The strange history of Conservative Adrian Amer

As the by-election in Kingston's Grove Ward enters its final days the Conservative campaign has turned distinctly negative with an array of attacks on the Lib Dem administration of the council.

Their candidate a Tony Robinson look a like - named Adrian Amer - is described on the Tories election website as a: "Local Candidate, Crime Fighting Barrister, Kingstonian...  Adrian has lived in Kingston for most of his adult life. He has been actively involved in the Community in Kingston for over 20 years and stood as a candidate for Grove ward in the last election.

But it wasn't always that way.  Mr Amer has more political experience that the Tories are prepared to admit.  He has stood for Parliament - in the 1992 general election.  But he wasn't a Conservative then.  He stood as a 'continuing Liberal' in the Kingston constituency - won by then Chancellor Norman Lamont.

Apart from describing the Conservatives as 'greedy and selfish', his policy platform included:

• Unilateral nuclear disarmament
• Full cooperation with European partners - including defence 
• An end to NHS trust hospitals 
• The incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law
• Complete hunting ban
• Phasing out all nuclear power stations

One wonders if he still holds these views and if so whether his new found friends in the Conservative Party agree?

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...

Friday favourite 65

At just 1 minute 40 seconds - here's Norgaard a distinctly un-Scandinavian bit of modern punk from the Vaccinnes.  Here on Jool's Hootenanny

Barclays cheating shows need to disband banks

The news that Barclays has been caught cheating by manipulating overnight interest rates - no doubt at a cost to mortgage holders - shows why Vince Cable is right that the big banks need to be broken up into retail and investment banking.  The chinese walls and regulatory arrangements that have allowed the banks' exectutives to claim there are no risks to them growing bigger and bigger have proved to be worthless.

Vince Cable is oft quoted as saying banks that are 'too big to fail are too big'.  And he's right.  It's clear that there is a cultural problem at the mega banks - they're not interested in the small customers when there are deals to be made with their rich mates.  Bob Diamond and the other senior execs should have the decency to admit they are responsible and go.   In addition the coalition has no excuse to drag its heels over banking reform.  Barclays and the other mega banks need to be busted and put on a human scale where the problems of local people, business and communities are the main focus of their operations.

And it needs to happen now - not in a few years time.

Rangers face the end...

Glasgow Rangers have been liquidated, their assets sold on the cheap to a company snappily named Sevco 5088, the majority of their first team have walked away for nothing (as they are entitled to do under employment law), six SPL clubs have declared they won't support a 'new' Rangers going straight back into the top division and lower division clubs are lining up to send them to start again at the bottom of the league (or lower). 

So just when Rangers fans thought it couldn't get any worse along comes BNP leader Nick Griffin to offer support...

As St Mirren supporting Scottish crime novelist Chris Brookmyre tweets: "We are Rangers Super Rangers No-one likes us.  And it appears we may have failed to anticipate some of the long-term ramifications of this."

When all you are left with is Griffin and his neo-nazis you know your goose is well and truly cooked.

Good weather for growing mushrooms...

...as evidenced by this monster I stumbled across in Richmond Park yesterday.

Friday favourite 64

Just to prove you don't need a big band to make a noise here are the White Stripes with Hotel Yorba on Jules Holland:

Will Celtic be the club to save Rangers?

On 4th July the Scottish Premier League clubs meet to decide whether to allow a new Rangers company formed from the wreckage of the liquidated one to continue in the SPL.

They need no more than four clubs to vote against their application.  At the moment Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen and Dundee United are committed to voting against a 'newco'.  The Beeb's analysis shows how the other clubs may vote - and bizarrely the liquidated Rangers get to vote on their successor (only in Scottish football!).

But with four definite votes against it will take the vote of just one more club to throw Rangers out of the league as punishment for their misdemenours. 

One would assume that Rangers's greatest rivals Celtic would be guaranteed to be the fifth club needed to do just that.  But Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell's has said, "Our guiding principle is that we will do what is in the best interests of Celtic Football Club and our supporters..."  And the best interests of Celtic may well best be served by voting to keep Rangers in the SPL - without them the old firm veto on all decisions goes and of course they lose significant income without derby games. 

So Celtic vote to save Rangers - surely not?

A journey round the SDP

Thanks to Mark Pack's posting on Lib Dem Voice I visited the so-called SDP's website.  And a jolly good read it is too.

It starts off with the statement:

"Formed in 1981 by four senior Labour party members – David Owen, Roy Jenkins , Shirley Williams and Bill Rogers. The SDP was eventually to gain the support of 28 Labour MP’s and 1 Conservative MP...
...Believing Enough Is Enough, the SDP now stand alone as a patriotic, centre Left party that supports the ordinary people of this country, is for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and supports an English Parliament to give equality to all the Nations of the UK."

The idea that a party can claim the heritage of Jenkins, Rogers and Williams and in the same breath call for UK's withdrawal from the EU is somewhat bizarre to say the least.  But it gets better.

The election section has details of the fewer than 20 candidates the party fielded at the recent local elections (a significant number who appear to be town/parish candidates).  And it has an hilarious analysis of the relative success of their three candidates - all from the same family - in Birmingham who polled a grand total of 178 votes between them. 

But the best section is the entirely unself-aware section under 'About us' where they provide 'Some pictures from the past and the present' highlighting an old newsletter including an article calling for a federal Europe and a line or so down a picture of their current banner calling for EU withdrawal.

Sadly, they have set up their website so you cannot copy any pictures from it, but it is worth a visit even if only to confirm the approriateness of their web site provider - Moonfruit.

A history of Kingston by-elections in one clipboard...

Had a reasonably enjoyable evening canvassing in the Grove ward by-election (the third one in my time in Kingston).  It's pretty clear that it's going to be a close run thing between the Lib Dems and the Tories, with a chunk of previous Lib Dem voters looking at Labour and the Greens as alternatives because of their dissatisfaction with the government.  Sadly for them - given the Greens are more than 1,300 votes behind the Lib Dems and Labour 1,400 - the only impact an improved vote for these parties can have is to hand the seat to the Tories.

But I did get my favourite clipboard to hold my canvass sheets in.  It has stickers from a variety of historic local elections Kingston - going all the way back to 1981 when the late Jean Godden won St James's ward from the Tories.  The Janke in the 'Harris, Janke, Tilley' sticker is Barbara Janke - who recently stood down as leader of Bristol City Council and the 'Oates' in the top right sticker is the Jonny Oates who is now Nick Clegg's chief of staff. 

But the most interesting thing is the change of emphasis from 'Focus' and 'Action' to party labelling and logos.  No doubt encouraged in the late 1980s by some ex-SDP suit with a mission to turn a campaigning party of local interests into a 'serious party of government'.  A mission tested to destruction by the actions of their likeminded successors - like Richard Reeves - who have failed to understand that being in government is not an end, but a means to an end.