Why are the Tories supporting fraud probe councillor Dennen?

This blog reported earlier this year the strange goings on over the forced resignation from the Lib Dems of Canbury Cllr Tim Dennen.

It has now emerged - according to this report from local newspaper the Surrey Comet - that Dennen is being investigated for benefit fraud. A crime for which, if convicted, would almost certainly see him being thrown off the council.  The report also makes clear that Kingston's Tory councillors knew full well what these 'personal reasons' for his resignation were.

Yet it didn't stop them voting Cllr Dennen into the post of Neighbourhood chair - with an £11,500 pay rise to boot.  And when it became clear the benefit fraud investigation made his position untenable it still didn't stop the Tories working closely with Dennen. 

Last week, Cllr Dennen was replaced as neighbourhood chair by long serving Conservative councillor, Dennis Doe.  Guess who was one of his proposers?  And guess whose vote was crucial in allowing the Tories to grab control of a committee they have a minority of councillors in?  That's right Cllr Dennen.

Cllr Dennen resigns again...

Back in March, I reported one of my local councillors - Tim Dennen - left the Lib Dems to sit as an independent, citing 'personal reasons'. 

Over the intervening months it has become clear that he has become close to local Tories - who obviously have wooed him assiduously.  This close relationship culminated with him being supported by the Tories for the Chair of Kingston Town Neighbourhood - the local area committee that deals with planning, local environment and other community issues.  It, like everything in local government these days, comes with a generous stipend of £10k (on top of the basic £7.5k) for chairing a committee that meets six times a year.

With the resignation of a Lib Dem councillor in next door Grove ward at the beginning of June - the balance of the neighbourhood changed - with five Lib Dems, five Tories and Tim Dennen.  So at the June 13th Neighbourhood meeting the Tories seized their opportunity and voted for Dennen as chair with a quid pro quo of Dennen backing a Tory as vice-Chair.

Well the love in hasn't lasted long.  Just 15 days later Dennen has resigned as Chair and returned to the back benches.

Given the Tories knew in March that Cllr Dennen has 'personal reasons' for his exit from the Lib Dems one has to wonder if they did any due dilligence on him before stitching up their deal?  If not, it suggests a level of incomptence that might mean the public might question their fitness for office. 

But if the Tories did indeed know what these 'personal reasons' were in advance of backing him for chair, then his resignation proves what a cynical, unpricipled and manipulative bunch they are.  And that might also mean the public might question their fitness for office...

Kingston Lib Dem councillor defects

One of my local councillors - Canbury ward Lib Dem - Tim Dennen - has resigned from the party for personal reasons and now sits as an independent.

This is the first change of affiliation in Kingston politics since the Tory civil war of the turn of the century and the first Liberal change of allegience since the 1980s. In another return to the 1980s the Conservatives won the Coombe Vale by-election in December - their first such win since 1987.

One of Cllr Dennen's last acts as a Lib Dem councillor was to vote with local Conservatives for tax payer funded trees and bunting to celebrate the jubilee.

Kingston has the highest council tax in London and one has to wonder whether trees and bunting are a sensible use of public money.