This is one story about another party that I wish weren’t true. From The Mirror:
George Hollingbery, a Tory councillor in Winchester [and Parliamentary Candidate for Meon Valley], Hants, has sparked fury by calling the death of Lib Dem colleague Sue Fitzgerald “very useful”.
Sue died suddently at the weekend, aged just 52. To his credit, the Conservative Leader of Winchester Council, George Beckett, gave a rather more appropriate reaction:
Both councillors and staff of Winchester City Council have been sad to hear of the sudden death of Cllr Sue Fitzgerald. After living in her ward of Wickham for over 20 years she took a keen interest in local issues, particularly those related to the environment. She had only recently been elected to the Council and I’m sure all councillors were looking forward to working more closely with her during her term in office. We would like to pass our sympathies and condolences on to the family.
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17 Comments
Frankly Mark, ALDC ought to keep a dossier of remarks like that from Tories. They are not uncommon. They should then be sent to every Lib Dem Council Group leader of a hung council before they start talking about a coalition with the Tories!
“At the moment we are running a by election in Wickham ward of Winchester City Council.
The recently elected councillor, Sue Fitzgerald, died most tragically at a very young age and thus the ward is being unexpectedly contested. Beyond the obvious personal tragedy for her family and friends, it was a particular shame because it was clear that she was a highly involved local community champion. All towns and villages need people like that and they are few and far between these days.
From a purely political (and selfish I suppose given the circumstances) point of view, it has been very useful to us to mount a proper local campaign in the town. Wickham is one of the last redoubts of the Liberal Democrats in the Meon Valley and not an area we have done well in for some time.”
Given the importance of by-elections in politics, it’s very easy of us to slip into thinking of a by-election as an opportunity and forget about the circumstances that caused it.
We all know that if a by-election pops up in a seat that is strategically useful for us to campaign in, what goes on in our minds is different from the public expression of regret we must of course make if it is caused by a death.
I think we should be gracious in accepting this was an unfortunate slip of the mind we could all fall into if we didn’t think carefully, rather than get all sanctimonious about it.
Martin Land, for the sake of impartiality a similar dossier ought to be kept of similar remarks from Labour also. All Conservatives aren’t like George Hollingbery, either, as the reaction of George Beckett proves.
I hate this spinning both when it helps us and when it harms us.
I do feel that we’re being a bit over the top here.
There is no such thing as a purely political context for such a remark following a death like this. If you’re thinking properly, you don’t need to think ‘carefully.’
Valerie @ 6 – I’ve had to deal with a number of deaths recently, and at times like this people sometimes do say crass things, sometimes intentionally, but often unintentionally.
Making a big thing out of this, keeping a dossier on it, and the like, seems to me to be just that sort of silly schoolchild name-calling which puts me off politics.
If we’re going to criticse Tories, let’s do it for their policies, not for slips of the tongue which, to be honest, we could easily fall into as well
Come on now, how would any of us react if we heard of the death of a Tory MP in a seat where the LibDems were a few hundred votes behind? Mentally we’d be cheering “useful by-election”, even though 99% of us would be able to shut up and utter the appropriate words of condolence.
Sounds to me like more snide and devious DimLeb campaigning techniques actually.
It is amazing you don’t get more of the farmer vote, as no-one rakes muck like the Lib Dems.
Geordie-Tory, let’s not forget that what George Hollingbery said is completely inappropriate, and this discussion wouldn’t have place if he didn’t.
Georgdie Tories are something of an endangered species, I hear. Not a single Conservative councillor in the whole of Newcastle. Dear oh dear. Maybe it has something to do with the way Tyneside people feel about arrogant, Old Etonian showmen like Cameron and Osborne pretending not to look down on them.
It’s not just something the man said in a fluster. It’s written on his BLOG, still. Link here.
Both the Mirror and LDV are not being balanced and fair by suggesting through omission that he didn’t offer condolences or sympathy before pressing on with business. But this was crass nonetheless.
Actually, having read this again and more carefully what is on the blog now is not even that crass. Perhaps he has edited it? Perhaps not.
The Tory PPC DOES NOT say what The Mirror and LDV claim he said. It is the campaigning that he suggests is very useful not his colleague’s death. His tribute is a generous one.
I have edited my blog post accordingly. I hope you will change yours too.
Amusingly the entire 48-strong Lib Dem group on Newcastle council has been sent a letter this week by the chairman of Newcastle Conservatives inviting them to defect. Given that the Tories have not won a seat in the city for fifteen years – and indeed polled less than 5% in some wards last May – it would appear that this desperate tactic is their only chance of securing any form of representation. They have been given extremely short shrift.
It is so easy to use quotes out of context to blacken the opposition, and I think that has been done here. I agree with Matthew Huntbach that this is the sort of tactic that puts people off politics. Having said that, George Holingbery is a bit of a pillock – I reckon he cost the Tories Romsey at the last general election by generating headlines in the local press which reminded people that the Tories are still the arrogant heirs of the Thatcherites.
Nice story Greg. Of course NoT Lib Dems have been largely fuelled to their current position by tactical Tory votes, and run the place like Tories with cuts and all that so it would just be about changing the strip from yellow to blue. Everything else could stay as is.
Are you still doing Labour Watch? Or is that as out of date as your Sedgefield site? And have you found a decent seat to contest next time??
I agree with you – of course not. Lib Dem control of Newcastle is based on the successful record of the party in government and successfully winning support from Labour and Conservative voters. If LD control is dependent on tactical Tory support, perhaps you could explain why Labour’s shae of the vote in 2007 was the lowest since 1935?
By contrast, the Labour government got itself elected on the back of numerous tactical Tory votes in 1997 and has run the place like Tories ever since – including, let’s not forget, recruiting Tories like Quentin Davies.
Re Sedgefield – I would like to get my personal site back; it got commandeered by the party for the bye election!
Here is the Wickham byelection result, from Councillor David Spender’s blog:
Liberal Democrat (Angela Clear) 630 – 60.9% (May 61.1%)
Conservative 349 – 33.8% (May 36.5%)
UKIP 40 – 3.9% (May no candidate)
Labour 15 – 1.4% (May 2.4%)
http://obbfcouncillor.blogspot.com/2007/11/wickham-by-election-result.html
The Meon Valley may be as green as green can be (plus a few trout), but the little town of Wickham stays blazingly orange!