Exactly a month ago, the party lost one of its most successful campaigners when Ruth Pentney from Torbay died. Her son Nicholas wrote a wonderful tribute to her here.

Ruth wouldn’t stop working even immediately after electoral victory. Her energy really was that boundless. On election night 2010, I stayed awake long enough to see the Torbay result come in. I was pleased but in no way surprised that Mum had done it again and Adrian had been re-elected. Contented that Torbay was to remain in Lib Dem hands, I went to bed. A few hours later, at approximately 3.30am, I woke to the sound of someone busying themselves somewhere in the house. To my astonishment, I found Mum doing the domestic errands that had been neglected over the course of the election campaign. Apparently, the fact that she had been awake for around 36 hours at this point did not seem to bother her. This was frankly staggering and perhaps even a little bit scary!

Now a by-election is to take place for her Council seat. The candidate will be the man she got elected so many times, Adrian Sanders, the former MP for Torbay. He represented the ward way back in 1984. The Western Morning News has more:

If chosen, Mr Sanders would be facing one of his political enemies in Tory mayor Gordon Oliver, a controversial figure in the Bay.

Under his leadership, the council has faced a cash crisis after Government cuts left it needing to make cuts of around £10million.

Meanwhile Mr Oliver has been criticised for lavishing money on pet projects such as “posh beach huts” and a palm tree costing £4,500.

The former MP said it was “not about locking horns” with the mayor but a chance to help stop what has been going wrong in the area.

“I have gained a huge amount of experience in 18 years at Westminster and hope this can be used to help the prosperity of the Bay.

“The question for the electors is do they want me or a 26th Conservative councillor cheerleading the elected mayor.”

 

Earlier this week, Adrian won an award from the League against Cruel Sports for his animal welfare work.

I’m sure many readers will want to show as much support for Adrian as they can. Sign up here to volunteer on the ground, or make a donation or make calls from home.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social