Tag: Guildford Conservative Association

Prominent local Tory Liz Townsend resigns from the Conservative Party.

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Cllr Townsend – Waverley Borough Councillor for Cranleigh and  Chairman of its  Parish Council has today announced her resignation from the Conservative Party.

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Waverley Borough and Cranleigh Parish Cllr Liz Townsend is now hand-in-hand with former MP Anne Milton in their efforts to put ~an Independent MP for the Guildford & Villages into the seat at the General Election. 

It has been obvious to anyone who watches the Waverley Borough Council meetings on its webcast – sad souls that a handful of us residents are! That Cllr Elizabeth Townsend has become an increasingly independent thinker – and doer. 

Like many councillors before her – her politics came with a small p – but her Dogged Determination to serve Waverley, and in particular Cranleigh residents,  – came with a BIG D. Which sometimes took her out-of-step with Tory colleagues. Particularly with her concerns for the environment.

 Although seemingly overlooked and undervalued by some of her own Waverley Conservative colleagues, she is highly regarded by the public and her colleagues in all the other parties. Cast your minds back to a time when Tory-controlled Waverley refused to allow her to join the influential Joint Planning Committee.  A committee faced with major applications – including Dunsfold Park Garden Village a 2,600 home – development that would have a major impact on Cranleigh and its services.

So it came as no surprise to us, here at the Waverley Web that Cllr Liz Townsend has resigned to-day from the Guildford & Villages Con Assoc – to become, what perhaps she always has been – an INDEPENDENT. 

As Chairman of the parish council,  she single-handedly masterminded Cranleigh’s Neighbourhood Plan – a feat of enormous and time-consuming proportions, as it maps out Cranleigh’s future and underpins Waverley’s Local Plan.

She has fought tirelessly for the people of Cranleigh and beyond, cares passionately about the environment, and the effect development is having on the character of the countryside both on her own patch and on the areas of Godalming, Haslemere and ours here in Farnham. nobody shows more frustration at the loss of habitat, loss of ancient woodland, hedgerows, and TPO covered trees than Cllr Townsend. She has shown herself to represent our beleaguered town of Farnham with exactly the same fervour as her own area. There is nothing parochial in her fight for what is right for the people of Waverley. But faced with a choice of what is right for the country has prompted a once committed Tory to hand in her card.

So let’s all hope that the new Coalition Alliance that is now running ‘Your Waverley’ will recognise her immense skills, and reward her courageous stand – with more responsibility for shaping our borough over the next four years. Because there is little doubt, Waverley’s Tory Group has lost one of its best assets. We wonder what Cllr Potts will have to say now her ranks are being depleted further? Watch this space.

Paul Follows - Lib Dem Godalming

Councillor Paul Follows, Deputy Leader of Your Waverley said:

The cross-party administration of Waverley Borough Council is very pleased to welcome Cllr Towsend to join the governing group of (now) 35 councillors.

Cllr Townsend is known for being a hardworking, principled local councillor and will be, I am sure, an asset to the group in our ongoing work for the residents of Waverley.

It is clear that the Conservative party has in recent months shifted to the right and to a place where moderate, centrist, pro-remain and pro-environment Conservative councillors and supporters feel uncomfortable and ultimately that they have no home. Leaving a party of your own choice takes great courage and many of the group understand that position. There will always be a place for such people in the cross-party alliance whether they sit as a member of a party or as an Independent.

Welcome, Cllr Townsend. Paul Follows

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Want to learn more about the Tory’s chosen one – Angela Richardson?

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And when we say we want to know a little bit about them, we’re not referring to the spiel that the candidate and their team are busy spinning.  Oh no!  We’re talking about going the extra mile – as all good cleaners and forensic investigators do – and pulling out the sofa to see what’s lurking behind and beneath it!

And this is what our small cluster of spiders have found in their search for more information about “Offshore” Angela Richardson, the Conservative candidate for Guildford & Villages, who wants to fill Anne Milton’s shoes!

As it happens, there wasn’t much dust under Mrs Richardson’s sofa — but something potentially unpleasant was lurking under a stone in her husband’s rockery?

According to our Cranleigh Cluster, in 2009 Mr Angela Richardson – AKA Jeremy Bruce Richardson – became a member of an outfit called ‘Keepstone’, a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) formed to invest in creative selling, e.g. “of rights to a song or idea for a book.”

Under said scheme, members – like Mr Richardson – “invested” significant sums of money – much of it borrowed from Banks (not that we’re suggesting Mr Richardson had to borrow, we’ve no idea how healthy or otherwise his bank account is) – in the hope of “significant benefit.”

At the time, Limited Liability Partnerships were a popular tool for wealthy individuals – such as Gary Barlow and Chris Moyles (more of whom later) – to, well, not to put too fine a point on it, to dodge tax!  That was until HMRC won a few high profile court cases against them – referred to as  “Icebreaker” cases!

www.gov.uk/government/news/icebreaker-tax-avoidance-scheme-crushed

To cut a long story short and for those who don’t have the time or inclination to follow the link above, over their morning coffee, the Courts found in favour of HMRC who claimed the schemes where designed purely for tax avoidance purposes with most, if not all, of the ventures unlikely ever to make a profit!

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In Keepstone’s case, the Limited Liability Partnership was formed in October 2006 and, therefore, one would normally expect the first financial year to end in October 2007. However, for some reason, this latter date was subsequently changed to 5 April 2007, which just happened to coincide with the end of the 2006/7 tax year. Well, it would, wouldn’t it?!

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According to our researchers, Jeremy Bruce Richardson – AKA Mr Angela Richardson – was a partner in a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) called “Keepstone LLP” https://opencorporates.com/officers/194721384.

Mr Richardson’s involvement in Keepstone ended in 2015 – the year after the HMRC “Icebreaker” Court judgements.  Quelle surprise!

Are we being a tad mean?  After all, Mr Richardson might have been as gullible as Messrs Barlow and Moyles claim they were.  And, by way of explanation, he might also claim, as they did, that he didn’t really understand what he was investing in, he just did what his accountants and financial advisors recommended …

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Trouble is, unlike Messrs Barlow and Moyles, Mr Richardson was married to Angela, whose CV (see below) reads like that of a woman who knows her way around a balance sheet and a tax return:

 

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We can’t help feeling that given Mrs Richardson’s former profession she would – or should – have recognised a tax dodge when her husband stepped – or stumbled – into one! 

Background.

Mr Richardson’s involvement in Keepstone ended in 2015 the year after the judgement. Which you can read here;  https://www.wilberforce.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-UKFT-416-TC.pdf 

As we continued our search it appears  Angela ran something called “Winnard Limited” from 2002-05. For we know not what? The industry code for Winnard say Industry Codes 80.42: Adult and other education.https://opencorporates.com/companies/gb/04423277

Looking at her husband’s page here https://opencorporates.com/officers/40022688 we can see the sidebar with “Similarly named officers” which shows a couple of other companies. We can only really match on names because that’s all that Companies House can give us (they don’t make any attempt to prove identity or match officers to a particular person).

One way to tell whether an LLP was probably used for this purpose is to look at the list of partners. In the case of Keep stone LLP, we can see a reference to “Lothbury Finance Ltd.”. This is the same “Lothbury Finance” which is called out in paragraph 47 of this judgement https://www.wilberforce.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2014-UKFT-416-TC.pdf where HMRC is pursuing a bunch of related LLPs for their attempt to dodge tax.

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Boris’s new babe!

Getting up close and matey certainly worked for Boris’s new babe Angela Richardson.

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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:

Its #Annes Still Standing.

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?

Screen Shot 2019-11-07 at 23.08.35.pngZoe, 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.”

Its #Annes Still Standing.

 

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Will Anne Milton still hold the whip hand in Guildford & villages?

Anne Milton is now – whipless, party-less, and with former Tory Waverley Councillors like these, who needs enemies?!

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Since 2005-Anne Milton has represented the people of Guildford, Cranleigh & Ewhurst as their MP.  But as the local branch memberships prepare to cast their votes tonight Thursday, it is in the knowledge that the Tory vote has been split asunder by a woman, who herself, held the Deputy Chief Whip’s position in Parliament.  

Although a highly respected, hardworking, and in the most part successful MP, she may find some opposition to her decision, having made one crucial mistake in the eastern villages.

It was Ms Milton, along with SW Surrey MP Jeremy Hunt  – who together urged Secretary of State Sajid Javid, to call in the Dunsfold Aerodrome planning application. A delay, which having been approved by ‘Your Waverley’ and the S of S, then prompted a Judicial Review, by the objectors she backed.  Although also agreed by the High Court last year, it robbed Waverley of more than 500 homes, a pivotal component of its Local Plan and precipitated the loss of even more of the borough’s countryside to other eager developers. 

However, she did redeem herself in part, by her efforts to turn the spotlight on flooding problems in both Alfold and in Cranleigh. She chairing regular Flood Forums, regularly taking on the Environment Agency and Thames Water and holding all the statutory agencies to account.  Sources close to Ms Milton say she has become increasingly frustrated by party politics in recent years but is eager to continue to represent the people on whose behalf she has worked tirelessly for 24 years.

 So let the battle begin? All that remains is filling in the black holes?

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