Opinion: Three Independent Thinkers, Three Deselections. Coincidence? I Don’t Think So.

Published on: 17 Sep, 2018
Updated on: 18 Sep, 2018

By Martin Giles

What are we to make of the latest deselection in our local Tory Party? That is the fate of Nils Christiansen, councillor for Holy Trinity Ward.

TV crime shows often portray a suspect placed at two scenes of crime with a similar MO and a detective delivers the cliched line: “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

Any decent detective would certainly be hot on the trail of the Tory leaders who continue to say: “What me, guv’nor? I was miles away!” One after another, those who have spoken out against the leadership line are gradually being picked off.
Coincidence? I take the detective’s view.

And here’s another bit of circumstantial evidence. Very few incumbent councillors are normally deselected, even when their performance has been decidedly average.

The Deselected: Tony Rooth, Bob McShee, Nils Christiansen

There are several councillors making up the numbers at Millmead, who rarely contribute to debates, never display any independence of thought, but who obediently vote in accordance with the leadership’s wishes. Their lack of ability, or even diligence, seems to count for little at selection time.

Of those, some should not be blamed; they were “paper candidates” never really expecting to win, trying to do a favour for their party, itself pathetically desperate to glean every possible vote.

Jokes might be made about them by their ungrateful colleagues but as long as they vote the right way they are waved through selection to stand again for another term of mute support.

And their success in the selection process puts into sharper relief the three deselections of able councillors, who have actively represented their ward’s interests, but clashed with the leadership.

In theory, selections should be democratic. Each member, in each local branch, is allowed to vote for the candidates they feel will best represent them. But in practice, it can be easy to influence meetings where so few members turn up. Only a small number need to be persuaded to win the party’s desired result.

We don’t know why Tony Rooth and Bob McShee were deselected. Neither do they. Conservative party rules say reasons do not need to be given. Both fell at the first hurdle, where central panels assess candidates for suitability, so their local branches had no say. But the implication was starkly clear: dissenters would not be tolerated.

The Holy Trinity selection is more intriguing. Two apparently botched attempts to perform the selection were made. Both were said to have been inadequately advertised among the membership and the second attended by a mysterious group of younger members, not recognised by others present.

The selection was then called in, the usual given reason is that the branch meeting was not quorate, although with low membership figures and poor attendance that is nearly always the case.

Before the called-in Holy Trinity selection meeting could be held, one of the incumbent councillors, Dennis Paul, who had appeared happy to continue as a Holy Trinity candidate, perhaps sensed what was coming. He suddenly jumped ship to Worplesdon where another deselection had left an opportunity. And he is a Worplesdon resident, so who could blame him?

At the meeting, held at the Guildford Conservative Association headquarters in Loseley, about 20 members squeezed themselves into an overcrowded, sweaty room. Some might be have been from Cranleigh or other parts of the parliamentary constituency outside Guildford. And what most of them could know about the past or potential performance of the candidates for Holy Trinity is questionable.

Ironically, it seems there were only two members present who were Holy Trinity residents, Bill Stokoe, who was one of the candidates and could not vote, and Alex Fiuza who was also a candidate but for reasons unknown even to some present, did have a vote

The Holy Trinity branch officers were the three Holy Trinity councillors; Christiansen himself and GBC Executive member, Geoff Davis and Dennis Paul. None is actually a Holy Trinity resident.

Why were the branch officers also councillors? Because in common with some other local branch committees, no other members were prepared to volunteer for the roles, so the local councillors had to also fill the branch executive position. Each branch nominates two branch officers to the GCA Executive.  Paul and Davis (a candidate himself), were allocated the votes, one each, for Holy Trinity. So of the six Holy Trinity candidates, two also had a vote.

Matt Furniss and loyal ally Graham Ellwood were there as officers of their own branches, and because branch representatives can also be councillors at least half of the votes were cast by either current or prospective Conservative councillors.

The few who have given an opinion on the track records of the existing councillors seem to agree that Christiansen and Paul have been dutiful on ward matters and it would be understandable if they shouldered most of that burden, given Davis’ Executive responsibilities.

Davis’ Executive position also likely influenced those voting at the selection, so it is not surprising he sailed through. But why were Furniss’s protege Gerry Lytle and Alexandra Chesterfield successful? Lytle is a GVG member and GBC – GVG relations are not the warmest – while Chesterfield’s average GBC attendance figure of only 61% (of meetings she was expected to attend) backs comments from some quarters of a less than impressive performance as a ward councillor for Friary & St Nicolas.

The word in Conservative party circles is that these selections can be influenced by a few at the top; a phone call here, a word in someone’s ear there, given to members prepared to follow “advice”, perhaps thinking their loyalty is due. There are different views on who the “few” are, which perhaps explains the leader’s plea of innocence.

Anyway, in a borough where one party is so dominant, where so many vote for a party rather than the candidate, where power is so concentrated, we voters who trust in democracy need to know how and why those who represent us are chosen.

These selection meetings are vitally significant. In most cases, they choose the individuals who will govern us locally. If the selection process is used to select only the compliant and the obedient then that is an abuse of democratic power, a deep concern not just for the 500 or so Conservative party members at GCA; they are just 0.6% of the Guildford’s 77,500 electorate, it is a deep concern for us all.

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