Public Money wasted by Tories

The £1.8m overspend on botched bus station; and Tories not accepting blame...

The £1.2m overspend on bridge to nowhere; and Tories blaming each other

Tory overspends on these two projects alone: £3m of Council Tax payers money

I thought these two news items neatly juxtapose the current position of the Conservative Administration in Gun Wharf.

They simply can not be trusted with our money.

Meanwhile in the rest of Medway we all have to suffer with potholes and poor road quality

That is all

O'Brien gone 'Rogue'?

It seems that Councillor Mike O'Brien is on his own and could have gone 'rogue' on his assertions that PCSO numbers are to be cut by more than half.

Evidence for the 'Rogue behaviour' from the traditionally vocal local Tories is evidenced from multiple sources;

Firstly the Medway Conservative website, a traditional link machine to anything the cabinet member has to say, has not deemed it appropriate to copy his press statement, in what could indicate a distancing of the administration on the PCSO accusations.

Add into the equation Mark Reckless MP, who slapped out of his obsession with all things Europe, commented on Radio Kent yesterday morning that he was unable to confirm the statistics being put forward by his own Medway Conservative colleague, and backed up (in the third person) the position of the Kent Police, that any proposals would need to be put out to an appropriate consultation. Instead of mentioning Cllr OBrien he made particular reference to Cllr MacKinley who this blog has postured could be the rival for any leadership bid

The Medway Council press room - known for fawning over hyper-partisan Tories on the top floor of Gun Wharf - has also remain noticeably tight-lipped.

Of course Mike O'Brien could claim he was commenting as Chair of the Medway Safety Partnership - but there website and twitter feed has said absolutely nothing. Given Mike is the Chair of the organisation; its very odd indeed that nothing has been said

The local media have picked up the story because it is clearly concerning, but it is worth pointing out that in addition to the above not one Cabinet colleague or Tory Councillor has backed the Cabinet holder.

Given Mike was being tipped for the leadership job for the Gillingham & Rainham faction the silence from Rochester & Strood is well numbing. Not one Tory Councillor or surrogate has backed the call by Mike OBrien.

Even Red Reh - as he is known by some colleagues in Westminster - has'nt put his head up ... but then again he is too busy spinning (on the cricket pitch that is).

Looks like he is on his own then... and that in itself is a story worth exploring.

Update

Medway Conservatives updated there website a few hours after this post. Must have been caught in the inbox... notice however how they have dropped the reference to the number of officers. Do they think we are mugs?

Who is Alan Mackness?

Confusion has rocked the Medway Conservative Group over the name of the new candidate for River Ward. In what could be a sign of things to come, it is with tongue in cheek that this blog can report that the Tories have been hushing up the fact they got the name of the candidate wrong on press statements.

The Party have tried to hide the fact by amending websites and requesting friendly supporters to do so. Alas, they did not bank on the infamous google cache:

The Cached Version - Spot [Alan Mackness]
The New (amended) version - Spot [Andrew MacKness]

Apprarently the selection of Andrew MacKness was not 'correctly communicated ' to the upper echelons of the Rochester & Strood Conservative Association who released a press statement with the incorrect candidate name.

The controversy highlights the total ineptitutide of Medway Conservatives and why, if they can not even get the candidates name right, why they are unfit for office.

In other news, this blog is aware of unconfirmed reports that UKIP will be fielding a candidate in the upcoming byelection. The BNP are yet to confirm.

Websites, including some that blogger manages do become dated quickly. But to get the candidate name wrong for a forthcoming by-election that was caused by Conservative mis-management takes, um, well some incompetence!


Update - 24th September

It looks like the Conservatives have responded with an apology about the name of the candidate.

It appears that the Rochester & Strood Conservative Association webmaster had inadvertantly copied the webpage for their own candidate list from from fellow Medway blogger and Twydall Tory activist Alan Collins. He has since apologised which is honourable.

Perhaps the aforementioned webmaster should have known the names of his own candidates in advance rather then relying on the jottings of activists from neighbouring constituencies.

Coming only weeks after the InTouch leaflet in Strood congratulating the election of David Craggs after he resigned, and the failure to pay the £11,500 cost of the byelection in River Ward. Have to say, not a great start.