Home from holidays, straight into the frenetic fray of the Ealing Southall by-election...What an extraordinary by-election it is turning out to be.
Tory Leader David Cameron put his credibility on the line when he imposed his own hand-picked candidate, over-ruling warnings from members of the local Conservative Party about his choice, Tony Lit, son of a wealthy local businessman. (At least one prominent local Tory resigned in disgust at Cameron's astonishing intervention).
Cameron then stamped himself further on the local campaign to win the seat from Labour: Tony Lit appears on Thursday's ballot paper for David Cameron's Conservatives - unlike the Tory in the Sedgefield by election on the same day who is simply the candidate for The Conservative Party.
Cameron has been down to Ealing Southall three times in the past few days to parade his personal choice as a perfect and brilliant candidate - despite the fact that Mr Lit only joined the Tories the day before he was appointed by Mr Cameron.
True, the Tories appeared to make the running early in the campaign, claiming defections from Labour. But then some of the Tory claims turned out to be porkies...
But the real bombshell dropped this weekend, when Labour revealed that just days before he was appointed by Cameron, his perfect candidate wrote a cheque to the Labour Party for £4,800...and happily queued with his wife to have their photo taken with Tony Blair.
It's quite normal for candidates to have their pictures taken with party Leaders of course - but most do it with the Leader of the party for which they are standing!
While Tony Lit stands accused of blatant opportunism, this Ealing comedy is much more about David Cameron's lack of judgement and fitness to lead our country.
The real question is when did Cameron know about the cheque his candidate made out to the Labour Party less than a month ago - and how much did he tell local Conservatives.
It will be for the voters of Ealing Southall on Thursday to decide whether they agree with David Cameron's judgement that his candidate is the perfect choice to be their MP or whether they see through Cameron's Ealing Comedy.
4 comments:
Oh dear Phil, you are struggling. I wasn't delighted by the choice of Lit. It is just better if the candidate has a record of working for the party. But judging by the campaign so far, he is clearly very impressive.
The appearance of Lit's name on the ballot is nothing unusual. Either option is quite common here. Your other criticism is that Cameron has been to the constituency(how awful!).
And the donation thing is your usual flannel. The dinner was billed as an "Asian business dinner". No right thinking Asian businessman would have turned down the invite. Do get real Phil.
Defections all over the place and the Tories now just 13/8 to win a solid Labour seat. Some start for Brown(!). No wonder you are trying to distract people with this feeble post.
I'm in Ealing today Phil.
i'm actually in the tory campaign office as I write and ready to go out campaigning with a couple of PPC's.
We must have a coffe if we bump into each other!
Geoffrey:
love to meet for a coffee...but i've now headed oop north towards sedgefield.
hope you enjoy cocktails with cameron tonight at your pre-victory celebration event in Ealing.
Really enjoyed it.
There's a doggy pack waiting for you!
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