Friday, December 01, 2006
A New Candidate for North Norfolk
It's a bit of an odd feeling to hear that your successor has been chosen, but in North Norfolk it's now a case of Iain who?! Tonight Trevor Ivory was chosen as the man to fight Norman Lamb at the next election. He's a Norwich solicitor and chairman of Norwich South Conservatives. He also has a very good BLOG. I really do wish him the very best of luck. He's a nice guy and I am sure will be very popular.
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22 comments:
Yes, good luck to him in overturning that massive majority you left as your legacy to North Norfolk! :)
Many thanks Iain. I am chuffed tobits and looking forward to the fight.
Just what the party needs: another white, middle-aged, male solicitor. Don't tell me he's balding and getting a gut...
Well Done Trev- North Norfolk is a difficult seat to fight for so many reasons but you are the man for the job. Got get 'em!
p.s. I'm not canvassing anywhere without pavements.
And a new candidate deselected in Westmorland and Lonsdale.
Good news for Tim Farron, Richard Bell would have beaten him. no-one else will.
Anonymous @ 11:32 PM. 'Deslected'? - Murdered in his bed would better define it.
Why was the Westmoreland chap deselected, anonymous? A way back for Tim Collins or has he burned bridges?
Also, is Trevor Ivory the guy who offended the Samaritans over something? I seem to remember the name.
Andrew - I see from his profile he's 28. If that's "middle aged" then I am pretty f***ed.
It's all a bit of an irrelevance now anyway who the candidate is - all just a bit of flag-flying.
No personal offence to Trevor, but he is a political light-weight given his age and lack of experience in actually achieving anything, and that wasn't the message for North Norfolk Conservatives to send out. They don't expect him to win in an area which is quite frankly Conservative terrority.
Westmorland’s man wasn't deselected per se. The local association knew nothing of the situation until they turned up a regular meeting of the executive last night. The planned meeting was cancelled and the Chair was seized by David Maclean MP, who informed members that their association had been placed under 'supported status' by the party’s Board and that he had effectively sacked Richard Bell, the PPC who the association democratically elected back in January. Hitler would have blushed at the proceedings.
Anonymous - you're right, Trevor Bell is the chap who offended the Samaritans over a "joke" about suicide - see Liberal Reviews' piece.
Iain, sorry but what is the connection between you and North Norfolk ?
Anonymous, I was the Tory date there at the last election.
I'm a member of the Conservatives in the Runtons in North Norfolk, and I'm disappointed in this candidate selection. Ivory is no doubt a very nice young man, but he is politically inept and entirely inexperienced. Ralph Howell had a long history in farming, David Prior in industry and Iain Dale in numerous occupations including self-employment and the media. All three were fine candidates. Trevor Ivory is not a man I will be voting for, I won't leave the party, but I shall politely spoil my ballot paper. It is a desperate shame that North Norfolk did not set their sights higher.
Iain, sorry to be thick, but if you were a candidate last time, what is the point of being on the 'A-list'?
I thought this was a mechanism for getting people outside the normal candidate pool in with a chance of selection as a PPC ? Although I may have misunderstood how it works !
Iain, I was at Trevor's selection meeting last night. I voted for him. But at the beginning of the meeting a man stood up and asked the chairman the following question:
"Could we be assured that neither of the candidates is a homosexual".
I now know what you had to put up with. My resignation from the Party is in the post unless I have an assurance that this man, who I had never seen before, is chucked out of the Party. Is there a mechanism to achieve this?
Annony - the gentleman in question wasn't a member of the party, he was a member of the public who was entitled to attend under the Open Primary rules. He isn't representative of the party at all.
However Trevor Ivory, nice guy though I am sure he is, is a total political lightweight who will be crushed in no uncertain terms by Norman Lamb. What has Mr Ivory achieved? No council experience, no life experience, no business experience. People on the night were saying we needed a lawyer to beat Lamb. I disagree, we need a political street fighter. People say that Trevor Ivory is not one. Furthermore I would like to have seen somebody like a doctor (ref. Cromer Hospital), a teacher or another public servant selected.
Even his first publicity went wrong - his EDP quote of "nasty Mister Lamb" will have put the backs of 90% of this seat up - Lamb is popular even with Tory members (like me). I voted for Ivory as the best of a bad (and very small) bunch. I cannot in all honesty campaign for Ivory because, even as a Tory, I believe Lamb would be a better MP. How I vote is yet to be decided.
North Norfolk Tory, you are wrong. the man in question is indeed a member of the party.
If that comment at the selecvtion meeting is reported accurately it is disgraceful!
The question should have been ruled out of order immediately!
There were lots of issues why Iain lost by some votes, but as a candidate he was honourable, decent and he had achieved a lot in his life. He was a serious candidate for the seat, and personally I believe if he had stood again (and I understand his reasons for not doing so) he would have had a good chance of doing serious damage to Norman Lamb's majority. Trevor Ivory is, well, a lightweight. Too young, too inexperienced and frankly from the comment in the EDP, too arrogant. I'm a Tory, I'm not voting for Lamb, but Norman Lamb is a bloody hard-working MP.
Glad to see some of the Tories making the good points for Norman.The trouble is with North Norfolk Conservative Party is they seem to think that we will vote for a candidate just because he IS a Tory.
It doesn't work that way any more,as Iain found out.I had a couple of long chats with Iain during the last election,what got Norman in is the hard work he put in as the Lib Dem candidate over MANY years,& has since.
To be honest,some areas of the constituency were lucky to see Sir Ralph Howell outside of an election campaign & it was pretty much the same with David Prior.
Norman got himself known,& I'm afraid parachuting yet another relatively unknown Tory in as candidate won't work.I've always felt it a shame that Iain gave up,but the Tory machine in North Norfolk seems hopelessly out of touch with the actual voters of North Norfolk.
We may be rural,but we aren't stupid!
As someone who lives in Westmorland and Lonsdale, I think there is no way anyone will defeat Tim farron and the Lib Dems. They have gone around making it a very safe seat, although their tactics are somewhat dubious.
Whatever Richard's current misfortunes, there is little doubt that he was a good candidate and cared about local issues. His "deselection" says little for the autonomy of the local association or the democracy under through which it should operate.
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