise and allocate their resources.
 

SURGERY CALLS My first post was to a Godalming retailer whose business has been decimated by business rate hikes and the increase in employers national insurance. His total tax bill has gone up by £80,000 this year as trade has declined and his plea was for the government to think about high street shops and not just pubs when it does its U-turn. I will certainly take that up with ministers because it is killing businesses locally. I then spoke to a Godalming resident about gaps in NHS care for children with epilepsy which was extremely concerning given the high risks the condition can involve. I will raise the concern with the local NHS. I then spoke to an elderly Cranleigh resident about bus 25 from Guildford to Cranleigh which sometimes misses out Summerlands if it is late meaning she is left stranded, so I will take the issue up with Compass.
 

AND FINALLY A little moment on The Traitors… in last week’s nail-biting finale we finally learned the winner. But the show’s success clearly reaches far beyond the castle - even the Guildford Dragon joined in with this brilliant image of the GBC Executive, which certainly raised a few smiles!
Photo credit Guildford Dragon.

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