Tag Archives: caroline righton

Conservative candidate Caroline Righton ‘goes to ground’

By Mark Pack | Published 14th April 2010 - 9:20 am

Caroline Righton, the Conservative candidate in St Austell & Newquay who was previously implicated in the faking of a message that smeared her Liberal Democrat opponent, Stephen Gilbert, has now turned all elusive again:

Caroline Righton, is one of only 7 candidates across the whole south west not to respond to a BBC request to give her view on the issue of fox hunting and has pulled out of the first local radio debate of the campaign.

The BBC’s Politics Show asked the 110 candidates in the south west what they would do if given a free vote on

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Posted in Opposition watch | Also tagged , | 7 Comments

Could Cameron cost Tories the West?

By Mark Pack | Published 21st January 2010 - 7:40 pm

That’s the question posted by the Western Morning News’s London editor, Matt Chorley:

CONSERVATIVE high command make no secret of the importance of the Westcountry to their hopes of winning the general election, but there seems to be growing unease in the region about the impact (negative or non-existent) their leader is having on voters…

Speaking to MPs and PPCs from Devon, Cornwall and Somerset there is a distinct lack of confidence, even in private.

They talk about “hanging on” to seats, “picking up one or two” others. Don’t forget the Tories need to win an extra 10 seats in the three

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Posted in Opposition watch | Also tagged , | 8 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 2 November 2009

By Stephen Tall | Published 2nd November 2009 - 10:00 am

With just 59 days til the end of the third millennium’s first decade, we can celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the birth of BBC1, and that it’s 49 years to the day since Penguin Books was found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley’s Lover case.

2 Big Stories

Johnson faces backlash over decision to sack drugs advisor

The fall-out continues from Home Secretary Alan Johnson’s decision to sack Professor David Nutt as chair of his scientific advisory body on drugs policy – The Times reports:

The Government is facing mass resignations from the official advisory body on drugs after the sacking

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Posted in Daily View, Europe / International | Also tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Tory councillors who labelled their Lib Dem opponents “morons” refuse to apologise

By Stephen Tall | Published 30th October 2009 - 10:05 am

Moron: it’s not exactly a nice word. Definitions include “a person of subnormal intelligence” and the more psychologically precise “a person having an intelligence quotient of between 50 and 70″. Many of us might have used the term, but it’s one generally best kept out of civilised political discourse.

Tory councillors in the Cotswolds take a different view, as the BBC reports:

Councillors dubbed “morons” by rivals via social networking site Facebook say they may report the insult to the local government watchdog. Cotswold District Council leader Lynden Stowe and fellow Tory Chris Roberts said Lib Dem rivals “have a

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Posted in Opposition watch | Also tagged , , , | 21 Comments

Your Caroline Righton reader

By Mark Pack | Published 29th October 2009 - 8:08 pm

On Sunday Stephen blogged about the behaviour of Caroline Righton, the Conservative candidate for St Austell & Newquay, whose campaign is being accused of faking a message about her Liberal Democrat opponent, Stephen Gilbert, in a botched smear attempt.

The story has also been taken up on quite a few other Lib Dem blogs so, bearing in mind that our readers often ask for more links through to stories on other Lib Dem blogs, here is a selection of the most recent posts:

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Posted in Opposition watch | Also tagged | 2 Comments

Tories’ St Austell & Newquay candidate in ‘D***h***d!!!’ smear storm

By Stephen Tall | Published 25th October 2009 - 11:15 pm

Lib Dem blogger Matt Davies reports on a clumsy attempt by Tory PPC for St Austell & Newquay, Caroline Righton, to extract political advantage from her Lib Dem opponent, Stephen Gilbert – but, unfortunately, without trying to check her facts first.

Ms Righton accused Stephen of calling her a ‘D***h***d!!!’ on Twitter in an email to residents. Except that he didn’t. And as Matt explains, it’s hard to know how Ms Righton could have failed to realise this before broadcasting her allegation:

She might not have liked Steve highlighting their different priorities when it comes to helping local residents

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , | 8 Comments