Getting up close and matey certainly worked for Boris’s new babe Angela Richardson.
Having schlepped around the country from Canterbury to Totnes – Ewhurst resident, Angela Richardson whose most important achievement to date has been to campaign to keep Cranleigh public lavatories open all hours is now flushed with her latest success.
Last night Thursday the New Zealander was endorsed by the Guildford & villages branch of the Conservative Party as the chosen-one to oppose her erstwhile colleague and former MP Anne Milton. Ms Milton announced this week she will stand as Independent.
You may read why here:
The Tory activist who worked tirelessly clambering up the greasy pole, but slipped down a couple of rungs when she was rejected by Cranleigh villagers in the May Waverley borough council election, could soon achieve her long-held ambition to fill the Guildford & Villages seat at Westminster.
Boris’s new Best Buddy was voted in at the Harbour Hotel in Guildford?
Waverley Web Wonders who will fill her parish council stilettoes now? Or, was it as everyone believed, that Cranleigh Parish Council merely a stepping-stone onto bigger things. With the Conservative vote now splitting in all directions – could Guildford find itself in Lib-Dem territory again. Because Zoe Franklin has been out and about long-since campaigning to turn Guildford a brighter shade of yellow. Could she now follow in the footsteps of the highly respected former Guildford MP Lib Dem Sue Doughty?
Didn’t Boris say recently that the price of party loyalty may be to loose Guildford?
And is this the woman who could snatch victory from the two warring Tory women?
Zoe, a former borough councillor and Guildford resident for nearly 20 years, won an impressive 24% of the vote for the Liberal Democrats in the 2017 snap General Election.
Ciaran Doran, chair of Guildford Liberal Democrats, said: “I am delighted that Zoe will continue as our parliamentary candidate. As well as being well-liked and respected by our members and residents, she is very hardworking and deeply committed to Guildford, Cranleigh and the Villages. She has real vision for the future of Guildford and villages and she is determined that our community deserves better than the present Conservative leadership we have at every local level.”
Zoe said: “I am committed to fighting for real and positive change in five key areas locally and nationally,” and summarised her campaign:
- I want the people of the UK to have the final say on Brexit through a People’s Vote;
- I am determined to help us build a future where everyone can fulfil their potential, regardless of background;
- I want a future where our NHS and social care services get the funding they need to properly meet the needs of local people;
- I want a future where we build the right homes in the right places with the right infrastructure while vigorously tackling the social housing crisis; and
- Finally, I want a future for us that is environmentally friendly, with greener energy and transport methods, while waging war on plastic waste and pushing for urgent action to reduce local air pollution.”
Zoe is supported by her colleague Paul Follows, Deputy Leader of Waverley Borough Council, Leader of Godalming Town Council, and the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for the SW Surrey seat – which includes parts of Waverley – formerly held by Jeremy Hunt.
Zoe said: “We have been let down again and again by our Conservative MP and Conservative-run councils and we deserve better. I believe we Liberal Democrats, working with and for the people of Guildford, Cranleigh and the Villages, can build a better, brighter and fairer future for everyone in our communities.”