We know that when things start to get difficult for the Conservatives
on East Devon District Council they have no worries about turning on their
opponents, whoever they are.
In recent years we have seen the Conservative majority group on the
district Council have attacked opposition Councillors when they have challenged
the Conservatives actions. Zorro
would be the last to object to robust political challenge, but the Conservative
group have often relied upon personal attacks and bullying to ensure that
anyone opposing them are dealt with.
The Conservatives attacks have not been restricted to their elected
political opponents. Remember when 4,000 residents marched through Sidmouth in
opposition to what the Conservative group were proposing to do? Remember when
residents banded together through campaign groups such as Save Our Sidmouth?
For their efforts these concerned residents were denigrated by the
Conservatives.
Earlier this year we have the spectacle of Councillor Twiss, the
Conservative District Council whip, the man responsible for ensuring that his
colleagues kept to the Party line on issues, reported Claire Wright to the Devon
and Cornwall Police for a throw away comment that a member of the public had posted on her
website. The crime? The member of the public had called for a political cull of
Conservative Councillors at the impending local election.
Judge for yourself whether such a comment could in any way, as
Councillor Twiss claimed, be a call to arms for someone to do physical harm to local
Conservative Councillors. Or was it a crude and deliberate attempt by Councillor
Twiss to try to politically damage Claire Wright, someone who he and his
Conservative colleagues clearly dislike and fear?
But this North Korean style approach to politics as espoused and demonstrated
by the Conservative group on the District Council has not just remained amongst
them. The Conservative candidate in the general election clearly doesn’t like
challenge either as we have seen in this election. Anyone who has attended any
of the election hustings will have so clearly seen the clear disdain that Hugo
Swire has exhibited towards his challengers, particularly Claire wright, his
Independent opponent. Indeed Hugo Swire made his disdain so clear when a few
weeks ago he wrote to the Express and Echo and attacked all of his opponents.
As we moved towards the point where local people had to decide whether
they were going to stand as candidates in the local election on 7 May we saw
the creation of the umbrella local party, East Devon Alliance, which allowed those
who wished to stand as a co-ordinated set of Independent candidates to do so
and to do so within the bounds of electoral rules.
As this was happening we saw Councillor Twiss pop up again to try to
attack the EDA as a front for other political parties – Labour, Liberal Democrats
and Greens. This attack, whilst being palpably untrue was clearly designed to
try to inflict damage on what has become a ground up opposition to the
dominance locally of the Conservatives. If the EDA was a front for all of these
political parties then given that each of those three parties are also standing
candidates, often in opposition not just to the Conservatives, but also the
EDA, shows either their collective political incompetence or their individual
political independence.
Zorro has previously called
for the EDA and the Labour, Liberal Democrats and Green Parties to form a grand
coalition in order to not split the anti-Conservative vote in the District
Council elections. Indeed, Zorro has
also called upon the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties not to stand in the
general election in East Devon in order to provide Independent candidate, Claire
Wright, with the greatest opportunity to beat Conservative Hugo Swire.
Regretfully, these two parties have maintained their political independence.
As we enter the final week of the local election campaign we now have
the local conservatives returning to type. In Axminster Deputy Council Leader
Andrew Moulding, a person at the heart of the political decisions of the District
Council ruling majority group, and his
Conservative colleague Stephanie Jones who are both standing locally in the
local elections issue another attack on the East Devon Alliance.
This time, in a poorly produced and written leaflet these two
Conservative candidates think that the way to beat the EDA is to describe them
as a group of Sidmouth residents. Whilst there is nothing wrong with being a
group of Sidmouth residents, in this case it is untrue. This is an attempt to
try to make it look as if the EDA is only interested in, and representative of,
Sidmouthians. They will find out on 7 May how untrue this childish attempt to
dismiss the EDA challenge is.
Equally in this leaflet these two Conservative candidates tried to explain
that the EDA will operate as traditional political group, such as operated by
the Conservatives on the District Council if elected. Err…. But we have been
told time and time again that the Conservative group on the District Council
did not operate as an organised political group! Andrew Moulding and Stephanie Jones
seem to want to have their cake and to eat it! So, despite the previous
protestations from Conservative group Whip Councillor Twiss the conservatives
on the District Council did enforce political discipline amongst their
Councillors.
Zorro was intrigued that in
the rest of this leaflet these two conservative candidates have the brass neck
to try (unsuccessfully) to defend the Conservative group’s decisions to delay
the production of the Local Plan and the relocation and sale of the District
Council Headquarters from the Knowle.
It is clear to Zorro that in
Axminster the Conservatives are so rattled and worried about the EDA’s
challenge that they have resorted to petty and inaccurate political attack
through a poorly produced leaflet.
It’s time for challenge! It’s time for change!
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