Dining across the divide: ‘I’m not anti cyclist. I’m anti cyclists who ignore red lights and drive three or four abreast in front of me’
Lisa, 44, Surrey
Occupation Police and crime commissioner for Surrey
Voting record Conservative – Lisa has been a party member since she was 17. Describes herself as a one nation Tory
Amuse bouche Lisa once didn’t realise she was sitting next to Michael Caine. It was the premiere of Charlie’s Angels. “He said, ‘Oh, my name is Michael.’ In my defence, it was quite dark.”
David, 42, Surrey
Occupation Human rights consultant
Voting record Labour last time round; previously Lib Dem – a floating/tactical voter, describing himself as left-leaning
Amuse bouche David got bitten by a cheetah. He spent a lot of his childhood in Kenya, and his friend brought the family pet to class one day. “I tried to stroke it, but it went for my finger.”
For starters
Lisa The food was fantastic, the chef did a lovely mixture from the menu for starters, then I had veal. David looked like somebody who, you know, lives in Surrey – a person I’d be friends with.
David The beef carpaccio was outstanding. And I had a salt-baked sea bass, which was beautifully done, juicy and flavoursome. I wondered if Lisa was going to be more reactionary, but she was warm and friendly, a serious, thoughtful person who knows her stuff.
The big beef
Related: Dining across the divide: ‘He wants to ban all cars. I’m uncomfortable with that’
Lisa In the budget Rachel Reeves did things they specifically said they wouldn’t do during the election campaign. The impact the national insurance increase will have on policing means I have an even bigger deficit of money to fill that I will probably have to ask for from the Surrey taxpayer.
David I think we need to give them time. It’s a budget that’s quite different from what we’ve had recently; we’re in a tight fiscal environment, so let’s see how things work out. The loosening of the fiscal rules and the attempt to bring in fresh investment I’m generally favourable to.
Lisa And the £22bn black hole I think is just not true, but they’re still trotting that line out. The idea that Labour didn’t know what it looked like when anybody with any knowledge of politics knows that’s not how the pre-election period works; the books get opened up. I have a real problem with the whole “we didn’t want to do this, but we have to, because then we found out what the Treasury was like”.
David I have a friend who wrote a book about his experience as a teacher, and he feels that they’ve really changed the tone when it comes to education, and reached out to schools and head teachers to help them feel as if the government’s on their side. So I think there are some things like that happening that are promising.
Sharing plate
David We talked about different approaches to crime, the differences between punitive and restorative or rehabilitative forms of sentencing, what prison is for, and we had a lot of common ground.
Lisa I’m obviously clearly wedded to a party, but interestingly we agree that tribal politics is not very helpful. We also both quite violently agreed that The West Wing is the best thing that has ever or will ever be on television.
For afters
Lisa David is half Dutch, and he talked about how terrible our cycling infrastructure is. I know it’s not great but it would never be a political priority for me to give cyclists better infrastructure, particularly when they don’t contribute in vehicle taxes.
David Road tax for bicycles is unworkable. Bikes do use roads, but so do pedestrians, and dogs. I recently got a hybrid car and the tax is very low. By that logic, if you’re reducing what’s paid for polluting vehicles to pretty negligible amounts for hybrids and electric cars, what would you charge for a bike? How would you enforce it?
Lisa I’m not anti cyclist. I’m anti the full-Sky-replica-kit Sunday cyclists who ignore red lights and drive three or four abreast in front of me.
Takeaways
David I find it hopeful to be able to sit with someone from a different political tribe. Once you delve a bit deeper and are willing to admit that other perspectives have value, then our positions came close to each other. I felt as if I made a new friend.
Lisa If we can have these conversations with people who we seemingly disagree with, or on paper disagree with, that’s the best way of doing politics and doing discourse. We were there for three and a half hours, we swapped numbers and we are going to try to meet up in London and have a coffee.
Additional reporting: Kitty Drake
• Lisa and David ate at Grappelli in Cobham. Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part
