Do you remember that feisty lady that was once an Independent councillor representing Ewhurst, the little village over there in the East of the borough. Well, she is certainly making a name for herself now! UKIP’s MEP home affairs spokeswoman could soon become Nigel Farage’s replacement.
Bookies are now putting her up as the overwhelming favourite.
Most Waverley borough councillors were not even aware where Ewhurst was until Diane James arrived on the scene – and she created a huge impression from the outset. None more so than when she shrugged off her Independent label and committed the ultimate sin of joining UKIP – the very same party that was taking votes from Conservatives.
Now everyone knows that in Waverley that if you stuffed a blue rosette up the ar** of a monkey it would get in, so, although she did not get a universally positive response from those who elected her, she redeemed herself by her hard work and determination. She was a “brilliant” constituency councillor, according to one of our followers, and always went “the extra mile” dealing with her postbag – and for that matter the postbags of those other lazy Tory councillors, some of whom did nothing more than turn up for meetings!
Hostility grew among her Waverley councillor colleagues when DJ made the headlines by only narrowly failing to win the Eastleigh Parliamentary by-election and they never missed an opportunity to humiliate her, and their hostility towards her was palpable.
After being selected to contest the seat left vacant by Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne’s resignation after he pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, Ms James, who used to work for a pharmaceutical company on Eastleigh Business Park and has friends and relatives in the area, said: “I joined UKIP not only because of their policy on grammar schools, which I benefitted from when I was younger, but because I believe that the UK would be able to thrive outside the EU.
She said at the time that her selection had received a “very positive” response from people locally, although political rivals were less than impressed and she admitted the news had been greeted with “absolute frostiness” by Waverley Tories. DJ had joined the anti-European party in 2010, a year before she successfully defended her Waverley seat and failed to take the Cranleigh and Ewhurst division on Surrey County Council in a by-election, standing in both as an independent.
“I campaigned on the platform that party politics had no bearing at borough council level and I am still adamant about that. I would not change that stance at all. I would still stand as an independent,” added Ms James.
“I do not see an issue with it. It’s very much a career choice of my making and has nothing to do with what I am doing in Ewhurst,” she insisted, explaining that the chance to stand for Parliament was “the opportunity of a lifetime”.
Click on the link below – DJ is certainly a force to be reckoned with refusing to be bullied by Waverley Councillors or EU Commissioners alike. Go get em DJ – You can do it! Want to see her in action facing up to another bully boy – mind you she had plenty of practice at “Your Waverley.”
