Tories pay £10,000 for by-election?

YourMedway Headline 01/09/2010

The strange and unexpected resignation of David Craggs is front page of YourMedway after a week of accusations and counter-accusations from Conservatives, the Police and the opposition. Everyone is now asking the question, when will the Tories pay the £10,000?

The Kent Police press statement indicating that they had always a clear and unequivocal position that Special Constables could not serve as Councillors is the clincher. The Police are politically impartial and according to the Kent Constabulary they see politics and policing as separate.

For better or worse that was the position in advance of the by-election and is the same position now that David Craggs has resigned. A clear position which meant that David Craggs was ineligible to do both.

The Conservative Party would not have selected David Craggs had they known of his eligibility so for them to claim a moralistic position is simply hubris. The Medway Conservative Group had no position prior to this byelection on pushing for Special Constables to be Councillors. This argument, post-event, is simply trying to cover for a massive blunder in administration.

The pious statements by River Ward Conservatives last week where they claimed that Tories were 'totally vindicated' shows a serious lack of ability to read a situation correctly. A simple apology would have sufficed and could have closed the issue; instead the RSSCA clearly want a war with the Police and in full public. Rumours of legal action continue, though this blog would be very very surprised if this again were not just hubris.

The key to a potential split within the Tory ranks on this issue was ironically from the press statement last week. The press statement came not from the Medway Conservative Group rather the River Ward Conservatives. One group is simply acting on its own.

This blog however would like to make clear that it disagrees with Kent Police on why politicians can not be Councillors. Indeed, it is likely that the NPIA (National Policing Improvement Agency) will be clarifying a position shortly.

There is likely to be a by-election and for these reasons it is appropriate that democracy be allowed to take it course

- David Craggs is not on the ballot paper. He is rumoured to have had enough of local politics and though this blog does not know for sure, it would position that the Conservatives will be presently looking for a suitable candidate to fill his boots, so to speak. A new candidate needs to have a mandate from the people they seek to represent. People should vote for the new candidate and this process should not solely be a rubber stamping exercise from the Rochester & Strood Conservative selection panel. That would be inappropriate given the below point.

- Secondly, the poor judgement of the RSSCA over this issue will be absolutely on the ballot paper as opposed to the August election. Make no mistake, the Tories did not vet the candidate and his eligibility suitably. The cost of the £10,000 by-election falls solely on their shoulders. People deserve to vote again on the judgement of the Conservatives in light of farcical resignation.

To just simply anoint a Conservative simply whitewashes the reasons why we needed to have an election in the second place. It is an insult to the electorate to ignore the fault and posture.

The first election was entirely justifiable. Bill Esterson was elected as a Member of Parliament for a Merseyside seat and could not undertake his work in the House and on the Council at the same time. The second point incidently which falls on Councillors' Reckless and Chisthi. Both could, and indeed it is likely, be absent from important local votes.

For those reasons we deserve to have a democratic election. The cost of which directly billed to the Rochester & Strood Conservative Association for they have wasted the time and money of activists, the public, the Council and all the support staff including ironically, the Police.

It was their mistake which led us to a repeat of this by-election. It was their mistake to attack the Police rather then simply apologise. It was their mistake to pick a candidate without checking his eligibility.

A litany of mistakes which make the next result very much more in the balance.