Jim Hancocks and AV related matters

I will shortly write up a bit about Jim Hancock's visit to Sefton when he gave a very interesting talk about his time in the media. Jim established himself as the premier NW political correspondent and nobody has taken his place.

One of the issues he seemed keen to take the temperature on was Lib Dem views on the Brown initiative on voting reform. Much has been written about this in the last few days. When Jim asked me on Friday night my mind went back to the late 1970's. There had been two general elections with close results and there was much discussion of what we should do if the same thing happened again in 1979.

Like many I was impatient with this as you can't campaign to get the balance of power. You are as likely to get it with 3 million votes as you are with 7 million. Nevertheless if by serendipity it gets handed to you how do you react?

Clearly there are many policy initiative one would wish to put on the table. One would be a reform of the voting system. At the time I recall Michael Steed arguing to me that because the process of introducing STV would take a while and we might find ourselves fighting another General Election under first past the post. He suggested that a short Bill could be introduced to bring in preferential voting straight away. Such a move altho a long way short of STV would nevertheless be a guarantee of good faith as would an instruction to the boundary Commission to start work on multi member constituencies thus transforming AV to STV.

At the time I wrote all this up and it appeared somewhere. Sadly my filing system is not as well organised or as comprehensive as some folks and I cannot lay my hands on it.

Finally a word about multi member constituencies. I think we are being a tad faint hearted in selling the positives of this aspect of STV. Take a City like Liverpool with several MPs. It is preposterous to argue that voters are attached to the Central or Walton, or the Broadgreen seat. I doubt very few punters even know where the boundaries are -they often run down the middle of a suburban street. The attachment is to the city.

Even in rural constituencies the boundaries are often wholly unrelated to communities. I fought Congleton twice. All the principal settlements looked outside the constituency. Congleton looked to Maccelsfield, Middlewich to Northwich, Sandbach to Crewe. The towns had little in common with each other-but they all saw themselves as Cheshire to which they did belong.

A white man and an englishman-Tory smear...

Just to clear this is 1910 and the nasty attack on the Liberal candidate by the Tories. It isn't even subtle. Our man is white and English -yours is foreign -well wait till Saturday and I will reveal more about the disgraceful Tory smear. Tickets for the dinner to commemorate the first of the two 1910 elections are still available from rachel on 01704533555

Michael Meadowcroft, a former Southport YL, will also be speaking.

Southport Tories threaten boycott of Liberal businesses

I mourn the loss of the Southport Guardian. Just imagine what fun we would all be having today !
Anyway back to 1910 and the de Forest election which is the subject of our dinner on Saturday night. Tickets still available from Rachel on 01704 533555. Keith Durham, the Agent, is writing to the Guardian complaining that Women Tories were threatening a trade boycott of Liberal businesses in the town. I must admit from what I have learned of the 1910 Election that was a mild misdemeanor by comparison to some of the dirty tricks the Tories got up to!

Jim Hancock at Sefton Central

The sun has set on a golden age of regional broadcasting. I doubt we shall see the like of Granada again. One adornment of that past age was the political reporting of Jim Hancock. Like so many other things in life none of us was aware of the importance of his and his colleagues work until we woke up to a world without the range of quality regional political journalists we once had.

Jim -who worked on Radio Merseyside with Richard Clein-spoke about regional broadcasting and the blackhole in Manchester(Salford) into which it is all disappearing.

He also went to to speculate about the General Election. The clear game plan of the Tories is to present the election as a simple choice between Brown and Cameron. The implications of this is that Lib Dems would be squeezed. If this scenario proves to be correct then all the infighting and back biting that is consuming Southport Tories will be ignored by the electors as they vote in a quasi presidential election.

The challenge for Lib Dems is to stop the Tories simplistic campaign. In Britain we still elect members to Parliament and local electors are entitled to choose the person they think will best represent them. In this they may weigh the character, ability and policies of the candidates. Lib Dems have a proven record of successfully resiting the 'squeeze'. Jim fully recognised this and cited Tim Farron as a Lib Dem who will hold his seat and may even increase his majority.

He is not alone. The FT reviewed Chris Huhne's chances recently:

'Like many Lib Dem MPs, Mr Huhne has dug in, building a reputation in the national media and as a local campaigner. He says he has dealt with 13,000 pieces of casework since the last election. “I might not always be able to help, but people know I’ve tried,” he says. The party has a ruthless local organisation and almost complete control of the local council – a factor often underestimated by the national media.
Mr Huhne argues that the absence of a strong local Conservative councillor base in his constituency seriously reduces their ability to campaign on the ground. “There is only so much you can do with an air war,” he says, referring to national media campaigns.

That is not dissimilar to our position in Southport.

I noted that even top Tory bogger Iain Dale has recognised that incumbent Lib Dem MPs have have an ability to hang on to their seats even against the odds.

The other matter that may impact on the 'squeeze' will be the leadership debates. In common with many of us Jim hoped that that the debates would not be stifled by the outcome of negotiations between the parties and that a Question Time format would be adopted.

It is clear that the Lib Dem vote strengthens during a General Election because of the equal time requirements for reporting. Having Clegg (and I'm told) Vince Cable having equal billing in prime time debates can only help us.

The final consideration that Jim raised was the scale of the challenge the Tories face to get an overall majority. It is more difficult that is generally assumed. Lib Dem Voice published some recent analysis of the number of seats the Tories would gain :

New prediction: Conservative lead of 6% but Labour largest party with 299 seats (27 short of an overall majority)

December prediction: Conservative lead of 9% with 315 seats (11 short of an overall majority)
November prediction: Conservative lead of 10% with 322 seats (4 short of an overall majority)

The academic team who have compiled the prediction say,

The race remains too close to call under reasonable scenarios, either favorable to the government or the opposition. The election of a hung Parliament cannot be discarded at this point.

the full story is at:

http://www.libdemvoice.org/exclusive-general-election-prediction-too-close-to-call-17831.html

Now, the evening was not all serious discussion as one or two future posts will demonstrate. In this section it is appropriate to report that the Leader of the Council had a penetrating question to ask our guest.
'Having worked with Richard Clein have you any stories to tell us about him................. '

The Golden dozen

Birkdale FOCUS has from time to time been included in Lib Dem Voice's Golden Dozen chosen from blog post during the previous week. They feature the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (31st January – 6th February 2010), together with a hand-picked quintet, usually courtesy of LibDig

This week Birkdale blog get three mentions-so thanks to all who contributed. The first posting owes much to David Bartlett of Dale Street Blues for his article about Vince's visit.

The second posting is again from Vince's visit when he reminded us about the abuse Charles Kennedy and others suffered at the hands of the rabble on the Tory backbenches when he opposed the Iraq War

And finally, and in a way most pleasing, was the nomination of Mark Pack for the most popular posting ever on the Birkdale Focus telling the story of the vicious civil war inside Southport Tories. Since writing that posting more mayhem has overtaken our Tories with more resignations from key members. I also understand that amongst those who have resigned in the past week are some of the best leaflet delivers they had-and lets be clear they struggle to hand deliver a leaflet. It is clear that Central Office money is being used to plug the gap and pay for delivery. I wonder if it is Ashcroft's 'Dirty Money'?

Anyway, thanks to all who contributed .

Icons in transformation

I mentioned a few days ago that I had visited a quite amazing exhibition of Icons at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. Ludmila Pawlowska has combined traditional Russian Icons with her modern interpretation.

You can see more about the exhibition on the Cathedral's website.

John Pugh expences

John Pugh-who is one of the MPs with the smallest claims for expenses-does not appear on Sir Thomas Legg's list of MPs who have to pay back expenses.

No one who knows John is the least surprise that he has behave properly throughout the MPs expenses scandal. It is sad that everyone else has not acted in the same way.

Lib Dem Voice has a analysis of the MP's who have had to pay back cash. It is well worth reading, amongst other interesting findings:
Amount to be repaid per MP based on the total number of MPs per party or grouping in the House of Commons:

Labour: £1,279.13
Conservative: £2,330.68
Lib Dem: £681.67
Others: £940.88
Overall: £2,971.91

Vince predicts gains in North

The Daily Post has the story of Vince's speech in Liverpool last Saturday. Southport was well represented.

The video is from Vince's meeting at Southport Town Hall.

More to follow.

Police respond to claim of violent crime increase

The Tories has got themselves into a right pickle over violent crime I gather they have put out figure for every constituency. Yesterday we had a Southport Area committee at which the police to answer questions. I took the chance to ask them whether there had been a 79% increase in violent crime in the town.

No. There has been a significant reduction.

Crimes that were not recorded as violent in 2001 are today. The inspector reeled of a long list of crimes that were not recorded as violent crimes then that today.

First rules of stats :compare like with like.

Memo to Brenda: rip up that press release that Mr Grayling sent you.

Not wishing to cause trouble, but

I was taken with Cllr Sir Ron Watson's (Dukes Ward, Con) quote published in the LGA magazine recently. I don't wish to cause trouble in the Southport Tory group (altho I am confident that Sir Ron can look after himself) but given our local Tory leadership want to leave the LGA and have set their face like a flint against facilitating Sir Ron's involvement, just mentioning LGA and Sir Ron in the same sentence is likely to see him relegated to what Tory dissidents call the 'naughty step'.

Anyway back to Sir Ron's quote :

'I do believe, however, that robust political debate is healthy, and this has always been a feature of my life as a Conservative councillor on Merseyside.'

We had a Southport Area committee last night (Mrs Porter was absent) so I asked Sir Ron about his work on the Standard Committee for England. Let us be fair Sir Ron and I both wish to see the whole New Labour structure demolished.

He repeated the quote he gave to the LGA (above) and told us a story of a thin skinned councillor who pursued their complaint against another member. Let us be clear the incident was 'minor' in almost anyones book. The word s used were 'stronger' than anyone has used in Sefton for many a long year and I share Sir Ron's view that: 'robust political debate is healthy'

Nevertheless I got to pondering if I knew anyone on Sefton who would have made similar protests . You've got it.

Two (more) top Tory bosses quit in Southport

The Southport Visiter has the story

New blow for Southport Conservatives as activists quit

Feb 3 2010 by John Siddle, Midweek Visiter

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SOUTHPORT’S Conservatives lurched into deeper crisis following the resignation of two of the party’s top activists.

Retired judge Stuart Fish, chairman of Dukes Ward Conservative Association, has sensationally quit the party, with Michael Hunton stepping down from his role as Kew Ward chairman.

Both left following the controversial removal of Jackie Glover as chairman of Southport Conservative Association, after her involvement in an extraordinary spat with Tory election candidate, Brenda Porter and husband, Ken.

Read the full story here

I had thought I was going to get the chance to blog about one or two other things today-I visited an amazing exhibition of modern Icon at Liverpool Cathedral yesterday and there is lots of Birkdale news I want to post-but the news that retired Judge Stuart Fish and Michael Hunton have quit their posts as Chairs of local Conservative wards and quit the party must come first.

Even after all the suspensions, resignations and poison pen letters this is earth shattering news for the Tories it measures somewhere about 8.5 on the Richter scale.

Michael Hunton has spent decades working in the Tory party and was once on the ticket in Ainsdale with the Tory PPC. His resignation from chair of Kew ward- a seat the Tories have to win if they are to have any hope in a General Election -would normally be front page news in it's own right.But it is the resignation of Judge Fish-and I understand 5 member of Dukes ward that is the most significant.

By any measure Dukes Ward is the one true blue Tory strong hold in Southport. Since local government reorganisation in the early 70s the Tories have never lost this ward. Since Mrs Porter took over as PPC Cllr Les Byrom has crossed the floor because of all the infighting and back biting,Cllr David Pearson has been suspended and had the whip withdrawn and Sir Ron Watson has been roundly abused in print by a key supporter of Mrs Porter.

Now Five Tory members have quit with Judge Fish. If the Tories cannot keep the loyalty of people who are respected in their local community they have problems.

The journalist on the Visiter also has information that it is the high handed autocratic way that the Conservatives have behaved that these folk find offensive.. As with David Pearson accusations are made and decisions taken and published without any right for the accused to have their same. In David Pearson's case he fought back and the 'nasty' party had to back down. Had it not been so close to a general election I suspect that Jackie Glover would have cleared her name. It is an appalling way to do business. I wrote about Brenda's Star Chamber back in 1997- I did not imagine that she would go to such extremes.

And yet for all this Mrs Porter thinks she is the victim in every case. All the rest are out of step except her. It has not dawned on her that all these folk she is driving out are loyal, natural Tories-and what is she exchanging them for? The author of Dirty Politics

stop press.. another Tory resigns in Southport...

I am just hearing news that Michael Hunton has resigned as Chairman of Southport Conservatives Kew Ward branch.

This is just the latest in a long line of resignations, sackings and defections since Brenda Porter became the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Southport.

The latest resignation follows Southport Conservative Association being placed into the political equivalent of 'special measures' by the national Conservative Party Board, and the sacking of the respected and long-serving Jackie Glover as Chairman of Southport Conservatives.

More to follow...............photo by Richard Hands

Baron de Forest Election-the background

With the special dinner to commemorate the 1910 election soon upon us, I thought I'd continue the series of articles setting the national background. I will leave the local dimension in Michael Braham's capable hands . The dinner is to be held on 13th February at the Royal Clifton Hotel Southport. Further information and tickets from Rachel on 01704 533555

The Liberal Government of 1906 carried out a whole raft of important legislation including the creation of labour exchanges and the introduction of a system of insurance against unemployment and sickness these were important but none was more important than the introduction of Old Aged Pensions. In addition the Government came to believe that it was important to invest in the navy in response to the impressive build up of German war ships. All this cost money and Lloyd George's People's Budget was designed fund the government's programme.

I was going to spend some time trying to condense all the important features of the budget into a reasonably sized posting, when it dawned on me that Duncan Brack and his associates over at the Liberal History Group had done it already. So here is there take on the People's budget.

1909 People's Budget

The 1909 People's Budget was the Liberal Governments key weapon in instigating social reform and marked a final move away from the system of Gladstonian finance, which had seen the Liberals traditionally associated with retrenchment in government expenditure and an emphasis on self-help. With its radical plans to redistribute the burden of tax and finance social provisions, such as old age pensions, the Budget was swiftly rejected by the landed majority in the House of Lords, sparking the first constitutional crisis of the twentieth century.

You can read the rest of the article here

It isn't just the Norfolk Blogger, now it's Central Office

Regular readers will know that I don't do 'stat porn', but I thought this was woth sharing. Whilst looking at the stats provided by Statcounter I noticed the following.


1 Feb
12:35:56
IE 7.0
WinXP
1280x1024
London,United Kingdom
Conservative Central Office (194.203.158.97) [Label IP Address]birkdalefocus.blogspot.com/2010/01/south-conservative-civil-war-story-so.html


Most interesting of all was that they appeared to be more interested in stories about Sefton Central than Southport, but they had downloaded the extract from the nasty little book slagging off our local Tory bigwigs which supporters of our Conservative Parliamentary Candidate paid to have published. You too can read those extracts here

worth being aware..........

Nich Starling the award winning Norfolk Blogger has recently done a posting about six stories that won't make Iain Dale's Daily Dozen. As I'm sure you all know Mr Dale is a leading Tory blogger and -to be fair- one of the most successful and well written/read political blogger in the UK.

Nich kindly mentioned the Birkdale Focus article on the woes of Southport Conservative party as one of his half dozen-for which much thanks. I was interested in another story he picked about an upcoming Tory selection and the information I glean from Mr Dale's Diary about the Tory selection process:

Yesterday, Suffolk Coastal Conservatives met at CCHQ to draw
up their shortlist to succeed John Gummer. The hoped for phone call telling me I had made it never came, so when I saw the actual
shortlist on ConHome today it didn’t come as a surprise. That may
well be curtains for me. It was the last seat operating by the old rules. All other seats are now being selected by the new system in which Eric Pickles nominates a shortlist of at least three. It has already been made clear that the same names will not keep cropping up in this process (and rightly so) so if I get one chance, I’d better make sure I take it.

So the answer to the unspoken question-which is known in management speak as the 'Big Red Bus' question- is now clear. If, for any reason, the Southport Tories had to find another candidate then Mr Pickles would get to choose.

I happy to admit that I look at Mr Dale's blog and was pleased to see a warm and generous appreciation of Duncan Brack. Duncan-among many other things -edits the Liberal History Journal which has been promoting our event to commemorate the 1910 election to be held on 13 Feb. Tickets and further details from Rachel on 01704 533555

more digital entertainment from the Tories

The lead story on the Tory website this morning read:

'Glover Goes in Tory Row

The row over a letter showing infighting in the local Tory group has led to the removal of Jackie Glover as Chair of the Southport Conservative Association......'

The full text (which I accept is too small to read above) is available here

Interestingly the question that folk are asking is 'Why if the Tory AGM was due soon was it necessary to 'knife' the long serving a loyal Mrs Glover in such a humiliating manner?

I continue to be impressed by Mrs Glovers restraint. She still refuses to comment.

Vince tells of Tory abuse.

It was instructive to be reminded by Vince Cable about the abhorrent level of abuse that the Tories dished out to Charles Kennedy as he opposed the Iraq War. The baying rabble on the Conservative backbenches who shouted 'traitor' and worse at Kennedy played their part in allowing the illegal war to go a head. It is right that they too should be held account. The Tories en mass supported the war and the ludicrous 'neo con' view of the world that underpinned it. There were a few exception but to listen to Tories now as they attempt to imply that they too had doubts about the war is nauseating.

Here in Southport-where we are frequently subjected to our local Tories objecting to even the mildest challenge-it makes us smile. I was accused of 'bullying' our Tory PPC because I dared to challenge her about her voting against the Chief Exec recommendation that we should axe some high paid management posts. She did not formally complain-no doubt having been advised that the independent folk there including senior staff did not feel anything untoward had happened. Instead she ran to the press to' smear' us with the unsubstantiated allegation. Just imagine her reaction if she had been subjected to one hundredth of the abuse Kennedy was given by the Tories.

Oh, incidentally, Kennedy was right over the War. the Tories were wrong.

Vince Cable in Southport

Vince Cable in Southport starts his remarks with a warm and generous endorsement of our MP John Pugh.

more Tory dissent

I am reliably informed that we shall see further ructions in Southport Tories made public in the next few of days. From what I have learned this is a significant development.

Unrelated to that tip off I met a man last night whilst out walking the dog. I have no memory of meeting him before. He recognised me and immediately told me of his anger at the shenanigans in the Tories. What he couldn't get over was why-given the the Association AGM is due shortly-was Jackie Glover removed in such an unnecessary and humiliating way? Why not wait for a short while and do it without fall out or bad publicity at the AGM?

I ventured to suggest a cause, but he just shook his head despondently

Step forward

The meeting with Vince Cable at Southport Town Hall was a great success. These things don't just happen. Many folk contributed, not least of all Miss Howard pictured opposite with her camera.

Of course she wasn't alone and I have more photos to post of other people who worked hard behind the scenes to add to the blog.

boys and their toys

You wouldn't believe how long it took three grown men to take a photograph.

Town Hall meeting -Important Notice

One day soon I shall bring together other examples of nonsense.

The Tory Leader has had many Town Hall meetings. I wonder whether in any of those places Lib Dem Councillors felt it necessary to ask for such a notice to be displayed?

I wonder who insisted on this notice?

revenge is a dish best eaten cold...

Nigh on a quarter of a century ago I made a mess of taking my Birkdale colleague's wedding photos. This misdemeanor slipped my mind when I handed him my camera on Saturday. The meeting with Vince was held in the Town Hall-the same venue as his wedding to Lyn. When he handed me the camera back after my photo call with Vince I had a lovely picture of the banister. He did better. So no hard feelings.

VINCE CABLE VISITS SOUTHPORT

Vince Cable, Treasury Spokesman and Deputy Leader of the Liberal
Democrats, visited Southport Town Hall last Saturday to take questions
from local business people about the economy, banks and the recession.

"Vince's economic knowledge is second to none," said local MP and
Treasury team colleague, Dr John Pugh. "it was great that members of
the local business community had a chance to ask their questions.
The majority of the concerns raised by those who attended centred
around the danger of heading back into recession and also about how
the power of the banks can be curbed."

Dr Cable was the first MP to predict the financial crisis when
Gordon Brown was proclaiming that he had 'abolished boom and bust'.

He opened the meeting by paying tribute to the hard work of local MP
and colleague John Pugh at a local and national level. He then went on to
talk about the state of the economy, comparing the UK to a heart
attack patient on life support following a crash. He went on to
outline his and the Liberal Democrats prescriptions for a return to
full health.

He said that the recent report of a 0.1% growth rate should not be
taken as a sign of a full recovery, and warned of the danger of the
country sliding back into recession. He warned that the patient has
been artificially propped up by the policy of quantitative easing,
and the support has to be withdrawn gradually to prevent the patient
from flatlining.

Apart from careful budget planning, he also emphasised the urgency
of large scale banking reform. He argued that banks should be
separated into high street and investment banks to prevent a future
financial crisis from occurring.

He also placed investment in infrastructure and education and training at
the top of the list ensure recovery and a more stable economy.
He also talked about the issue of public sector pensions and the
rising costs of senior judges, Civil Servants and MP's."There needs
to be more of a sense that the Country is being fair when it comes
to tax policy."

He was then quizzed on a variety of topics by members of the
audience on everything from credit card debt, to health and safety
regulations.

He stressed the need for sensible spending cuts and identified areas
where these cuts can be made. 'Quangos are not accountable, and can
be extremely financially wasteful. The Government scrapped the
Learning and Skills Council, yet there are now three more bodies in
its place. Also, while Regional Development Agencies may be
worthwhie in the North of the Country, why should they be needed in
London and the South, where the majority of business is concentrated?'

Combatting personal debt was another area on which he touched,
"Credit and Store card debts have caused problems for many young
people especially. Asset repossession has rocketed because many
simply did not know what the interest rates on these cards were. The
only way to stop this is to set a cap on interest rates, and to make
things more transparent."

When questioned about what steps he thought needed to be taken to
help small and medium sized businesses, he pointed out that the
Government has not used the nationalisation of several of the banks to
the full advantage of a key part of the economy. "The Credit Guarantee
Scheme was introduced by the Government to encourage smaller
businesses, but its not working. When business owners apply for the
scheme they are not told about the complex fifty pages of
forms they have to fill in. The Government now has Directors on the
Boards of several banks and they have not taken advantage of their
position to make it easier for businesses to get the help they
desperately need."

Southport Conservative Civil War-the story so far

It is hard to keep pace with the civil war in Southport Tories. Newspaper headlines like: ‘Angry Rift leaves Town’s Tories in Crisis’, Former Tory MP backs Lib Dems, Feuding between Southport Conservatives leaves Brenda Porter's campaign in disarray, ‘Cameron puts Southport Tories in ‘Special Measures’ or Respected Tory ex Mayor Suspended, or Former Tory Leader (Tom Glover) Suspended, or 'Former Tory Leader (Les Byrom) leaves Party', they keep coming.

To explain the implosion of the Southport Tories we need to go back to the autumn of 2007 and the eve of the General Election that didn’t happen. Gordon Brown’s honeymoon lifted the Labour Party poll ratings and that was the moment the local Tories ‘A’ listed candidate decided to resign. There was clear panic in the ranks and Southport Tories’ Constituency Executive swiftly embarked on a truncated selection process. On the Chair’s casting vote they chose a rookie Councillor, Brenda Porter who only days earlier had said she didn’t want the job. The wider membership was not involved. Long time Councillor, NW Tory Leader and former by election candidate (Wirral) Les Byrom was excluded on a technicality. The disintegration had begun.

We knew little of Mrs Porter. She had fought a homophobic campaign attacking Lib Dems for their policy of abolishing Section 28 when first elected. She attracted some very ‘untypical’ Tories supporters –her chief cheer leader, best known for his Pagan beliefs, constantly wrote and spoke up in her favour, seeming to push out more experienced and knowledgeable advisers. He even went so far as to pay to have a book published in which he ‘slagged off’ senior Tories as ‘imprudent old toffs’ ..’traitors’ and much worse.

Whilst the Tories set about squabbling in earnest we kept our attentions firmly focused on the electorate. Whilst up and down the land Conservatives were making gains in Sefton they fell back. They lost three seats (one per year) to the Lib Dems between 2006-08 and landed up with only 6 of the 21 councillors in Southport.

We sat bemused as Mrs Porter and her friends turned on their colleagues. David Pearson a popular ex Mayor found himself suspended and wished a long and happy retirement. He fought back and even though the whip had been withdrawn he was selected to fight his Dukes Ward seat which he easily won. Les Byrom, the former Leader-deposed by Mrs Porter and her friends- got so fed up with the back-biting and squabbling that he left the Tory Party and became the first Labour Councillor in Southport for nigh on 40 years. Sir Ron Watson-who many Lib Dems will know from his LGA work-remains, we believe, the real target of Mrs Porter’s Pagan outriders.

Then one morning we woke up to another series of damaging headlines for the Tories; ‘Tory HQ in melt down’, ‘Tory President resigns’, ‘Tory Treasurer arrested’,! Respected local solicitor Jeremy Myers stood down along with four other professional men from the constituency executive. We were at a loss. Then we got a tip off to look at the Southport Conservatives return to the Electoral Commission where the Chair states that by the end of the next financial year ‘this Association will be financially unstable’

More was to follow. The constituency treasurer –one of those who signed off the accounts to the electoral commission-was arrested in relation to the ‘disappearance of £21,000 from their HQ’. Southport Tories are no strangers to financial scandals. Chris Davis has done much to expose the antics of Southport Tory and MEP Den Dover who still has not repaid the £500,000 demanded of him by the European Parliament for false expenses claims.

In normal circumstances a candidate like Mrs Porter would be exposed by debate and the cut and thrust of politics as ill-suited to the role thrust upon her. The heart of the criticism made by many of her colleagues is that she is out of her depth, with little understanding of Tory policy or philosophy. She has made few ‘political’ utterances-opposition to the repeal of section 28, opposition to redundancies in the Post Office, opposition to the proposal from the Council Chief Exec to cut back on senior posts in the local authority. She sometimes appears confused-demanding that her vote is recorded against a motion in cabinet only later to declare that she is in favour! In some quarters she is called Big Spender Brenda because when faced with proposals to reduce expenditure (eg over the reduction of top earning council officers, the trimming of the council capital programme) she plaintively pleads ‘why can’t we have it all’

There must be many, even amongst that tiny cabal of Tories who narrowly selected her in 2007, who recognise that she is being asked to a job for which she is ill suited. It is easy to understand why, fearing an imminent General Election, they selected her, but as time goes on it is evident that the mayhem she has wrought has undermined the cause she was called upon to champion.

The latest debacle is the ousting of the Chair of the Conservative Association, Jackie Glover, for not giving sufficient support to the parliamentary campaign. The national Conservative Board has imposed a Chair from out of town on the association. Jackie and her husband Tom-a former Tory Leader of the Council -have between them 112 years of devoted service to the Conservative Party. Mrs Porter’s campaign manager effectively wrote an open letter denouncing Mrs Glover-a copy on our website-which was widely leaked by Conservatives who received it.

Early on the Conservative candidate presented similar difficulties as Sarah Palin did to the Democrats. How do you lay a glove on a well meaning 71 year old women who knows little of politics? We soon discovered we need do nothing but stand by and watch the Tories tear themselves apart.