Francis Rook (apologies for getting his name wrong initially!), a Parish Councillor in Tunbridge Wells, has switched from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats.
His switch was triggered by Conservative plans to shut the council offices in Cranbrook, plans which the Tories tried to push through without any public consultation until there was a huge public outcry.
Looking to the Liberal Democrats, he found that our party actually matches his own beliefs much better than the Conservatives, so he switched.
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16 Comments
Was he “disgusted”? ;o)
Wow1 What a catch! A former parish councillor! Congratulations!
A current rather than a former parish councillor. But just for you, I’ll make the post even clearer 🙂
Still, a MASSIVE catch, no?
In case Two-horse hasn’t noticed it, Cranbrook is a real town inhabited by real people. The folks who live there cannot be held accountable for what one of their parish councillors does. So save your sneers, Two-horse.
Yes, you’re right. It’s a real town, with real people. And guess what? They vote Conservative, not Lib Dem. How they must feel cheated. Still, it will be another Tory gain to look forward to – even it is at Parish level…
Tally ho!
More Tory prophets. Don’t bother with the election, the result has been foretold. Or is it more a case of making the decision for the electorate? Very inconvenient when those pesky voters just refuse to vote Conservative (as they did in Claygate last week). Class traitors all.
The Tunbridge Wells Tories, presiding over a ‘weak’ Borough council criticised in its CPA for not consulting with anybody, (not even backbench Tories!) has decided to close the council offices in Cranbrook without anybody (not even aforementioned backbench Tories, one of whom is up for election in Cranbrook this year!). A packed public meeting was far from impressed when the Tories tried to pretend they knew nothing about it (you could almost hear people thinking “so why did I bother voting for you then?!”).
And who is this John Rook? His names Francis. Hes the Lib Dem borough candidate, and hes got a pretty good chance from the looks of things.
“Go back to your constituencies and prepare for government.”
“Go back to your constituencies and prepare to run the parish councils”
So is this what it has come to. Thanks to our aged useless leader we have to shout about a parish cllr defecting. It’s time we got a decent leader!!!!
Who knows – could be anyone!
The party isn’t shouting about a parish cllr, it’s just noted on this website that’s all.
And I know this isn’t a huge story, but the point isn’t so much that hes a parish councillor, its that he is a Tory who has switched and decided to stand in the borough council elections as a Lib Dem.
Francis Rook is my cousin. He is a successful business man with a kind thoughtful manner and has always taken a close interest in local issues.
Francis is my cousin also and I would just like to say that I agree wholeheartedly with Dr Bernard Leeman’s comments. The very best of luck to you on Thursday, Francis!
Francis is standing for Kent County Council, which needs his common sense.