Tag Archives: grant shapps

Headline from the Welwyn & Hatfield Times pretty much says it all, though long-term LDV readers may also be interested in Grant Shapps’s involvement:

A FORMER councillor who branded Liberal Democrat policy as a bigger danger to children than a baby rapist has said sorry.

Sam Smith had caused uproar after posting comments on an internet forum run by Tory MP Grant Shapps.

I only ask, because Caroline Spelman has just been on News 24 claiming the Conservatives won eight of the last nine by-elections held on Thursday.

One small problem.

They didn’t.

Make that two, rather than eight.

Another one to add to the list of untrue comments made to the media by the Conservatives (who have, of course, also admitted that you can’t believe what their own candidates say).

Right, let’s keep this brief. The Welwyn & Hatfield Times (his local newspaper) reports of Grant Shapps MP:

The Welwyn Hatfield MP said it was not a total whitewash as the Tories had slightly improved their share of the votes, something which the party had not been able to do for years in a by-election.

Cheadle, 2005; Blaenau Gwent 2006: can you guess what happened to the Conservative vote in both of those? I mean 2006 – that, oh, years and years ago isn’t it?

PS I offer very competitive rates for personal history tuition lessons. Do get in touch.

PPS I’ll leave it …

This has to be one of the most bizarre rebuttals from a Conservative spin doctor in a long, long time (well, at least since the Grant Shapps password incident).

When questioned about David Cameron’s less than flattering comments about gay rights back in 2000 (when he wasn’t yet an MP), a Tory spokesman responded to the New Statesman thus:

But a spokesman tried to brush off the comments. “It was only as a candidate. If you know how politics works you’ll see why being a candidate is different to being an MP,” he said.

In other words – doesn’t matter what you say …

Things aren’t getting better:

Anxious Tories turn heat on Cameron

PRESSURE is growing on David Cameron to embark on a shake-up at his party headquarters amid plunging opinion poll ratings … “Nothing is going right at the moment and it is difficult to see a way out of it,” said one insider.
Sunday Times

As Brown soars in the polls, a split opens up between Cameron and his Shadow Chancellor

The first signs of a split between David Cameron and George Osborne emerged as the Conservatives blamed each other for Gordon Brown’s surge in the polls … But there was undisguised fury …

So says The Telegraph:

Much of the blame has been apportioned to campaign director Grant Shapps, the shadow housing minister, who was promptly stripped of his role running by-elections. It was Mr Shapps, and the then Tory chairman Francis Maude, who persuaded Mr Cameron to put his name on the Ealing ballot paper, something the Tory leader at first resisted.