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Engaging conversations. Authentic stories. No scripts. One Take!
This unscripted video podcast from Visual PR Productions showcases the work we do for a clients with genuine, conversation-led storytelling that connects people through creativity, curiosity, emotions, and (if appropriate) laughter. Each episode highlights real journeys, inspiring insights, and the value of authentic video content.
TAKE ONE! WITH VISUAL PR PRODUCTIONS
Will Stone MP in conversation with Chris Dawes
Transcript
www.visual-pr.co.uk | enquiries@visual-pr.co.uk | 01793 209806
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00:00:00:01 - 00:00:27:17
Chris Dawes
As a Swindon resident and a Swindon based business. It's really important. On how the area thrives and survives. And there was a big tidal wave about five years ago when Honda closed down that big factory that was a big employer in the area. But the place has not stood still, and it's exciting. Everything that is happening, and we're going to find out now from a man that has been instrumental in that. We've got Will Stone MP here with us.
00:00:42:04 - 00:00:47:14
Chris Dawes
So welcome to Visual PR Productions and especially well welcome. So good to see you.
00:00:47:17 - 00:00:48:09
Will Stone
Thank you for having me.
00:00:48:10 - 00:00:51:23
Chris Dawes
Now it's really good. I mean, you are a busy, busy man.
00:00:52:11 - 00:00:52:27
Will Stone
Try to be. Yeah.
00:00:52:28 - 00:00:53:08
Chris Dawes
Yeah.
00:00:53:16 - 00:00:55:11
Will Stone
It's part of the job. I really try.
00:00:55:11 - 00:01:03:27
Chris Dawes
It is. And I mean, I'm going to go backwards before we get to what we started, because I think this is important. You've got a military background yourself, haven't you?
00:01:03:28 - 00:01:05:22
Will Stone
Yes. That five years in the rifles.
00:01:06:05 - 00:01:19:19
Chris Dawes
Well, okay. So how does that have any bearing on what we're going to lead on to is obviously one of the big things that's happened in a lot in Swindon is the drone companies or the uncrewed systems. I'm being told I'm supposed to call them.
00:01:20:01 - 00:01:22:28
Will Stone
Say drones. You can say counter UAV defence in general, you know.
00:01:22:29 - 00:01:23:26
Chris Dawes
Yeah, absolutely.
00:01:24:00 - 00:01:24:22
Will Stone
And broadly allowed.
00:01:24:28 - 00:01:29:25
Chris Dawes
defence I like that. Yes. The defence capital is the target I think, isn't it? You don't want.
00:01:29:25 - 00:01:30:10
Will Stone
To be a target.
00:01:30:22 - 00:01:33:18
Chris Dawes
No. Sorry. Bad. I will get rid of that is.
00:01:33:18 - 00:01:55:09
Will Stone
But yeah, my my ambition was to make it a drone manufacturing hub of the UK. But, you know, that's our spiraling is growing. So yeah, we're getting there. But, I would say my time in the military is definitely affected. How I view things. But when I was in the military, drones were being used, but not not like they are now. You know, the battlefield has changed.
00:01:55:09 - 00:02:12:04
Chris Dawes
So yeah. And and in fairness, and I know that defence is the big target too, but the whole uncrewed systems is, is leaning towards commercial environments and all sorts isn't it. I mean, these delivery companies are going to look very different in however many years time aren't they?
00:02:12:05 - 00:02:53:15
Will Stone
Yeah, definitely. And I think like one of the main employers that I brought in, TEKEVER, they didn't start in a defence background, but mainly they were doing surveillance on the channel. They were doing that with the home Office. That first British contracts doing channel surveillance. They've done stuff like recording wildlife in the sea. So like they are very much a tech company that when the war in Ukraine happened, they took up the call of arms because it was it was the right thing to do. So yeah, true dual use is at the heart. There's there's obviously going to be some stuff where like if we're talking about STARK, they currently create one-way effectors, so that dual use in that is fairly minimal but is still needed for the defence and strategic terrorism all country. So it's important.
00:02:53:26 - 00:03:03:06
Chris Dawes
I mean, aside from the exact usage of them as a tech nerd myself, I find it so exciting that it is seriously high tech.
00:03:03:06 - 00:03:31:20
Will Stone
It is, it is. And like the software and the technology that these platforms are deploying is insane. It's stuff you just would not have thought possible ten years ago. Like we can't get 100% fixated on on on drones and how that operates in the battlefield. But it is definitely it's changed how we do things. And how much money you spend on legacy platforms and stuff like that. So it's it's very interesting.
00:03:31:25 - 00:03:49:25
Chris Dawes
Oh, wow. Okay. And that I think is the big thing is there's such a wide spectrum of benefits here. Literally, but also up to the future. I can't even begin to think where we're yet to go. I think is the reality. And people are going to be involved in that with these companies.
00:03:49:27 - 00:04:59:05
Will Stone
Yeah. And it's it's incredibly exciting, you know. Exactly. We'll see. Touch where the war in Ukraine ends. But after that and this is something we probably get until people talk about the longevity of the jobs in Swindon and stuff, that we're still going to have to reclaim our military from how much we've given to Ukraine. So that's still ahead. But all of these companies have a huge amount of money and very smart people, so they are going to be looking to the future and it is to use, you know, whether that's delivering parcels, whether that's mountain rescue, whether that's replacing the... so a real hot topic or something we get onto a lot. I myself am the police and crime commissioner, Philip Wilkinson, a very keen on replacing the use of helicopters for the police because it costs around half a million pounds a year. Yes. When a drone could do that and I'm not talking a small car cop, I'm talking one the fixed wing platforms. But paying in for that service where it's not like you're getting police come out with the drones, it's just a surveillance service which comes out in times of need. Is joint between multiple different police forces. You could have a TEKEVER AR5 up in the air. That's probably around half a million pounds, but that's a one off payment. And then you're training people up, up skilling it. You know that. So yeah the dual use is for the future. Is is.
00:04:59:06 - 00:05:06:10
Chris Dawes
Important. That's the key because they'll have all of the the heat sensitive sensitive things and everything. But they're able to see those. Yeah.
00:05:06:13 - 00:05:31:20
Will Stone
If it's operating in the battlefield in Ukraine it can operate. And urban environment you know. And one of the beautiful things around TEKEVER's products is a lot of it's modular. Right. So obviously the systems you will you will change as they evolve. But the same if you want to change a camera, you want to change gimbal, you want to change the tracking. You want to change the radar, the navigation system, even if you want to have shorter wingspans on it so it can take off a ship like you can do that. It genuinely. Yeah. That really fine.
00:05:31:25 - 00:05:57:16
Chris Dawes
I it does blow my mind is amazing. It's like no longer think of sci fi films. Yeah. And there's a lot more to come. And like you say, a lot more use. So there's the longevity in there. But what I also find exciting is that and I've heard you sort of like, allude to this at the very least, is that it's not just the, the literal those products that are coming to Swindon. There's a lot of things that then are offshoots from that.
00:05:57:16 - 00:06:45:17
Will Stone
100% that supply chain, you know, say like one of the companies I brought to Swindon is a company called iCOMAT, they do composites. Right? So I met with them initially. They invited me up to Gloucester. I've been to a couple of composites sites. I don't know much about composites. Is is for the most part, it's fairly boring, fairly mundane. It's pressing, carbon fiber, pressing, pressing. But you know, I went to their their spin out from Bristol University. They have machines which can print composites not in straight lines. And it's just it is so advanced. And I was like, I need this in my supply chain. So I said, like, guys, you want to be involved with what's going on to Swindon, you need to come this way in this small hour. We were lucky, but also a little bit unlucky. So that was a previous composite company in Swindon that went bust. They took over the premises that we managed to get them in, which was.
00:06:46:03 - 00:06:47:10
Chris Dawes
Just add water kind.
00:06:47:10 - 00:07:21:24
Will Stone
Of. Yeah, we kind of, we kind of recycled it slightly, but that is now part of the supply chain. So they are working with some of the companies here, which means we have a better offer. So next time when I go out to new companies, say, well it's not just you have cheap land value, it's not just we have the strategic links to different defence places. It's not just we're close to London, we have a partner which you can do your composites with. So it builds around and I go, well, I've actually we've got some really good logistic companies in Swindon which are obviously been around a long period of time you can work with. It's an overall King ecosystem, which flourishes. So yes, manufacturing is important for all the spin offs of that as well as is huge.
00:07:21:28 - 00:07:50:06
Chris Dawes
I mean, even loving same service based businesses as well that are, you know, some examples of related to integrating different people to that defence sector. We mentioned that previously before we hit record, is that it's an area that's very difficult for the real world. You know what I mean when I say that to to actually start providing products or services within that, and yet could be absolutely square peg, square hole for them.
00:07:50:06 - 00:08:32:16
Will Stone
Yeah, 100%. That's like a company in Chippenham called Nova Blue Technologies. Fantastic company. They do digital security how they fit into my puzzle pieces. You've got a lot of companies in the civilian commerce which want to engage with defence companies and want to do defence work, but they don't necessarily have the ability to have the digital security clearances and the protections. Now, I can link them into that company, which offers a subscription base, and it just boosts it so that that there's so much. So you were talking about you do work with SDO, fantastic. Like when I came into office, it was a very small team. Now Stu and the guys are flourishing, you know, that doing phenomenal work and they're acting as an interlink. So they're probably sitting at around 15 to 20 employees now. So in.
00:08:32:16 - 00:08:33:14
Chris Dawes
A very short period of.
00:08:33:14 - 00:08:40:14
Will Stone
Time, that wouldn't be happening if the drone sector wasn't doing that. So it's it's good skilled jobs. It's support the ecosystem is, in my opinion, is perfect.
00:08:40:20 - 00:08:59:09
Chris Dawes
And from what I've witnessed is that they're all appreciative of each other and they all support each other in how they can grow. I mean, I know you mentioned Stu over at SDO. One of the big things is that he was involved with you, I think, on an attempt for some a project or something that I think was unsuccessful.
00:08:59:09 - 00:09:01:19
Will Stone
Based on defence tech. Sorry. defence technology.
00:09:01:23 - 00:09:07:21
Chris Dawes
Yeah. But that's still going to be pushing ahead. That's that's outside of his SDO work that he's got in all sorts of stuff.
00:09:07:21 - 00:09:26:27
Will Stone
Been so supportive, you know and and I and that's another thing with the collaboration piece. So on that bid for the Defence Tech College, we had over 20 defence SMEs supporting it. Wow. You know they all want to work together because ultimately having the skills and having the next generation come into that workforce benefits all of them. Of course it does. And it's it is really cool.
00:09:27:08 - 00:09:40:01
Chris Dawes
It is I mean that there is so much scope here. I mean, you made a comment right at the start of your political career, I guess is the right way thing to call.
00:09:40:01 - 00:09:41:10
Will Stone
it the parliamentary career.
00:09:41:10 - 00:09:46:02
Chris Dawes
Parliamentary career, that this is what you were going to do. Yeah. So did people think you were mad? Yes.
00:09:46:25 - 00:11:23:10
Will Stone
I say obviously I was a local councilor before, wasn't thinking too much. Big picture that because you don't have the power to do as much. When I became the parliamentary candidate, I set out three things and I will be held accountable on these two. I think politicians should reindustrialise Swindon that that was that was that is this you know, because after Honda left it ripped apart our town. You know it's not just the jobs, it's the business rates into the council, it's the spending capacity. It's the apprenticeships coming forward. It's the ambition. Right. So like that was core of what I wanted to do. I hadn't decided what industry we can go to a little bit later and how I picked defence, because that's a really, in my opinion, interesting how I landed on that discovery. So that was the sort of core pillar. The next one was improve access to education. You know, like we don't have a university. I don't think we're going to get a fully fledged university, but there is a way we can bring providers on board and amplify what we have. You know, like we've got Oxford Brookes here already providing fantastic nursing qualifications we had Bath University, through iCAST. There's a lot of potential. We have the Royal Agricultural University here. I'm currently working with Cranfield and Imperial College London, to work with our coalition, our defence bid to see what we can do that way. So I want to improve access to higher education. It doesn't necessarily all have to be university degrees. I'm a strong advocate for apprenticeships, but that can go up to university level qualification. You know I want more aspiration. And the last one was mental health up. And that's something you we have a crisis going on. I will get after that. You know that there's a lot of stuff I want to work on. But those are the three sort of pillars of what I decided I want to do.
00:11:25:13 - 00:12:22:08
Will Stone
I came out quite early after getting elected, after I decided the direction I wanted to go with defence, and I did not record the advert, talking about how I was going to do that. There were lots of comments about Swindon and logistics, how it's just going to be warehouses. That's not going to happen. I even went out and spoke to some of the largest defence companies. I'm not going to name names. They kind of laughed. They're like, there's no defence industry in Swindon, that there's no no reason for us to move here. One of them is now considering moving at that point of time. They say it was definitely an out there train, but we've made substantial progress. And I think with the uncrewed systems centre, the MOD one, I don't think anybody can now deny that Swindon is the drone manufacturing hub of the UK. We have the largest drone manufacturer, which is tech over in the old spectrum building, and we have the largest uncrewed system in testing facility in all of Europe. And it is good in my opinion.
00:12:22:11 - 00:12:43:13
Chris Dawes
I love as well. I was just listening to that. There is the I was a member of sales training. Anecdote or whatever, about two salespeople from two shoe companies sent over to an Ireland to sell shoes. The first one phoned back and said they don't even wear shoes. It get me on the next flight back. The second one phone back said they haven't even got shoes yet. Send me crates full.
00:12:43:16 - 00:12:43:27
Will Stone
Yeah.
00:12:44:01 - 00:12:59:29
Chris Dawes
And it's it's the same. Exactly that. And that's what that really smacked. And I will come to the wider sense. But I want to go into if I may, where does that mindset in you come from that took that second mindset of that shoe salesperson?
00:13:01:11 - 00:13:52:16
Will Stone
I so I didn't class myself as a typical politician on that. Every politician says that and I like I'm not really a politician. I'm a man of the people drinking a pint. I don't drink, but, I haven't been involved in politics a crazy long time. You know, I first got elected in 2022 as a borough councilor, so, like, I haven't been I was parish council the year before, but parish council is the lowest low form of politics. I don't really understand the rules of politics. I don't do the typical politician. I like to approach things from a pragmatic point of this is where I want to get to you, how do I get there? And I think it's that growth sort of mindset which has got me on that path, if that makes.
00:13:52:16 - 00:14:00:07
Chris Dawes
But did were you doing things? I mean, I know you spent five years in the rifles, but but other than that, that gave you that mindset that.
00:14:00:14 - 00:16:05:25
Will Stone
I ran a business after the Rifles while teaching Brazilian jiu jitsu, 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu, Swindon, which I don't run anymore, but one of my students, James, does, and I've had a couple of satellites underneath me. Jiu jitsu is a beautiful sport, and the whole thing with jujitsu, especially 10th Planet, is thinking outside of the box. You know, it's it's a combat, a sport where you're grappling with other people. You have to be malleable. You're in pressure situations constantly tie that in with the military discipline. I think that's probably where it came from. Like, I don't think like an ordinary person, I would say, and like I very rarely in business or politics, times take no is an answer. Like sometimes, for example, like if we're talking about the Harry Parker Bill, which I put forward once again, right when I went into that that situation, I was like, this is horrendous. I was a local councilor at the time. When he got run over, then the CPS dropped the case. I'll say, this is horrendous. I want to do some of that. I've a lot of the people in politics were like, oh wow, you're not going to change it, but you can do a ten minute rule bill and then that will give a little bit for the family. The Harry's name. That's great. But now I'm going to change it. So instead of just accepting the you can highlight it but do nothing about it. I spent months of my time engaging with the department, the Department for transport, engaging with solicitors, engaging with charity groups, working out how to change it. I wasn't I wasn't going to not accept that we couldn't do anything. Did I get all the concessions I wanted in the government road safety strategy? Of course I didn't because I'm not a lawyer. I don't understand the full legal system, but we have now put something forward in conjunction with Harry's parents, where there is going to be change happening to people driving without a license who are uninsured. You know, they're all going to be real world consequences. So if I had just taken the first we can't do that. Go on to the next thing, it wouldn't work. But I was like, then we will find a way. Don't tell me I can't do it. Tell me how I can do it. And I think that's the sort of approach to everything. It's like, don't let the barriers stop you achieving what you need to achieve. You need to find a way to work around them or how to get that, you know.
00:16:05:28 - 00:16:42:23
Chris Dawes
It does definitely smack of a military, background that my Dad is ex-RAF and his work ethic and, you know, find the answer. Rob Firmin. And I don't know if you've come across Rob Firmin. Bespoke Guardians and the Guardians group that is ex-military and, phenomenal guy here in Swindon building up, and that's about looking after kids that other people wouldn't. Yeah, stuff like that. And again, we did his story and it was very much this. I'm not taking no for an answer and work your socks off above and beyond what the rest of us can do, because that's what you had to do in the military. And it became second nature.
00:16:43:01 - 00:17:29:13
Will Stone
You know, I think like we've met with so probably around 170 to 180 companies now. Wow. You know, and it's just relentless engagement, constantly building understanding like when I'm at home in the evening before I go to bed, I'm reading stuff on how drones work. How does this work know? I mean, this is gaining that understanding. Like I had never touched a drone before becoming an MP. I knew what they were doing. I mean, I wasn't wasn't in that world, you know, whereas now I'm one of the leading people in parliament on drone warfare. And it's because if you want industry people to respect you and if you want them to engage with you, yes, you have to have a little bit of understanding. But I'm not saying I'm an expert, but in parliamentary times I'll say I know a fair amount.
00:17:29:27 - 00:17:44:12
Chris Dawes
Yeah. I think it's also about having that humility of knowing that there is a limit. You're not trying to suddenly pretend you're an absolute expert, but you've taken the decency to know enough to hold those meaningful conversations and then engage with those experts.
00:17:44:16 - 00:17:49:22
Will Stone
And like one of the most beautiful things about my job is the fact that I get access to experts.
00:17:50:02 - 00:17:50:16
Chris Dawes
Exactly.
00:17:50:27 - 00:18:44:08
Will Stone
Like I could say, like, you know, like, for example, when, when, when the the war in Iran kicked off two days afterwards, I was up at Portsmouth speaking to a captain in the in the Navy, looking at ships, seeing what our capacity was and what we could do. Do you I mean, you wouldn't be able to do that for you right now. I mean, it's a phenomenal thing to hear that because I don't know how cyber warfare works. I don't know what our capabilities are because like the media, we're pulling hard, but we don't have enough frigates. We don't have the kind of like we did you, but they just came back off a joint exercise with Japan. And that was incredibly important for strengthening relationships, because if we're talking about uncertainties in the world, we need to be working with Japan. We need to be working in those Asian waters because Russia's not the only potential threat. Right? You know that there's a lot of bad actors out there that we have to do these sort of exercises. So we could have pulled that back early. But how does that impact the rest of the world? So it's yeah.
00:18:44:09 - 00:18:45:18
Chris Dawes
It's a jigsaw puzzle is.
00:18:45:18 - 00:18:45:28
Will Stone
Huge.
00:18:46:10 - 00:19:15:14
Chris Dawes
It's incredible. And how do you do it? I'm going to again, apologies. Well, but when I'm listening to this it suddenly sparks questions and thoughts in my mind. How do you deal personally with the fact that US public don't understand some of the stuff going on behind the scenes, so may jump to conclusions and have opinions based on things that the A we don't know and b you probably can't even share with us. How do you personally deal with that? It's got to be frustrating.
00:19:15:21 - 00:19:20:21
Will Stone
Not not really, because like, you don't chastise someone for something they don't know, you know? I mean, like what?
00:19:20:21 - 00:19:23:08
Chris Dawes
Sadly, we seem to do that in social media is like.
00:19:23:15 - 00:21:30:00
Will Stone
The people do. But it's like you, you may you forgive people for not understanding. Like if it's someone I know, they understand the need to literally do political point scoring and stuff of that nature. Like sometimes that frustrates. I mean, there are people out there that do that, but for the most part, like I think it's more about education can I mean, like trying to educate people as opposed to be angry about it. I'm if I if I'm at home getting angry, I'm not having a good time. They don't even know I'm angry because they've just copied on social media. So I'm like, I would rather try and inform people like that that there's been there's there was a certain one where, someone was coming on Facebook about, it is super funny. It's a, it's my video I put out. They were coming to Honda. They also Honda wasn't a black hole because a lot of people have redundancy. And I'm like you, you are correct in a certain sensor, yes, people got redundancy. But the bit you're missing is the fact that Honda was paying around 20 something million pounds in business rates to the council. You know, the fact you're missing is all of the people had discount on the civic. So which meant they had more spending capacity. The fact that you're missing is that there was thousands of students which would have an a pipeline to work, which no longer exists anymore. And then it's like I comment something back of that nature. And then he wrote back about, oh, well, I think it's a good thing about the next generation having access to jobs. Do you know, I mean, so what started is a potentially this isn't real when you educate people, you know, and I think if you can do it, like if you can do it in a polite manner, I think a lot of the time people, people do get it. And I what one of the big things with going on a tangent like, but one of the big things with the whole Brexit debate. Right. And where, where the, the, the argument kind of got lost. It's like people didn't explain what was happening. They just assumed that people getting angry about something were idiots. Right. And that's a disconnect. Like just because you don't know something doesn't make you an idiot. It just means you don't know something. Like, there's so much stuff like, I don't know how to film a camera, I don't know how to do any of this stuff. It doesn't mean I'm an idiot. It just means I'm not learned in that area, you know? So I think educating and having a conversation is more important than me getting frustrated because that doesn't help anybody alive. Hey, I like that.
00:21:30:00 - 00:21:48:25
Chris Dawes
That's a it's a good answer. I mean, it highlights the gap that needs to be, filled either by education or not. In the same vein of what we've talked about there, collaboration. And we were saying about have the experts in those fields bring them all together, which is something you're clearly doing, going to quickly step back because you did say it's interest in wider sense.
00:21:48:27 - 00:21:49:19
Will Stone
All right. So,
00:21:51:25 - 00:24:35:25
Will Stone
initially it wasn't random. Like obviously I was going out engaging with the industry, trying to get some traction. I wasn't getting very much traction at the start because just being an MP isn't always enough to open up doors, but being realistic. I got a random email from the Labour Party saying, we've created a thing called Labour Business Champions, and the aim is to go out and engage with industry, talk to industry, then write reports for the Department of Business, Trade. They're like, we selected you because you run a business in the past. There's not too many Labour MPs around businesses, but that could be a problem apparently. I don't think it is. But, I think you need a diverse group of members of Parliament, but I like okay, this sounds really interesting. What have you got for me now? We want you to be the business champion for High Street. And I was like, okay. I was like, I don't want we've got Highworth and we've got Gorse Hill. But I was like, I love high streets. I think it's a great, but it's not fundamentally going to change the dial and make Swindon a better place. I've got different things I would rather do and rather spend my time writing reports on, say thanks for thinking of me, but I don't want to do it. They came back and they said, we really want you to do that. Would you consider doing any of them? I was like, send me the list of what you to have a look at on the list. There were defence green technologies. Yeah. So I was like, I want to do both these. And I like both. Like that's quite a lot. And I was like, yeah, this it's quite a lot. The reason I chose both these industries is because I perceive those as being the growth industry of the future. Okay. And I will get back to green technologies. And we do have some work with some companies like really and try to get them to expand. And there is, there is some stuff, but I spent the next month and a half having meetings with companies from these areas so I could like assess what the need is, talk to them, find out their strategic aims and see the are possible. What I know is very quickly, because of current board events, the defence sector was ready to move. Okay, the green technology sector is a lot more reliant currently on government grants. And what that means to me and what that means for Swindon is every time they come to the end of having a government grant, I am fighting with every other MP to get more money out of the government, and I don't want to be in that position because if I lose that battle, that could be 300 jobs, that could be gone in Swindon. And I've seen it happen like I can't like I mentioned earlier, they were in Swindon. This is an offshoot from the University of Bath. They didn't get the government funding. They pulled out. I didn't want to be in that place. Right. So I took the strategic aim to focus on defence first. So then I had my first round table talks were a load of companies off the back of that started doing individual meetings, building up and building and building up. And that's where it happened.
00:24:35:25 - 00:24:36:08
Chris Dawes
Wow.
00:24:36:15 - 00:24:59:21
Will Stone
I'm just to be honest, the position which was created was a pointless position. The Labour business champion was a way to keep backbenchers busy. Right? You know, it ended up getting disbanded just after a year like it was. It was more of we've got too many backbenchers. We want them doing stuff. It might be helpful. We don't act, but I use that position, that title to open the door to talk to industry and that's really important.
00:25:00:02 - 00:25:13:22
Chris Dawes
Amazing. Grab that. And I guess that like you say, the green thing come back again, but you need to get the the foundations right and strong enough to support the flexibility of the green 100%.
00:25:13:28 - 00:25:55:20
Will Stone
And I say it, it is one of the most pressing issues of our time. And I'm not dropping it like I know a lot of people are. You're focusing on trying to say if you want to have success, you have to hyper focus. You can't. You can't be jack of all trades. Right? Well, I can anyway. Personally I am I don't have the ability to do it. I know where my my strengths are on it, what my limits are. That's the direction I have to take. I will go back to green technology, but we need a thriving town first. Yeah, we like the council. Last year was running a deficit. You know, like if I can bring that back up to what Honda was paying, we're running a surplus. And then the council have the ability to invest in some of the nice thing to do the nice stuff. And I say build it and then come off the back of it there.
00:25:56:07 - 00:26:20:23
Chris Dawes
Yeah. Now it makes massive sense to me. That one to say the least. Some quickfire questions I think I've got now switched. And apologies if some of these don't seem true. What is the one thing about the drone cluster that people in Swindon still do not understand? I think we possibly have covered it to some extent. What do you find that people kind of biggest misconception?
00:26:20:28 - 00:27:59:26
Will Stone
I would say the biggest misconception in my opinion, is the fact that people believe it will make us a target. And I'll go into that. I address it on multiple different levels. So in the worst case scenario where World War three started, we are already a target. Just just to be perfectly honest, the defence Academy is just up the road. We have Brize Norton, we have a strategic train link to London. We have Salisbury not far away. We have Lyneham, we have insight in the Cotswolds. So if Russia were going to hit us with a target. I'm sorry. You use a weapon which is in range. That would target Swindon. We'd be destroyed anyway, right? Yeah. So, like, worst case scenario, we're in a bad place. The other might say actor. So people assume they see around war kicked off. They're like wow. That they they're saying they're going to strike at us. We've had pasta actors from Cyprus. These capabilities do not currently have the range to house. Yeah. They say if we're in World War three we're probably screwed. But quite frankly, I'm not too worried about rogue strikes, to be honest. So I think people coming out and saying we are a target is probably the worst, I would say, of misinformation. Yeah. And I think as well, when you look at other places like this, Filton, which of course is Airbus. They haven't been a target. But when you look at Preston, BAE once again, massive that built typhoon, sir. They haven't been a target. You know, when we're looking at Barrow, which are building nuclear submarines, they haven't been a target. So that's that's the worst. When I think because it's fear mongering for lack of understanding, I'd say.
00:28:00:08 - 00:28:06:17
Chris Dawes
Back to what we were saying earlier, is that you can't get angry about that misconception. I know it's down to a naivete.
00:28:06:20 - 00:28:24:26
Will Stone
And I wouldn't have known that five years ago. Think I wouldn't be privy to the information. It's public information. But if you didn't know what to search for, you wouldn't know that. You know, the the drone cannot physically hit from that. You know, you wouldn't know that. And there's very few companies which are using hypersonic missiles or obviously it's a warfare. So it's yeah.
00:28:25:18 - 00:28:33:24
Chris Dawes
You're always fighting that Nimby situation, aren't we. That not in my backyard scenario, but I think, you know, let's have a man because they can help.
00:28:33:24 - 00:29:30:21
Will Stone
But they're going to be somewhere, right? Yeah. That's another thing just to add it into that as well. Because like I talk about strategic deterrence quite, quite often and a strategic deterrence is having the ability to strike your grocery if you need to. Right. We currently don't have that because we haven't been investing in in our in our critical infrastructure, in our armed forces, probably for the last 20 years. You know, we're not up to date. And we'd even gone slightly backwards in the sense that we have given a lot of our artillery shells and a lot of our equipment over to Ukraine, which means that was essential because that is war in Europe. And it is it is important that we support Ukraine, you know, it's so important. Yeah, but that means our stocks have been depleted, which means we're even more so. We have even less of a strategic deterrence. So building that back up, it's not that I want to go out and create laser drones, which can go to war, and we can start invading countries. But having the capacity if someone does bad things to to hit back stops people doing bad things.
00:29:30:21 - 00:29:45:16
Chris Dawes
Do you 100% is the deterrent? I agree with that massively. Who do you want to reach? Most residents, local business investors or Westminster? That's a big political question.
00:29:45:18 - 00:29:47:04
Will Stone
What do you mean by reach?
00:29:47:24 - 00:29:54:25
Chris Dawes
I think that actually I probably that was supposed to sort of mean appease, please, I don't know, succeed, which.
00:29:55:16 - 00:31:16:26
Will Stone
Is a challenging one. Right. So I am here for the residents, I am here for the residents. I stay at this mobile times. I don't want to get promoted in politics. Say, Westminster. That's not the question. I have to be there because I have to vote and it's my duty to vote, and it's my duty to represent you in Westminster. But I'm not interested in promotion. I'm. But there is that element of sometimes knowing more means you can represent people potentially better. So it's the overarching package. So yes, I have to engage with industry. Yes, I have to engage with investors. But it's down to residents. But everything I am doing, every strategic aim I'm doing is making Swindon a better place for the residents. It's not for the business like I want the businesses to grow, but the reason I want the businesses grow, so they're employing more people that pay more business rates. You know, they're doing social good. Everything comes down to the residents that that that's fundamental. But it's a triangle, right? Yeah. I don't know if it's a square if you like, but even I don't enjoy Westminster. I spent 18 months engaging with them every day to get the indoor drone testing facility here. You know, like so I had to play the Westminster game. I had to lobby the ministers. I had to go through three different ministers responsible for driving, just constantly conveying, pushing, writing documents, showing why it's important, like, but not so many for Swindon. So it's always the residents. But you have to do all of that.
00:31:17:01 - 00:31:26:25
Chris Dawes
Yeah. Nice answer. Thanks. That was a good one. What does success look like for Swindon in five years?
00:31:29:03 - 00:31:31:23
Chris Dawes
In a way that we could still recognise Swindon as well.
00:31:32:10 - 00:33:25:22
Will Stone
So I would like to get the drone manufacturing up to 5000 jobs that, that that's my that's my strategic aim that that's what I want. I want a course. It doesn't necessarily have to be a defence college, but it has to be the college doing courses which are relevant to the defence industry. Because I want the next generation to be able to go there and have the skill sets, you know, so 5000 jobs, defence college, offering apprenticeships, upskilling our residents. They can go into these works and get these well-paid jobs, like I said as well. Hold me accountable. I want a mental health a mental health hub as well. That's something which is huge. Currently working on the Pride in Place stuff, which is 20 million pounds coming into Penhill. I want to make sure the people of Penhill and this, this is not five years. I want in 20 years that people are good. You know what pride in place meant this, you know, because we've had money thrown around in the past. You had a large amount of money come to Swindon and people can't tell me where I spent, you know, so I, I'm not saying that's corruption. I should like things as about programs getting programs come. I want people to know where that went. I want that to be something I really want to do. So I say those are some aims I've got some some things up my sleeve which are which I want to be be working on. So I don't know if I'll be successful pretty soon. As I said before, when I went out to the media and said I was going to do this. In Kembrey Park, do you remember the old David Lloyd bit in Kembrey Park? Yeah, like that's currently derelict. Just sat there doing nothing. Why can't we bring it into public ownership? That can be part of my mental health. Who knows? But like, there's things like I want visible change. People are Swindon good scale jobs. And I want people to think that the town is heading in the right direction. I kind of like, I want to get reelected. I don't want to do two times that. That's my that's my sole name because that's what I think. If I have ten years, I can I can fit in the structural change, which I think is win the needs and have a bold vision. So that's my sort of idea about.
00:33:27:26 - 00:33:32:00
Chris Dawes
Where does that motivation for Swindon and Swindon residents come from?
00:33:32:13 - 00:34:18:25
Will Stone
It's my town. Yeah. You know, like I'm. I was born in Princess Margaret Hospital. I went to Beech Grove, went to Ruskin, went to Headlands. Headlands was one of the worst schools in the country. And I was as terrible I still managed to thrive in I joined the Army. I genuinely love Swindon. Like this is my town. It's where I'm from. It's where my friends laugh like I want it to be the best possible place, even in the like the last couple of years, where I think it hasn't been like it hasn't been performing as well as it possibly could do. I still love the town, you know, and I think it's got so much potential and it really kind of I got a bit of a chip on my shoulder sometimes, like when we're talking about devolution, where we're being slightly snubbed by Oxford and the Lib Dems, like Swindon is a powerhouse, you know, and we have so much potential. Say like, yeah, I love Swindon. And that's where my passion is improving and making it a better place.
00:34:18:27 - 00:34:25:10
Chris Dawes
I love it, yeah, I can feel that one as well. You mentioned things like two terms ten years.
00:34:27:16 - 00:34:40:11
Chris Dawes
There's you're doing it for me in my opinion. And I'm and I have to say, this is doing such a good job with so many targets that I also feel a nervousness about what happens when you're no longer the person fighting the fights are.
00:34:40:12 - 00:34:50:26
Will Stone
There's lots of good people that want to take it up there. The reason I only want to do two terms is because I do not believe I will be able to maintain. It's a long.
00:34:50:26 - 00:34:52:17
Chris Dawes
Time, isn't it? To be fair and is.
00:34:52:27 - 00:35:30:27
Will Stone
I see a lot of politicians that have been around a long time. I personally don't think there is hungry like some people can do it, but I think if you're if you're sitting in there going for like 15 years, I think you might lose track of why you started slightly. I don't think you'd be as hungry, and I don't think you'd be as ambitious in the idea as much as well. Like I can only come up with so many ideas. So I think after that time get a fresh pass and then hopefully still Labour, you know, get a fresh person and get that drive. It could have been someone I'd be mentoring and helping and building up, you know, like that's that's a really cool thing. But, yeah, I think it's important not to get stale. You know.
00:35:31:03 - 00:35:49:17
Chris Dawes
There's a phrase I use punchdrunk. Yeah, I can easily we can all get punch drunk if you constantly fight in the fight, you get to a point and you go, oh, I've got it left. And I suppose that makes sense. I like the mentoring idea as well. That's really good. What I don't know if there is an answer to this one or not, but I'm going to ask.
00:35:49:18 - 00:35:50:00
Will Stone
I'll try.
00:35:50:16 - 00:35:56:12
Chris Dawes
What is the emotional case for Swindon? Not just the economic one, the emotional? Yeah, I don't know.
00:35:56:17 - 00:36:50:23
Will Stone
The easy, easy are people we are. And I'm going to go economics slightly but it ties in with with with our people. We are a hardworking, proud town. You know, we're built on industry, the railway, car manufacturing. We have people that want to go out there, get after work really hard, and we're located in the southwest. You know, you don't have many places I can think of, which have our attitude and our industrial capacity that's so close to London. So it is it is our people. It's it's that that proud working. Like I say, you might have certain places which do look down their noses, but we built Spitfires, we built the railway like we built trains, we built automotives. This is where a hard building town I industry and I think that's that's the passion there. Right. You know, the strategic location ties in with it. But it's our people that makes winning a special in my opinion.
00:36:50:23 - 00:37:09:18
Chris Dawes
Anyway. Know that 100% agree that. And I think that actually there was a question I've got here that I think that that is the answer to it as well. I had a question was what does the trade press keep missing about this story? And I think is that so people. Yeah. Yeah, I think that that is unless you live and breathe in it, you know.
00:37:09:18 - 00:37:36:22
Will Stone
No, I like all of these companies. None of them are struggling to recruit, you know. And that's huge. Yeah. Last year I think you know we always sit around 87% employment okay. And that's across the country. That's back up. You know we're a working class town with a good attitude in my opinion. You know we can always go further. We can always do more and we can get better jobs. We get better pay and we can invest in infrastructure. But it's the people. And the attitude is it's, it's it's ingrained, I think.
00:37:36:29 - 00:37:43:23
Chris Dawes
Are you sort of really having to push with all of these organisations, the
00:37:45:26 - 00:37:54:11
Chris Dawes
the apprenticeship route, because that's kind of there's a national feeling that it's not as prevalent or available as it.
00:37:54:14 - 00:39:05:02
Will Stone
Is that they're so keen STARK have had their first batch. It's only for but it's a start. They're the first batch of apprenticeships we were talking about yesterday. They all understand that there is a large layer from Honda and there are external companies which they can source from. But if they want to, if they want to get the next generation, apprenticeships are crucial, you know, and the government are doing some fantastic stuff. They've just announced about their pre 19 for people that been out of work apprenticeship scheme, which is going to be and if we're really excited about that. So yeah it's not it's not a hard sell because like these companies like I say I'm not not just trying to shine their praises, but none of them have an issue with that. You know, they're always about how do we come, how do we embed into the into the ecosystem. So going back to TEKEVER, I know my favourite I love all of them. But we had Ricardo, who's the owner of are talking to my my ambitions about collaborations. And I was like, well, we're just by the can we just do it like to save the bureaucracy? We're just help out, you know, because he has that mindset and he's like, you have to come over and see our factory in Portugal. He's like, I will invest in the community because they're going to be the people that work at my factories. And like, he genuinely is passionate about it. And I think it's it's so cool.
00:39:05:21 - 00:39:51:26
Chris Dawes
I mean, I they said, I said to you, I wanted to have this interview with you. We talked first and foremost with an ethos of visual PR productions. These get to know the people, the authenticity, the engagement, all of those kind of things. And I think, I hope that everybody's watching. We've got a chance to get to know you more. It's not that, you know, there's nothing with a motive or anything like that. But above all, one of the biggest things is that I'm feeling the emotion of the work, the why now, the future. There's a lot to be excited about. And I'm not a politician. I have no reason to be saying this. I'm a resident, sat here, with a business in the area, and it just sounds exciting. Are you still are you able to look back with pride at what you've achieved already, and excitement of what you've got ahead of you?
00:39:52:02 - 00:40:45:29
Will Stone
Yeah, I like I comment how I log on on social media, but I'm the first MP in decades to bring advanced manufacturing back. That's huge. Like whether whether like I don't think people will actually comprehend how huge it is until ten years time, you know, I mean, like when you when you see all of these other industries thriving in the ecosystem, but making Swindon the drone manufacturing hub of the UK, nobody would have thought that was possible. has happened. The Harry Parker Bill, bringing forward road safety legislation, which is supporting one of the most horrendous things that happened in my constituency, you know, like I remember like the first time I got Adam and Kelly to come into my office, Adam said to me, he was like, I believe in politicians. Now we're going to have it right. Adam's a barber now. He's he said last time I brought him out to Parliament, we had a meeting with the minister at the time, Lilian Greenwood. He said, because I like people like you all from my barber shop sometimes. And I tell them to shut that up.
00:40:45:29 - 00:40:46:22
Chris Dawes
Yeah. You know.
00:40:47:04 - 00:41:24:22
Will Stone
Because, like, we've worked together on it and, like, these are things that regardless of what happens, like, say, I don't win in the next election, obviously I want to win, like I said before, but if I don't, I will forever be proud of and that's that's more important to me. Like, I didn't want to criticize past politicians too much. I didn't see the point. But like legacy in achieving things for the town is what interests me. As opposed to campaigning for the next election, like putting out glossy leaflets, standing in front of pictures, doing all that stuff. Cool. But what did you do? You know, like, if I lose, I want to be proud. I want to say, well, actually, I've done this for Swindon. If I win, I want to win off the merit of actually doing things. Yeah. And and that's that's huge for me.
00:41:24:29 - 00:41:43:02
Chris Dawes
It is. And that's another emotion. What is it? Harry Parker. Do we, Tom and I, my lead producer, used to drive that way. Yeah. And so Adam, still for forever at the at the crossing. And as a father, that was heartbreaking. Yes, terrible. And you've got to deal with those emotional challenges as well, haven't you?
00:41:43:02 - 00:42:49:17
Will Stone
And I. And that's like the first, the first bell, ten minute rule. But I'll show you the ten minute rule bill that we did to quite police amendment. But the first bill, they were up in the, in the in the gallery in Parliament. And I'm like, how do I do them justice in this speech? You know, like I wrote the speech and I'm like, there's always that bit. It's like, is it appropriate? Have I said this? Are they going to do this like how do you convey that? You know, they were incredibly grateful and like, you know, it was it was a good thing to bring Harry up in Parliament and, you know, show that support. But it is tough because it's a huge responsibility. You know, we also had had a resident came in whose mum was affected by the infected blood scandal. Yeah. So I raised that in Parliament and I spoke her name and stuff like these things really do matter. And it is a, it is a responsibility to get the tone right. And I think that's a real balance as well in politics, because sometimes people accuse you of jumping on bandwagons and stuff like that, which in my opinion there might be politicians that do it, but it's not what I do, I do, I do things that I think are important. I try to help people, but yeah, it can be a weight on your shoulders.
00:42:50:04 - 00:43:18:22
Chris Dawes
You and I'm going to wrap this up in a second because, I mean, you and I, I think we could talk forever. There's so much that I could pick up, pick from your brains, but you mentioned about a real target for this to have a mental hub in Swindon. I'm going to turn that around. Is that you have to deal with an awful lot. And we just touched on something that emotionally, for me, is really hard as a father is what happened there. How do you look after your mental health and apologise to person?
00:43:18:22 - 00:43:19:19
Will Stone
Look, they're not at all look.
00:43:20:03 - 00:43:25:24
Chris Dawes
To to be able to keep fighting, to be okay when you then go home because you're dealing with all of our problems.
00:43:26:04 - 00:44:45:09
Will Stone
Structure. Everything's about structure for me. So fitness in the morning, every, every day I wake up I do sense that that that's huge for me. It sets I sets my day off. Right. You know, so fitness is still a big part of my life. When I finish in the evening, sometimes I'd be reading a book or am I sit down on my pay about Warhammer, you know, like doing a little bit of painting. I find that really therapeutic, talking through things, through with my partner, you know, like that. That's really helpful. And she, she's great. Like, she she understands that you know, I've also got a fantastic team around me. You know, I really do. I think it's this is something people forget, like when they send abusive emails and stuff of that nature and comments. My team get that too. It's not just me. You know, like, I think sometimes people should think about how they approach things because, you know, you've got Holly sat over there on camera. She's the one that reads that fast. Say, yeah, I've got a great team around me. And I think it's it's putting structure in place and set goals. You know, another thing which has been awesome for me as well, I'm, I'm, I'm joining the Reserves. I was in the regulars before but I'm joining the Reserves now. And that is given me a new element of mental focus. So I'm doing different types of fitness. I'm running with different weights, I'm thinking about different things. I had to get to the selection board in the interviews, all that army sort of stuff. So having an outlet, which isn't always politics, I think is a good one because otherwise you can just get dragged into it. Ponder.
00:44:45:09 - 00:45:13:09
Chris Dawes
There you go back to my phrase. Punchdrunk is if it's the same thing all the time, that's what's going to get you punch drunk and lose the motivation or the fight. Even if you're motivated, you still need the physical and mental strength to be doing it. Absolutely amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed going to the details about it all. Thank you so much for coming in. Well, I appreciate it. Keep up the great work. As a Swindon resident and a business owner in the area, it's wonderful to watch.
00:45:13:19 - 00:45:16:07
Will Stone
Well, thank you for having me. It's been cool much appreciated.
00:45:16:13 - 00:45:30:23
Chris Dawes
I think that's been a really good insight. It was an interview I've wanted for a very long time. I was it was due in earlier, but I got stood up because he was meeting with someone. Oh, yeah. The prime minister at the time, I lost out to the Prime Minister, but there we go.
00:45:30:28 - 00:45:31:22
Will Stone
That won't happen again.
00:45:31:25 - 00:45:42:13
Chris Dawes
No, but it's been brilliant to catch up, and I hope it makes sense. And, you can really feel enthused about everything that is happening here in Swindon. Cheers.