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Announce your candidates now

8:10am Monday 15th March 2010 in


SIR – We are less than two months away from a general election and in Worcestershire most political parties have declared their candidates, except the Lib Dems in Worcester and Labour in West Worcestershire.

My party, the Conservatives, selected Robin Walker in 2006, and since then he has spent his weekends visiting residents and organisations in the constituency he hopes to represent. What chance does the Lib Dem candidate have of getting to know Worcester? This is a party with three city council seats and a county seat in Worcester and are the main opposition at County Hall.

Why won’t Labour tell their voters in West Worcestershire who their candidate is, unless they have given up on an area in which they hold no council seats?

If they want to be taken seriously at the election they need to announce their candidates now.

Coun Stephen Hodgson
Worcester

Comments(15)

Paul Griffiths says...
9:19am Mon 15 Mar 10

Robin Walker has had to spend his weekends trying to get to know Worcester because his connection to the city is purely dynastic.
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A local candidate who has lived in the county for years (weekdays as well as weekends) would already have much of understanding that Mr Walker is still labouring to acquire.
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Given the very successful Lib Dem conference held in Birmingham this week, I'm not surprised that the Conservative candidate is getting anxious. But I can assure him that there will be a Liberal Democrat candidate for Worcester; perhaps sooner than he thinks.

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Cromwell of Worcester says...
2:56pm Mon 15 Mar 10

While I agree entirely with what Mr Griffiths has commented on regarding Lord Fontroys son ca rearing around Worcester to try and locate various places. The second part I must admit I'm at a lose to understand sorry I don't see the joke about the Successful Libs Conference. But back to Coun Hodgson letter .Could he tell me how Mr Walker Jr will explain to the people of Worcester,the reasons why Devious Dave hes leader reneged not only on the Referendum he promised us but on the following he said he would get rid of.
Regional Housing Quangos,
Regional Planing Quangos,
Capping Tax Abolished,
Unelected Regional Assembles,
Select Committees for English Regions,
Special Strategy's for Housing Transfers,
Surveillance of Councils by Whitehall and Regional Assembles,.
There is a lot he promise regarding Quangos etc .But I'm led to believe his masters in Brussel has told him not to .

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Richard5 says...
5:10pm Mon 15 Mar 10

This looks very suspicious to me - could it be that Labour has given up on West Worcs in return for the Lib Dems giving on Worcester?

This sort of shady, back-room deal is exactly the sort of thing that infuriates voters and turns them off the whole process.

Furthermore it shows that a vote for the Lib Dems will be a vote for 5 more years of Gordon Brown. <shudder>

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Paul Griffiths says...
6:17pm Mon 15 Mar 10

Richard5, your suspicions are completely unfounded. No such deal has been done.

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Richard5 says...
8:42am Tue 16 Mar 10

Paul, thank-you for your reassurance. Given the preponderance of loons on the internet please forgive me for not being the slightest bit re-assured.

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Paul Griffiths says...
9:22am Tue 16 Mar 10

Richard5, I was for several years Chairman of Worcester Liberal Democrats and know all the people involved in the party locally. My assurance to you is made with that knowledge. The Liberal Democrats have in no way "given up" on Worcester.

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Brian Gladman says...
3:12pm Tue 16 Mar 10

You could have fooled me Paul.

When I was involved in campaigning against ID cards here in Worcester, the Lib Dems never even responded to my emails. To his credit Richard Burt helped a lot and we got great support from the Lib Dem team in other parts of Worcestershire.

But, it seemed to me at the time that the Lib Dems didn't exist in Worcester. And, as far as I am concerned, its no good just showing up when an election looms.

In contrast we got very good support from Robin Walker.

Brian Gladman

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Paul Griffiths says...
3:24pm Tue 16 Mar 10

Mr Gladman, I am sorry your emails went unanswered. I suspect they may not have been received. However, the constituents of our City and County Councillors know very well that their representatives work hard for them all year round. We have only a fraction of the money and resources of the Conservative party, but we do not lack in dedication and enthusiasm.

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Richard5 says...
5:33pm Tue 16 Mar 10

Paul, forgive me, but you do appear to be lacking in dedication and enthusiasm. There isn't a single Lib Dem in the Faithful City who is dedicated or enthused sufficiently to stand as a PPC. Looks pretty lacklustre to me.

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Paul Griffiths says...
7:12pm Tue 16 Mar 10

Dedication and enthusiasm are indeed required characteristics of a PPC, but they are not the only ones. Sometimes to find the right person for the job, you have to look a little further afield.

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Brian Hunt says...
2:04am Wed 17 Mar 10

Switzerland pehaps

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Richard5 says...
3:25pm Wed 17 Mar 10

It's a bit of a cheek for Paul Griffiths to say that there isn't anyone in Worcester good enough to be a Lib Dem PPC.

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Paul Griffiths says...
3:51pm Wed 17 Mar 10

But of course I didn't say anything of the sort.
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I'm sure there are plenty of people in Worcester who would make excellent Lib Dem candidates. Take Mary Dhonau OBE, for example, our candidate at the last General Election.
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I would welcome more people like Mary to come forward, join the party and become approved as candidates. Too late for this election, of course.

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TriedAndTested says...
9:10pm Wed 17 Mar 10

why too late? election not yet officially announced as far as I know. - and I don't know much!

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Paul Griffiths says...
9:44pm Wed 17 Mar 10

Lib Dem party rules say that you can't normally stand for public office until you’ve been a member for at least a year, and parliamentary candidates in particular require additional approval. I believe all the major parties have similar procedures.

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