Ghost Tories

[Hartlepudlion]

It is certainly true that Ray Martin-Wells is concentrating on his partner's, Andrew, efforts in the Burn Valley Ward. Yet another full colour A4 folded leaflet. The size, quality and number of leaflets and subsequent cost probably exceeds the last five years of effort and expenditure previously allowed by Cllr Martin-Wells for the Burn Valley Ward. I understand that more money has been spent on Andrew than the rest of the local and General Election campaigns put together. I guess many members of the Conservative Association and supporters will be unhappy that so little of their donations have been spent on Richard Royal.

Coupled with the fact that Ged has hardly been supported by the Labour Party, could it be that there is a pact between the Akers-Belcher and the Martin-Wells?

[not4me]

Noticeable that Robbie Payne and Ged Hall have taken to sitting as far away as they can from Christopher in the council chamber.

[steveL]

You have to remember your history.

Calamity Chris has a deep rooted hatred for all of those Labour Councillors who served on Drummond's cabinet. It all began through pure Jealousy; Christopher found himself voted in as Group Leader but had no real power and was driven wild by Drummond's salary.

So he decided to threaten the Labour cabinet members with throwing them out of the Labour Group if they didn't do as he said and as he did everything he could to undermine Drummond.

Let me just list them again:

Peter Jackson
Jonathan Brash
Pamela Hargreaves
Ged Hall
Robbie Payne

Cast your eye down the list and consider how they have been treated since Calamity Chris took the reins. Even Jackson was de-selected from his Throston/Jesmond Ward.

Christopher Akers-Belcher has run Labour on pure spite and jealousy ever since he first took over as its leader and it has led directly to a catalogue of problems for the group. It's going to get worse too until other Labour councillors grow a pair and get shot of him.

[Copper Pipe]

I dont think you can show any sympathy for Ged or Robbie as they keep voting with the thief and the chief, Stephen and Christopher.

[fred c]

You have to ask why the remaining Cabinet Members didn`t call Calamity Cwistophers bluff... what was he going to do, scream n scream n scream at them ?

They had the whip hand if only they had possesed the bottle to use it, all they had to do was follow Brash & Hargreaves across the chamber, the problems that would have caused for Orville & Handsome Lying Ste would have been considerable.

As for showing any sympathy for the predicament they now find themselve in, I don`t think so...... by standing mute in the face of a bullying pair of to**pots, they deserve all they get.

Even when the perfect opportunity was presented to them by Handsome Lying Ste`s recent Employment & Meatun problems, they still chose to do absolutley nothing.

[notenoughsaid]

   Slightly off thread but I feel people should remember the conduct of the Labour Group members of Drummond's cabinet whilst setting the budget. They spent 14 months to construct a workable budget then when it came to voting it through they abstained.   Then at a later meeting regarding the same matter they failed to show up.    Obviously been got at....By whom I wonder?

[Hartlepudlion]

Thanks for the the replies though I feel off the original topic.
This topic relates to the Post's headline "Tories Surrender Hartlepool Council to Labour".
The point being in Burn Valley this isn't the case. A lot of attention has been given to the size, quality and number of leaflet drops in Burn Valley. There has been no sign of the actual candidate, Andrew Martin-Wells as all the deliveries have been delivered by paid people not the candidate nor activists.

In view of the shoddy way Ged appears to have been treated by Labour, do you think a deal has been done?

It could result in a Council dominated by the ABs and the MWs.

[steveL]

I think these are really questions for the local Conservative Association who for some reason seem to have allowed themselves to be hijacked by this Machiavellianite.

I have no doubt that a deal has been done to undermine Hall but the generic blurb supplied to The Mail for other candidates together with the lack of supplied photographs strongly suggests a deliberately half-hearted campaign. Someone at Central Office really needs to be asking questions because the Cuckoo Councillor now seems to have established a Cuckoo Conservative Association which is now little more than a posh annexe to the local Labour Group..

[testing times]

I think the headline sums it all up quite accurately. Wells is clearly working in league with the local Labour crowd and designing the Tory campaign not to tread on the toes of Labour candidates - at least those who meet the approval of the Akers-Belcher's.

[Mr.E]

Well! this has been on the Telegraph's online website today, which will put the cat among the pigeons for the conservatives being told to vote UKIP!!

(some may not be able to get it so I have copied and pasted for you)

From this http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/11581655/Vote-Ukip-where-Tories-cant-win-oldest-Conservative-think-tank-says.html
Came this

Vote Ukip where Tories can't win, oldest Conservative think tank says
Exclusive Ben Harris-Quinney, the Bow Group's chairman, said Tory supporters had to consider voting Ukip because a Conservative majority 'is now very unlikely to happen'. Ukip leader Nigel Farage welcomed the news

By Christopher Hope, Chief Political Correspondent

8:01PM BST 04 May 2015

Conservative supporters in areas where the party cannot win should vote for the UK Independent Party on Thursday, according to a Tory think tank's chairman.

Ben Harris-Quinney, chairman of the Bow Group, which claims to be the oldest conservative think tank, said people should vote Ukip in south Thanet - were Ukip leader Nigel Farage is trying to win - as well as Clacton and Rochester and Strood, which are being fought by former Tory MPs Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless, as well as in other seats "across the north of England".

The Bow Group has a number of senior Tories on its board and was founded in 1951 by a group of Conservative graduatres. Both Margaret Thatcher, at the time the new party leader, and Edward Heath, the former Prime Minister, spoke its 25th anniversary dinner in 1976.

Mr Harris-Quinney said Tory supporters had to consider voting Ukip because a Conservative majority "is now very unlikely to happen".

He criticised the Conservative high command by repeatedly snubbing Ukip. He said it had been "a strategic failing that no accommodation could be made with Ukip prior to the election".

But a statement by patrons of the group - which was founded in 1951 - later said: "As Patrons of the Bow Group we believe that this country's best interests are served by voting Conservative in all situations. Ben Harris-Quinney does not speak for us or represent our views."

In an emailed message to 10,000 supporters, Mr Harris-Quinney told Conservatives to vote Ukip in Rochester and Strood – which is being fought by former Tory MP Mark Reckless – as well as Heywood and Middleton, Great Grimsby, Boston and Skegness and Barrow in Furness.

Mr Harris-Quinney, who runs an organisation called Conservative Grassroots Ltd and has been at times a critic of the Tories, said: "Our preference at this election is a Conservative majority, but few in the Conservative Party will acknowledge the reality that this is now very unlikely to happen, and without that acknowledgement we are sleep-walking into a Labour government.

"We recognise the need to keep Ed Miliband out of Number 10, and the best way to do this is for Conservative voters to lend their votes to Ukip, who are best placed to beat Labour in many areas."

Mr Harris-Quinney said "leading conservative voices like Nigel Farage in South Thanet, and incumbents Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless" were needed in Parliament.

    Revealed: Nigel Farage's offer to support a minority Conservative Government
    Tories put a turbulent priest in the dock

He said they would "balance the left-wing rhetoric of minor parties like the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons".

He said: "It is a strategic failing that no accommodation could be made with Ukip prior to the election, but in acknowledging there won't be a Conservative majority we have to now be realistic that the best chances of forming a conservative government lie in alliances between parties of similar values like the Conservatives, Ukip and the DUP."

Mr Farage, the Ukip leader, welcomed the intervention. He said: "Today's news goes to the heart of what is going on in British politics, and reveals the truth that to keep Mr Miliband out of Number 10, people must vote UKIP.

"In fact it was the Conservative voters in Heywood and Middleton's by-election last year that kept Mr Miliband in as Labour leader, when they should have backed UKIP.

"What this endorsement recognises is that UKIP MPs are critical to ensuring issues like an EU referendum, defence spending, and stopping the SNP bully are high up the agenda in the next parliament, and I welcome the Bow Group's recognition of these facts."

The thinktank's patrons include Lord Lamont of Lerwick and Lord Howe of Aberavon, two former Conservative Chancellors, as well as former leader Lord Howard of Lympne and Lord Heseltine of Thenford, a former deputy Prime Minister. None is understood to have been contacted about the Ukip letter.

A number of MPs including David Davis, Dominic Grieve, Dominic Raab, Sir Gerald Howarth, Adam Afriyie and Philip Lee also agreed to join the Bow Group's new Parliamentary Board.

Mr Harris-Quinney said: "It is likely that whatever happens at the general election, the coming years will be immensely tumultuous for the conservative movement in Britain.

"Fundamental questions as to whether the right can unite across two parties, how to position Britain in relation to Europe and how conservatives can once again achieve majority government are yet to be answered, and will take some years to answer.

"With our new Parliamentary Board in place we hope that the Bow Group will be instructive in answering these questions, and that the majority support that exists for conservative values across the country will be reflected in Parliament after May 8th."

[SRMoore]

To be fair Mr E, Ben is a prick who is full of his own importance and has pretty much single handedly ruined a once great think tank.

As for Andrew MW having so much spent on his campaign... Well I'm not surprised. Ray said on more than one occasion that if George didn't stand he would give the seat to Andrew. What does surprise me is the effort he is putting in at BV when he refused to accept it was a winnable ward before. As Hartlepudian said; here pretty much refused to spend money there in the past, favouring spending cash to put leaflets out elsewhere to help Labour

[SRMoore]

And for the record I'd say he was a prick regardless of who he supported.

[steveL]

To be fair Mr E, Ben is a prick who is full of his own importance and has pretty much single handedly ruined a once great think tank.

As for Andrew MW having so much spent on his campaign... Well I'm not surprised. Ray said on more than one occasion that if George didn't stand he would give the seat to Andrew. What does surprise me is the effort he is putting in at BV when he refused to accept it was a winnable ward before. As Hartlepudian said; here pretty much refused to spend money there in the past, favouring spending cash to put leaflets out elsewhere to help Labour

The Burn Valley situation reeks of collusion between Wells and Labour or perhaps, more accurately, between Wells and Akers-Belcher.

[SRMoore]

Absolutely, Steve. I think your earlier post highlighting the rise of Chris & the fall of former cabinet members was spot in the money too.