From Bedfordshire on Sunday:
Snubbed tory leader Nicky Attenborough has launched a scathing attack on her party claiming Monday’s open primary to elect a mayoral candidate was ‘hijacked’…
In Mrs Attenborough’s email, copied in to Tory chief David Cameron and leaked to Bedfordshire on Sunday, she says: ‘Exactly why should anyone become a member of the Conservative Party when they can walk off the streets into any selection meeting and choose the most unsuitable candidate, if they want, without knowing anything about them, or go to a meeting with the leader without having to pay £20 for the privilege…
‘What followed was quite shameful, for a party that prides itself on its efficiency and democracy.
‘It was very obvious that the meeting had been hijacked and quite clearly, from where I was sitting, I could see the Liberal Democrats on the front row, Labour on the back row and a sea of faces who couldn’t even understand what the candidates were saying.
‘So how could you say that this was a Conservative selection procedure? It was a joke and the backlash has been very severe. Especially since the members were written and told they would have a private meeting in the end to endorse the candidate.
‘Despite several angry protestations from the floor, this was ignored, and people with a green band were told to put their hands up. Quite frankly, it just seemed the icing on a very bad cake.
‘You have treated loyal members of this Party with utter contempt, people who fundraise for you, support you financially, go out in the good years and the bad, in all weathers to deliver and canvass for you, sit in polling stations for you, and up to now, were proud to stand for the Conservative Party.’
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5 Comments
Inevitable. Combine that with the resentments between rural and urban Tories typical of the region (You all know what I mean) and you get a predictable mess. Cameron continues to try to ‘modernise’ a party whose raison d’être is to resist modernisation. The Tories are facing a real threat from UKIP in the East of England as Cameron’s professed liberalism is pushing away traditional activists and supporters in droves.
The key question between now and next May is how quickly can the LD’s get it through to the electorate in key marginals that the Tories remain a coalition between the blatantly self-interested, closet racists, and homophobes (not necessarily mutually exclusive categories) with a small leavening of publicly acceptable faces designed to ‘con’ people into voting for them.
Meantime those LD’s not seduced by the bright lights should be out in the streets in Bedford!
My small wager on Dave Hodgson just looks better and better.
If you look at the ‘literature’ put out by the four candidates for the Tory Mayoral spot, one of them is on glossy paper, professionally designed, has the Tory manifesto points from the recent Unitary Authority elections, and carries a formal imprint (which is that of the local Conservative Association). The other three have obviously amateur designed leaftets, a rather ragged narrative each and as for imprint – well cant be found on any of them. Now it is possible that an internal party election document does not need an imprint (does it, by the way?) but… it does suggest these three lacked some professional precautionary advice.
Could you hazard a guess as to which of the four the Local Tory Heirarchy intended to win?
Could you guess who actually won out of the four?
Yes you can!
Bad loser.
Even renowned Lib Dem Mike Smithson conceded that the winning candidate was the best candidate.
“and a sea of faces who couldn’t even understand what the candidates were saying”
I’m not sure what I understand what she’s saying? I don’t like the implication.
“‘You have treated loyal members of this Party with utter contempt,”
Welcome to the world of politics
As a former libdem voter i feel much the same.