Does the Tory candidate Ian Michell still have Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s backing to stand against Liberal Democrat and Labour hopefuls in the Dunsfold & Chiddinfold By -Election today?
The link includes details of other candidates.
Will Ian Mitchell prove today that anything can become a Tory councillor?
However, it appears local Tories have stopped campaigning for Mr Mitchell, who is standing as a Conservative to win the Dunsfold & Chiddingfold seat at WBC, left by the death of Cllr John Gray.
The SW Surrey Conservative Association is distancing itself from its candidate after he posted inappropriate FaceBook comments. These included featuring a Golly that he stated was not racist. And the following:
He said Mr Hunt was a “fence-sitter” on the EU, called the new prime minister Rishi Sunak a “tax dodging billionaire”, and has called the UK’s foreign aid budget, immigration issues and benefits system “a drain on society”.
However, he does have one feather in his rather large hat! He says in his election leaflet that he complained to Waverley about an overgrown hedge in Chiddingfold, and guess what. The Liberal Democrat administration called it wasteful and inefficient. I dealt with it and was cut back.
Will he withdraw?
Or will the residents of Chiddingfold & Dunsfold be told before they put their cross on the ballot paper – that the Conservatives no longer back Mr Mitchell? He was put forward by a sitting Tory Conservative member of Waverley Borough Council, Anna James.
Will he won’t he be a Tory if he wins?
Or perhaps this is just the local Tories disassociating themselves until the by-election. If he wins, they’ll merely sweep the internal inquiry under the carpet and pronounce his temporary suspension revoked? Will he enter WBC as a victorious Conservative Councillor?
Maybe they have noticed that as soon as Ian opens his mouth, his chances of winning diminish.
Ian’s offending post has been deleted, and so has any discussion about Ian on the various Conservative Voice sites – where there has been a recent censorship/clampdown on dissenting voices – closing threads, deleting comments, members banned, and a declaration from Admin that ‘inappropriate’ posts will be removed.
Perhaps more importantly, it prevents residents from scrutinising Ian’s lamentable election pledges:
Nature Reserves – what is he talking about? Surely he doesn’t think WBC has the power to designate private land to become nature reserves?
Ian vaguely promises that infrastructure is checked as adequate before approval of developments in the villages. It sounds so simple. Has he no idea about what has gone before in Dunsfold?
His flyer reads like it was thrown together as a vote winner, but he’ll have to try much harder to fill John Gray’s shoes.