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Obama's brother-in-law to run for MP in Bracknell
28 May 2009
Barack Obama's brother-in-law is to challenge for the Conservative seat left vacant by disgraced MP Andrew MacKay in Bracknell.
Ian Manners, a life-long Tory who lives in Bracknell constituency, plans to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by David Cameron to encourage candidates from a non-political background.
Mr Manners acted after his MP was forced to announce he will stand down following a public outcry last week when his constituents in Bracknell, Berkshire, called him "a thieving toad".
The politician, a former parliamentary aide to the Conservative leader, and his MP wife, Julie Kirkbride, have claimed a total of £170,000 in expenses for second homes - covering both their properties - over the past four years. She too is under mounting pressure to quit her seat in Bromsgrove.
Mr Manners, aged 56 years, a successful businessman and close relation of Barack and Michelle Obama, insisted his own fledgling political career would have their backing. Barack was a guest at his sister's wedding to Ian Manners in the commuter town, in 1996.
Mr Manners, a lifelong Conservative voter, but not a political activist, insisted today: "This is not a gimmick. I am determined to stand and, if I'm honest, know I'd do better than most of the current crop.
"They are an absolute disgrace, and the public has shown it will no longer tolerate their avarice, arrogance and warped belief that they're a class apart when it comes to following rules."
Mr Manners, a former golfing partner of the President, vowed to emulate his famous in-law's honesty and use his template for dialogue over rhetoric, especially when trying to bring together people of all races.
Divorced from Auma Obama Manners, with whom he has a daughter, Akinyi, aged 11 years, in 2000, the white, twice-married Westminster hopeful is in a relationship with the Nigerian mother of his two other children.
"While I wouldn't stand solely on a race ticket, I have enormous respect for the President's achievements in opening doors for black and mixed race people.
"He has created a level playing field so everyone has an equal sense of opportunity.
"I would capitalise on his sense of fairness and use it as a key principle for helping the electorate of Bracknell if it returned me. I want to stand not so much to register a personal protest against Andrew MacKay but to strike a blow for a new beginning.
"I agree with David Cameron that his party - indeed all of them - need to bring in people from all walks of life and recruit those with no political experience, to balance the make-up of Parliament.
"I trust he means what he says and isn't simply trying to regain a kind of moral high ground - hoping to divert attention away from recent disgraceful revelations. If he is sincere, I'd like to be part of the long overdue process of reform he's advocating, by offering to return 'power to the people'."
Mr Manners, who today sent a letter to the chairman of the Bracknell Conservative Association for inclusion in the list of candidates, hoped his own background would give him the edge.
He admitted he would shelve the day-to-day running of his luxury marquee hire business if he was elected. He founded it in the teeth of the last recession, 1990, and it now boasts a £1.5m annual turnover and employs nine.
Mr Manners, who has written two novels in his spare time, once gave a speech in the House of Commons for a corporate hospitality company.
He turned down university to become a trainee accountant, a job he hated, before at 19 becoming the most successful petrol distribution manager for Burma Oil in the south-east.
He later joined Castrol Oil's motor sport department, as racing competitions manager, working with Grand Prix and TT aces Barry Sheen and Steven Parrish around the world, then he left to run an award winning riverside pub/restaurant for seven years in Lechlade, Glos.
"So I've got experience of many jobs and an expertise I'd bring to Parliament," he said. "If I can bring even an ounce of the magic Barack Obama has sprinkled over The White House - but this time in Bracknell - I will really have achieved something.
"A little stardust is sadly in short supply today, both in a tainted Parliament and in the constituency. It is time for change".
Andrew MacKay has one of the Conservative Party's safest seats - in the 2005 election he had a majority of more than 12,000.
The MP, with a 49.7 per cent share, had more votes than his Labour and Liberal Democrat rivals put together.
He received 25,412 votes in total and has been the town's MP since 1983.
Reader views (9)
He's nothing more than a shameless opportunist trading off the Obama name, not someone we want in Parliament. Let those who have something to offer other than name dropping stand instead.
- John, Kent UK, 29/05/2009 10:55
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I would say David Cameron would jump at this opportunity to have a relative of Barrack Obama on his team. No problems when a phone call or contact is needed. And believe me right now this country needs every friend it can get. We are looking very ridiculous at the moment by the amount of crooks employed in parliement at the moment.
- Ebin Donk, Angus sctoland, 28/05/2009 17:41
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I feel left out, I'm one of the few people in teh world not related to Barack Obama.
- Sue R, London, 28/05/2009 13:55
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For Clifford Rice (above) to produce such an offensive comment we must assume that he has insights denied the rest of us. On the other hand it is half term.
- Johnt, London UK, 28/05/2009 13:31
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To Clifford Rice, Bedfordshire.
What planet are you from? You need to go back there quickly... fool.
- Lee, London, 28/05/2009 13:18
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I hope that Mister Manners will be a little more transparent than his brother-in-law. Will he prove he is a British citizen for example, unlike Obama (real name Barry Soetero) who still refuses to publish his birth certificate, school and college admission forms, all of which are required under the US Constitution. Let's also hope that Mr. Manners' wife is not a racist, unlike Michelle Obama, who has proved herself to be both undignified and a bigot. To have those two cheap crooks in the White House is a disgrace to Americans. I hope Mr. Manners doesn't try to build his political career on the backs of those two lying feeloaders.
- Clifford Rice, Bedforshire, 28/05/2009 12:30
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Good for him. Let us hope more "normal" people become MP's. If I still lived inengland i would apply. Let us hope DC is as good as his word.
- Simon Bucharest, Bucharest Romania, 28/05/2009 12:30
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Sounds like a good bet, someone who has actually had to strive for what he has achieved rather than obtaining it from the public purse courtesy of being an MP !!!
- Nick Holland, glasgow, 28/05/2009 12:28
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:It is time for change".
INDEED IT IS.
You can forget the obscene Tory majority at the last General Election.
WHAT WE NEED ARE MP's WHO HAVE CREDIBILITY, INTEGRITY AND WHO ARE INTERESTED IN REPRESENTING THE INTERESTS OF THE ELECTORATE - NOT SPENDING ALL THEIR TIME COUNTING THEIR OWN POTS OF ILL-GOTTEN TAXPAYER'S CASH.
- Reuben Camara, Morecambe UK, 28/05/2009 12:19
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