Yes indeed, I remember the Conservatives saying the Port of Dover would be sold and all the money kept in Dover. There was a supporting letter from Tim Yeo to that effect.
Five hundred million pounds (£500,000,000) is a lot of dosh. I suppose they would have had to send it down from London in a convoy of bullion trucks.
I wonder where they were going to put it all, it wouldn't fit under Paul Watkins bed and you can't trust the banks these days.
Was the intention to distribute it amongst the populace? I think the population of Dover and District is about 50,000 so that would be £10,000 for every man, woman and child. Were we all going to get individual cheques or would there have been stacks of banknotes delivered on the doorstep?
Or was the intention to spend it on great public works? Remodel the town with tree lined boulevards, criss-crossing cable cars, fountains, art galleries, museums, and the rest. Some statues of great Conservatives of our time would have been appropriate in the Market Square as a tribute to the people who made it all possible, and we could even have afforded to buy the Castle and make it into the local Conservative party headquarters with our benefactors able to gaze out benevolently over a grateful town basking in the glow of their largesse.
No more worries for poor old Roger about getting a lick of paint put on all the closed down shops. With all the money swilling around Dover, we would have had every posh shop in the country falling over themselves to come here. Not just any old shops either, great big shops cloaked in marble and granite, with sweeping staircases and glittering chandeliers. I'm thinking Harrods here, forget Asda.
Oh, what might have been. How could we have been so shortsighted. I certainly know who's going to get my vote next time.
