A senior Conservative in the by-election seat of Ealing Southall has defected to the Liberal Democrats, following the imposition of a candidate on the local party by Tory spin doctors.
Mr Brij Mohan Gupta, Deputy Chair (Political) of Ealing Southall Conservatives and Vice-Chair of Southall Green and Southall Broadway Conservative ward parties, has joined the Liberal Democrats and backed the Liberal Democrat candidate Nigel Bakhai.
Commenting, Mr Gupta said:
“Under David Cameron the Conservatives have become a party of style over substance. I agree with everything that Quentin Davies said about Mr Cameron.
“This by-election reflects Mr Cameron’s contempt for local Conservative members. His spin doctors ignored our wishes and forced the branch to accept someone whose commitment to the party is less than a week old. Almost all local Conservative party members feel like I do.
“When Mr Cameron came to Ealing Southall he did not have a single local official with him.
“The Conservative candidate cannot win in Ealing Southall. As the last General Election showed it is the Liberal Democrats who are challenging Labour here.
“I am backing Nigel Bakhai, who will be Ealing Southall’s next MP.”
Chair of the Liberal Democrats Campaign Committee, Edward Davey MP, said:
“I am delighted to welcome Mr Gupta into the Liberal Democrats today.
“Senior Conservative Party members across Ealing Southall are extremely unhappy with the way David Cameron runs the Tory Party.
“People want their political leaders to have clear principles and policies, but under Mr Cameron even once loyal party members say the Conservatives seem prepared to say anything to win votes.”
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18 Comments
Wow. I knew their – ahem – truncated selection process would lead to recriminations at some point, but I assumed it would at least be after they’d lost…
Nice to see this blow up in their faces so quickly, if you’ll excuse the schadenfreude. I’m sure Mr. Gupta will feel more comfortable in a party where local members still select the candidates!
The top story on the Tory website is about street cleaning in Ealing Southall. Such defections are nice but we need a positive campaign based upon policies, not upon some malcontent Tory. Please LDV and national party – move on from the desperate search for tactical votes and get onto policy.
Although, I believe he will not be able to vote. Doesn’t someone have to be a member for a year before they can vote for candidates?
H-Lad – policy doesn’t win elections – at least not on its own. Hard graft, local action and lots of leaflets win elections!
If you want to shape the way this by-election is being conducted, I suggest you write an article for LDV yourself – or even better, get yourself down to Bridge Road and help out! You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
H-lad. He chose to leave the Tories and join us and LDV is reporting it. The campaign in Ealing Southall IS on the issues.
H-Lad: did you see the query on another thread about whether you really are a party member? It’d be interesting to see your respnose to that.
“Although, I believe he will not be able to vote. Doesn’t someone have to be a member for a year before they can vote for candidates?”
In the Tory party you do not have to be a member even to be the candidate!
Absolutely priceless. This was bound to happen with such an imposition like that. I hope it is promoted in leaflets and local media (although I understand the Tory candidate OWNS some of the local media!)
Neil Woollcott, I have the understanding, that Ealing Southall Lib Dems had already chosen their candidate before Mr Gupta made his move, and he must have been aware of it. He will still be able to vote in the actual by-election, and if Gordon Brown doesn’t call a GE before a year, Mr Gupta can also vote of the next Lib Dem candidate.
Not to mention helping select the Lib Dem council candidates in his ward!
H-Lad – even Mr Grumpy here can’t see a downside to this news
Is that really you Hywel or an impostor
Tory Campaign going well then! I may pop down tomorrow and lend a hand.
Oh the news is fantastic – a prize defector, an extra vote etc… It just seems to me like all we bang on about is tactical voting (only we can win here) etc when we have so many good decent policies to shout about!
Suggest you get to Ealing and look at some literature H-lad.
I think H-Lad would be campaigning for the Conservatives if he were to visit Ealing. He claims he is a Liberal Democrat party member but he has not answered my polite enquiry for some evidence that this is really the case.
When, in 1996, the Cudmore administration tried to sell off Dormers Wells High School Playing fields to raise money to spend in Acton, not a single Southall Labour councillor spoke out against it. (The one Labour councillor who was willing so to do was moved at the last minute to the Joint Works Committee so he couldn’t attend the Planning West Sub-Committee meeting where the planning application to build houses on the playing fields would be discussed.)
Who likewise kept their mouths firmly shut? Why, none other than every single Ealing Conservative councillor. And why so? Well, it was the previous Conservative administration that first thought up this wheeze!
Not strictly relevant to this thread. Just facts Southall voters might like to know.
Some of the Tory comments on various blogs have fired me up to make the trip to Ealing & hit them where it hurts (in the ballot box!).