The Dragon Says: In Touch or Out of Touch?

Published on: 22 Mar, 2019
Updated on: 23 Mar, 2019

Are the champagne corks already popping at Guildford’s Tory HQ in, er, Woking?

Who could blame them for celebrating early? If national politics have any influence on the borough council results, as most admit they will, then there might not be much to celebrate come May 3 when the borough election count is complete.

Someone seems to have been under the influence when selecting the photo for their website article, “Join our Campaign for 2019”. Bearing a caption “Saturday, 2 February, 2019”, it shows a picture taken during the 2015 campaign, complete with resigned former leader Stephen Mansbridge (exposed for involvement in the elected mayor campaign), and two councillors, Tony Rooth and Nils Christiansen, who defected following deselections.

Conservative website 22 March 2019, 10.30am.

Or is The Dragon behind the news? Are the Conservatives now so desperate they have welcomed back their prodigal sons?

It seems not. An indignant Cllr Christiansen has written this morning:

Dear Guildford Conservatives,

It has come to my attention that you are using my image as part of your election campaigning. This is completely unauthorised and gives the misleading impression to the public that I am in support of Conservative policies. As you well know, I am an Independent borough councillor and I am deeply upset that my name should be associated with your political campaign, particularly considering the damage being wrought by the Conservative Party both nationally and locally.

Please can you immediately remove any reference to my name or image from all your campaign material, and publicly apologise for the reputational damage caused by your actions to date?

Sincerely,

Nils Christiansen

Ouch!

But this is not the only faux pas. As previously reported, a pre-election newsletter distributed in Worplesdon gave the impression that the three Conservative candidates were already in place as the Worplesdon team and could take credit for local successes at the borough council over the last year.

Not so. Of the three named, only David Elms has been a Worplesdon borough councillor over that period; the unexplained deselection of Bob McShee and Iseult Roche’s last-minute withdrawal have been air-brushed from Tory history.

Worse still, the council leader’s message that claims made about protecting the green belt would not be repeated in this campaign’s Conservative election literature, did not seem to reach those out of touch editors of the Tory Worplesdon leaflet.

In an interview with the Guildford Dragon, Martin Giles challenged Cllr Paul Spooner: “There will be people that only saw the headlines on your [2015] campaign literature ‘Green Belt Here To Stay’, in Shalford we ‘vow to protect’, I think the word ‘vow’ was used, and the two councillors who made that vow, according to the headline, then voted against the amendment that would have removed the Blackwell Farm Development, the one they were vowing to protect. Why should a voter trust the Conservative candidates now, on this issue?”

Cllr Spooner replied: “It’s a very good question because I feel very strongly that in politics you should not lie and you should not twist the facts to a point where it is just presented as spin. Now I do believe that, particularly in local politics, you should be honest…”

Martin Giles: “But you won’t be running things like that this time, will you?”

Cllr Spooner: “No.”

So that, at least, was clear. But hang on, what are the “Worplesdon “Team” holding when photographed for the newsletter… oh dear, it is a message that they are “preserving our local green belt”. Tell that to the Blackwell Farm campaigners.

Cllr Spooner says that the newsletter, “…did not cross the line, in my opinion”. Well, we are all entitled to our opinions.

And yesterday Conservative campaign literature was dropping through letter-boxes in Friary & St Nicolas. Were there any green belt claims within? No. In this case, In Touch was in touch. All mention of our green belt had been carefully avoided. So too was any specific mention of the council’s most important piece of work of the last four years, the Local Plan, due to be pushed through in April, before the newly elected council, in May, can do anything about it.

Like Cllr Spooner, The Dragon believes politicians should be honest, so we ask our readers to scrutinise the election literature they receive from all parties and let us know of dubious claims and promises made.

Share This Post