Is ‘Your Waverley’s Leader, the villain or the hero?

Jamie Grant, aka Waverley’s  Conservative Group, loves to do a little Fact-Checking. Here’s his latest.

It depends on who’s telling the story, Jamie. Leader Follows could be seen to be either a villain or a hero.

Many believe him to be a hero who, together with his colleagues, is on a mission to save Waverley Borough Council from extinction.

Some believe these resignations should have occurred years ago!

Thank you message from Paul Follows

A Big Thank you from the new boy that saw him land the second biggest surge in Lib Dem votes in the country!

See the South West Surrey Surge below. Think what it might have been if Dumber hadn’t promised to revoke Article 50! Mistake… Big Mistake!

Screen Shot 2019-11-25 at 20.45.41
Leader of Godalming Town Council & Deputy Leader of Waverley Borough Council, says Thank you and wishes everyone in Waverley a Very Happy Christmas.

Screenshot 2019-12-20 at 23.34.54

You can hear Cllr Follows message by clicking on the Twitter link in blue below.

 

Election predictions for Guildford and South West Surrey

In Guildford it could go either way, in South West Surrey there could be a big upset if the great and good stay at home. There is everything to play for.

Yougov predict:
Guildford: Small Conservative win
South West Surrey: Hugely reduced Conservative Majority
Cratus predict: 
Guildford:  Liberal Democrat win
South West Surrey: Conservative hold

Boris predicts: “If the price of loyalty is losing Guildford, then so be it”

 

Screenshot 2019-12-02 at 14.12.26Screenshot 2019-12-02 at 14.11.51

Political lobbying company Cratus have called Guildford for the Lib Dems (see their analysis below) and SW Surrey for Jeremy Hunt (no surprise there then). We checked out their team, and were surprised to see former Conservative Minister Stephen Dorell amongst the team, and also surprised to see him urging voters to support Paul Follows! Has he recognised that Mr Follows is a “man of the people” who doesn’t drive a car, let alone an expensive car, uses public transport – when it can be found, isn’t a homeowner at 33 years-old – let alone a Buy to Let landlord with a shedload of homes. And guess what, in addition to his public role – he works and is on PAYE! 
And then we did a double-take to see who the other political heavyweight on the team were other than former Waverley Leader Julia Potts!
Screenshot 2019-12-02 at 15.10.12

Screenshot 2019-12-02 at 15.10.53

Stephen Dorrell 1

Here are the Associates of Cratus Communications who made the predictions above. Julia potts top row far left is the former leader of Waverley Borough Council.

Screenshot 2019-12-02 at 15.12.44

We prefer to stick to our friend’s suggestions for voting, and for this, we turn to former Waverley Councillor and local Planning Lawyer Adam Taylor-Smith, who may be supporting Jeremy Hunt, but seems to be urging us to vote Labour rather than Lib Dem this time. Does this mean things are even closer than we think?

Screenshot 2019-12-01 at 23.47.27

It cannot be true? Is the public following Follows?

image
If I’m not careful that young upstart who is leading Waverley Borough Council may be stepping into my well-worn shoes. Shoes that are far too big for him to fill? After all, I am a sitting tenant in the SW Surrey seat. I am an entrepreneur, former Secretary of State for Health, Foreign Secretary, local Landlord,  etc… 
Screen Shot 2019-11-25 at 20.45.41.png
Ok, so I am 33, I studied at the University of Surrey live in Godalming and lead the Town Council and deputy leader of Waverley Council.  I commute to Guildford to work for BAE Systems Applied Intelligence on Surrey research park (covering Standards, legal compliance and ethical conduct).  I enjoy travelling, cricket and ice hockey and I am a Tenor in the Guildford Choral Society.
As an aside, another motivation for my getting into politics has been my parents. My father is a retired soldier and my mother is an HLTA at a Guildford School. Both have had cancer in the last 5 years and survived – largely due to fantastic NHS staff –  and so access to these services and providing for health services locally is a big deal for me personally. Equally an affinity for the teaching and defence professions is something built into me.

As the Hustings in Farnham follow-on from Charterhouse – is the South West Surrey seat is beginning to look just a little shaky?

Unfortunately, the Waverley Web couldn’t attend the event at The Farnham Maltings, because football and football practice got in the way! Oh, well – boys will be boys.

However, suffice to say our inbox has been groaning under the weight of congratulatory messages from some of those who attended. It cannot have been attended by only members of The Green Party and the Liberal Democrats, can it? Surely not. We would love to hear from the local Tories to give their spin on all things General Election SWS 2019? Don’t be shy.

Claire Mathes wrote saying – Dear Waverley Web.
The warmth in the room towards Paul Follows was palpable. What helps though is that he has a recent proven track record at Waverley Borough and Godalming Town Council of doing what he says he’s going to do, obviously you’d think, but a thing that has been sorely lacking in previous administrations. He is well-informed at ground level and clearly cares deeply about the people who live and work in the area.
Jeremy, I’m afraid, just looked a little clueless.
Teresa Burton-Brown
I went to my first election hustings yesterday, in Farnham. It was very well attended.
Our sitting MP (Jeremy Hunt) looked surprised and uncomfortable to be attacked on his record on the environment, the NHS, education and Brexit. He seemed completely out of touch. For example, when asked what he would do about the climate emergency in this constituency, he replied that he had just put in an order for his own electric car (!)
 Paul David Follows as the Lib Dem/Remain Alliance candidate talked about food banks, affordable housing, proper pay for proper jobs, public transport and his efforts on the council to improve air quality.
He was very impressive and certainly has my vote.
Screen Shot 2019-11-25 at 19.44.55.png