The LibDems are also attacking Bob Neill for the fact that his house is a few miles away from Bromley in Tower Hamlets. In North Norfolk I used to point out to people that I lived in the constituency and Norman Lamb didn't - he lived 15 miles away in Norwich. Fat lot of good it did me.Also, Ben Abbotts lives in Beckenham. At the last election he stood for the LibDems in Sevenoaks without living there. The distance from Beckenham to Sevenoaks is 16.8 miles, according to Multimap. The distance from Bromley to Tower Hamlets is a mere 10.8 miles. Anyone care to spot the hypocrisy there?
Bob Neill has promised that if elected he will move to the constituency. Ben Abbotts hasn't. Make of that what you will.
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They are also attacking Bob for saying he will remain on the GLA until the end of his term in 2008. A by-election for Bromley and Bexley would cost £250000. Ben Abbots, the Lib Dem candidate was elected a Bromley councillor only on May 4th this year. Less than 3 weeks later he seeks the nomination for Bromley and Chislehurst. Is he i) Bored already with being a councillor and going to resign or ii) Going to remain a councillor in the highly unlikely event of him coming from third place to win?
Thank you for pointing all this out Iain. I think this is all a great tribute to the skill of the LibDem campaigners. Many thanks.
Does this mean you're worried about the result Iain? Given how popular David Cameron is supposed to be, I wouldn't have thought you'd need to be worried about "desparate measures" from the Lib Dems, who are after all starting from third place. You ought to be getting 70% of the poll. Still, nice of you to give our candidate some free publicity!
Tabman, so let's get this right. If I mention the LibDem in Bromley it means I'm worried. Yeah, right. Tabman, would you care to comment on the point I am making in this post? No? Thought not.
So when you lived in North Norfolk, I presume you commuted to London every day?
Presumably Tory leaflets are pointing out that Ben Abbots lives in Beckenham.
Perhaps in North Norfolk people spotted that Tunbridge Wells beckoned in the event of a defeat? Can't think why you'd not want to stay, it's a lovely part of the country and I was gutted when work took me from Dereham* / Fakenham / Wells to Lowestoft and then London. But such is life.
As for Bromley - which of the candidates is paying council tax to support services that he uses, and which one is outside the area and does not have this personal stake in local democracy?
*Yes, I know Dereham's outside the North Norfolk constituency, but Breckland's nice too...
Tabman, I haven't worked in London since March 2004, FYI. For the year up to the election I was virtually full time in North Norfolk. hence the result!
You're mixing your facts up a bit there Iain, as well as missing the point.
Ben Abbotts LIVES just outside the constituency, in Beckenham.
Bob Neill LIVES in Tower Hamlets.
Ben Abbotts was brought up in Kent and stood in Kent in last year's election. The seat he stood in may have been more miles from Bromley than Tower Hamlets is, but as far as people in Bromley are concerned they live in Kent, and Tower Hamlets isn't in Kent.
If it was okay for the Tories to attack Mark Hunter for not being 'local' to Cheadle then it is certainly okay for the Lib Dems to attack Bob Neill in this way.
It isn't hypocrisy to point out that a candidate doesn't live in the seat and for some people that's a disadvantage (although I personally think it's overrated).
The fact that it can be thrown at candidates of all parties at different times is neither here nor there. You threw the criticism at Lamb, but would presumably have urged people up and down the country who had a Conservative candidate who did not live in the seat to vote for them nonetheless. Not living in a seat may be a disadvantage but it does not disqualify anyone from being considered, and nobody argues it does.
Incidentally, your mistake using that line in North Norfolk is that the geography is such that people in Fakenham (say) considered Norwich to be much more "local" than Swanton Abbott. Indeed, few people in the west of the seat would ever have visited Swanton Abbott (and would rarely go to Cromer or North Walsham) but would have known Norwich very well. A classic politician's error of thinking of geography in political terms and not seeing it as normal people see it.
This is just the normal rough and tumble - it's not going to be enough for the Dems to win the seat - and nor will anything else. Any Dems want to take a bet on that?
The rogue factor is Farage and UKIP - he may have no effect, or he make take votes from everyone, or from people who otherwise weren't planning to vote, or he may just take the votes that the Lib Dems are trying to take. All of these are quite relaxing scenarios for the Tories. If, on the other hand, he and the Lib Dems appeal to different sets of voters (which is quite likely) and each take a different set of votes away from the Tories, without hurting each other, then things could get quite tense. I won't put it any stronger than that.
Re Nicholas Bennett's comments: there are numerous precedents for Lib Dem MPs continuing to serve as councillors after getting elected, including Ronnie Fearn as was (who is still a councillor now), Andrew Stunell, Paul Burstow, Paul Holmes, and Tim Farron.
Guido is coming out with some good points about the sleazy lobbyist who won't tell people who he lobbies for - such as mobile masts etc! Abbotts must think people are daft....and the infamous bar chart is back yet again on Abbotts's website...Oh dear. Turning the Libs into a one trick - campaign negatively and lie like mad using silly graphics that mean nowt - party.
Nicholas Bennett's point is just silly. Being a councillor is not meant to be a full time job and for most councillors it is not. Nobody criticises anyone for being a councillor and a full time anything (fireman, teacher, MP or whatever).
Being a GLA member and being an MP are both meant to be full time jobs, so there is a problem sying you will do both.
He does look rather like Roy Hattersley - a cause for concern?
Given that the House of Commons meets at the same time as Bromley Council how would he represent the two different sets of electors at the same time in differnt places?
And yet more hypocrisy from the LibDems with a Bromley angle.
After reiterating his opposition to tuition fees to the editor of the Bromley Times...
...the Scottish FibDems have just gone and ignored calls from Scottish students and voted to bring in variable fees in Scotland.
Is the editor of the Bromley Times aware that he was being spun a line of bovine manure by Ming?
Paul Walter whined "I think this is all a great tribute to the skill of the LibDem campaigners."
You think lying's a skill to boast about?
Fascinating insight into the morality of the FibDems.
But then you do do nothing about Rendition Flights whilst moaning they are really awful.
Support tuition fees whilst crying crocodile tears about student poverty.
And wring your hands about pensioner poverty whilst keeping the council tax which you say is impoverishing them.
Isn't this a bit hypocritical for a Liberal Democrat in SE London? Smacks of their three jobs Bob stuff.
Executive Councillor in Southwark Borough
http://www.liberalism2010.tsohost.co.uk/carolinepidgeon/
Just been selected as a PPC in Lambeth Borough
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