Police Commissioner Declines to Confirm Whether He Will Stand as an Independent

Published on: 8 Mar, 2019
Updated on: 9 Mar, 2019

Police and crime commissioner David Munro inspects police cadets in 2017.

David Munro the current police and crime commissioner for Surrey, who failed in his bid to be reselected as the Conservative candidate for the post in next year’s (2020) election, has declined to rule out standing as an Independent.

One Conservative present at the, surprisingly well attended, selection meeting, said that Mr Munro had loyal support from members in south-west Surrey who were disappointed with the degree of partisan behaviour displayed by some.

Asked what he believed were the reasons for his failure to secure reselection, Mr Munro, a former deputy leader of Surrey County Council, said: “I’m not exactly sure of the reasons but suspect that the problem of unauthorised encampments by travellers – there was an unprecedented number last year – played a part.

“Given the state of the law and the absence of transit sites in the county, it is difficult sometimes to meet residents’ expectations that policing alone can solve the issue.

“But I will keep going to persuade local authorities to provide sites – there are none in Surrey at the moment – as an effective way to minimise the problem. And I will continue to hold Surrey Police to account to ensure that their plans to deal with criminality associated with unauthorised encampments are carried out firmly and consistently.”

He had no complaints about the way the selection process was conducted commenting: “I think the Conservative party’s national selection rules were followed consistently.”

But when asked if there was any truth in the rumour that he might stand as an Independent, he ducked the question, saying only: “I am not thinking about what happens after the next 14 months. My priority is to help lead Surrey Police to become even more effective. We’ve made great strides in the last two years but there is more to do.”