New Boston Eye

20 days to the elections

Monday saw our look at the bare bones of the forthcoming local election campaign – and now it’s time to flesh things out in more detail.

As you might expect, fewer candidates are seeking election to fewer seats

The Conservatives and UKIP are standing in all 15 wards - down from 18 at present.

Labour has candidates in 12 of them, the Greens in four and the Lib Dems in one.

There are also 14 candidates running on the Independent ticket – but on the evidence from previous administrations we can expect many of these to regroup – if they are re-elected.

As we mentioned on Monday there are three big name losses for the Tory group at Worst Street – although one had already renounced the group.

Raymond Singleton-McGuire, formerly joint deputy leader and portfolio holder for finance – who chaired the local Conservatives and led them to the resounding and completely unexpected victory in 2011 – appears to have quit political life entirely.

After being suspended from the Tory group, allegedly "in the interests of transparency and good governance" pending a legal action completely unrelated to this civic role, he declared himself “unable to continue my allegiance with Councillor Peter Bedford as Conservative group leader and leader of the council,” and to serve the rest of his term as an Independent.

In the meantime, he has quit his other role on Fishtoft Parish Council, and his name does not appear on the list of borough council candidates for next month’s elections.

Another casualty is Derek “Knocker” Richmond – another portfolio holder ... allegedly responsible for Boston Town Centre.

The silver-tongued Councillor Richmond has been under fire more than once during his tenure in office.

In particular his reasons for charging blue badge holders to pay to park struck a bum note when he reinforced the argument by claiming that this would give them the equality with able-bodied people that they were always banging on about.

And he attracted further unfavourable attention after saying of the Boston Standard’s anonymous commentator “Observer.”

“You want to sort your Observer column out.” He was quoted as saying. “We know who he is, he’ll get a knock on his door one day,” adding, “When has he supported us? He never supports anything we do.

“He’s going to get a knock one day.”

It appears though, that people jumped to entirely the wrong conclusions over these remarks, as he later took the trouble to explain

“By a ‘knock on the door’ I meant that even though Observer hides behind a pseudonym I know who he is, and may knock on his door so that he can have an adult face-to-face conversation with me in order that we can sensibly discuss some of the issues which concern him, I would welcome a meeting with Observer at any time as I do with any other member of the public.”

Of course.

The third major loss from the Tory camp is that of Mike Gilbert, another cabinet member and portfolio holder, who we understand cannot seek re-election due to regulations surrounding his job.

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One other Tory on the move is Gloria Smith, who was elected to Skirbeck Ward in 2011, and will now be standing as an Independent candidate in Staniland Ward, where her opponents include portfolio holder and self-styled “dignitary” Yvonne Gunter, former borough councillor Brian Rush standing for UKIP, and Pam Kenny, wife of Labour councillor and prospective parliamentary candidate Paul Kenny.

Quite how the Conservatives will cope with the loss of the inestimable Gloria Smith is hard to imagine - but we expect that they will begin by trying not to grin too broadly!

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Looking down the list of nominations, a number of interesting entries catch the eye.

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In Coastal Ward, the deputy chairman for Policy and Campaigning with Boston and Skegness Conservatives – Tom Ashton - is standing (obviously) for the Tories, alongside the present council leader Pete Bedford who has declared his wish to remain as leader in the event of another Conservative victory at Worst Street. That’s despite losing three cabinet members and a fourth rank and file member this time round.

To describe Mr Ashton as keen to be elected is an understatement.

In fact, so enthusiastic is he to serve the voters that he is also standing in the East Lindsey District Council elections as the Tory candidate for the Sibsey and Stickney ward.

By a strange coincidence, another contender for a Boston seat is doing the self-same thing. Not content with standing for UKIP in Boston’s Fishtoft Ward, Jonathan Noble is also having a go at East Lindsey’s Sibsey and Stickney seat.

Whether this is a case of belt and braces in a thirst for election or merely an overwhelming need to serve the people isn’t clear.

But given the amount of time councillors put in, we have to question whether either man would be able to manage two jobs in neighbouring authorities alongside whatever outside interests they may have.

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In Fishtoft Ward, Conservative Paul Skinner is attempting to end a run of recent bad luck after losing his Lincolnshire County Council seat in 2013 and an unsuccessful bid for Boston Borough Council back in 2011. His wife, Judith, is the other Tory contender in the ward. All told, seven candidates are fighting for the three available seats

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One of the new wards – St Thomas – could also prove interesting.

St Thomas – one of only two single seat wards on the council – emerged after some reshuffling by the Boundary Commission and sees around 370 voters in part of the current South Ward moved to the Wyberton Ward.

The idea was opposed by the incumbent, “Independent” Councillor Alison Austin, and husband Richard who represents Wyberton, who – apparently without any concern about the impact on likely voting – objected on the grounds that electors would have further to travel, especially the elderly without transport who would have to walk along and cross busy roads.

Another part of the current South Ward has also been moved into the Wyberton Ward, where around 71 voters in the London Road area will be asked to go to Wyberton Parish Hall.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Mrs Austin will find herself up against five candidates compared with three last time.

Having his second bite at the cherry is local accountant Darron Abbott, who ran second to Mrs Austin in 2011, whilst an Independent took third place.

Since that election, Mr Abbott has been a fly in the ointment of Boston Borough councillors and officers – barraging them with questions and comments to keep them up to snuff.

If elected, we expect him to be one Conservative who will not be toeing the party line if he doesn’t want to.

As well as that, Mrs Austin faces opposition from UKIP and Labour, and another potentially interesting Independent candidate.

Dr Cyril Nyman – famous for his bow ties – retired in 2012 as consultant physician in cardiorespiratory medicine at Pilgrim Hospital

Dr Nyman is well-known for setting up the Pilgrim Heart and Lung Fund around 30 years ago, since when he has raised thousands of pounds for charity.

Such a well-known and popular figure could do very well at the polls, and it will take all of Mrs Austin’s charm and charisma – which has often been unfairly likened to a plate of cold mashed potato (unfair to the plate of cold mashed potato, that is) – to cling on in the new ward.

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We mentioned the departure of Councillor Mike Gilbert earlier in today’s report - but it may be that the name is not to be lost to local politics.

Mr Gilbert’s son Tristan is standing in the new Station Ward – which is the only other ward to return a single councillor.

Master Gilbert faces challenges from UKIP, Labour, and the Green Party candidate Joe Pepper – a 28 year-old officer with a neighbouring council who is soon to embark on his final training to become a solicitor.

As proponents for many years of the need for local politicians to use the internet to talk to the electorate, we are pleased to learn that Mr Pepper has set up a public e-mail address at joepeppergreen@gmail.com and a Twitter account @JoeMPepper .

He tells Boston Eye that he will be very happy to answer questions on any issues at all, from anyone who asks..

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The contest for Trinity Ward also features two familiar names.
Boston solicitor Dennis Bambridge, of Bambridges Solicitors, is standing as an Independent. Mr Bambridge is a one-time independent chairman of the former Standards Committee on Boston Borough Council, and a one-time director of Boston Business “Improvement” District.
And the other is Wendy Gleeson, wife of Labour group leader Paul Gleeson, who stood last time for Labour in Fenside.

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As election day draws closer a meeting was held at the beginning of the week for all candidates.

The wannabes were told about a two month induction programme, which is very intense and obligatory for all new councillors.

Apparently, two Ukippers failed to make it to the meeting, and questions are already being asked as to how our Boston and East Lindsey joint candidates might cope with a double helping of this sort of thing.

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A sense of schadenfreude is being expressed in some quarters following the appearance of highly visible “Vote UKIP” posters on houses adjoining some prominent spots easily visible to passing traffic on Spilsby Road and John Adams Way. The irony? A number of the properties are owned by Boston councillor and prominent property magnate Raymond Singleton-McGuire, whose website describes his company as Lincolnshire’s largest private sector landlord.

When the Tory group kicked him out earlier this year, he severed all ties with them and went Independent, and now he is not seeking election at all.

Nonetheless, people must be a little bewildered!

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One of our newer political bloggers has treated the voters in his ward to a personal thumbnail sketch of his opponents.

Daniel Elkington, is standing alongside political trouper Mary Wright in Witham Ward,

Of this unlikely pairing he says: “ ... there's me – work in Bargate live on Norfolk Street, Chairman of Lincolnshire Conservative Policy Forum ... ... and there is Mary, who has been a councillor for several decades (I think) and has a vast amount of experience of Boston and Witham ward.”

Of the Labour candidates, Ben Cook and, “presumably” his brother Andy, he writes: “Both live at Wyberton Low Road – which is not in Witham Ward. I've met Ben a few times and think he is a nice enough chap, he doesn't seem to have any original ideas.”

Of UKIP, he says: “Two interesting candidates. One of them doesn't live in the ward, but on Church Road. I eagerly look forward to why she thinks she can represent the local people. She lives in Skirbeck ward and they haven't fielded a full slate there – so why has she chosen Witham over where she lives? The other candidate is another unknown. He does run 1st choice webs, which seems to have produced some decent websites for local businesses. As a local businessman I feel a deal of synergy with him. I'm surprised that someone in the tech sector wants to leave the EU without a referendum, but I eagerly await his rationale on my doorstep!”

Finally, the Independent candidate Councillor Carol Taylor comes within range of Mr Elkington’s rapier like wit.

“Carol is a lovely lady, but it is very sad that she decided to defect a few weeks after getting elected on the back of the Conservative vote last time. I can understand the reasons for her defection, but really would have preferred if she had tried to work through her problems rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

We recall Councillor Taylor’s departure from the Tory fold very clearly.

She went Independent because of her unwillingness to kowtow to the leadership and mindlessly do as she was told.

However. it seems as though Mr Elkington – an “Independent Financial Adviser” – is telling us that we need have no fears about where he stands as far as political independence is concerned and that his Tory masters need have no fear that he will step out of line.

His blogs to date have been unsparing in their criticism of others...

Labour Councillor Paul Gleeson is dubbed “grumpy” and with “a catastrophic lack of understanding of how the world actually works” ... whilst the Elkington insight into the recent local hustings told us that ...

UKIP’s Robin Hunter-Clark “stood up and lied to the assembly”

Labour’s Paul Kenny “did his normal trick of sounding really passionate about stuff, and whinging a lot about stuff and offering very few solutions ...”

Moving on, “Chris Pain (Independence from Europe) seemed genuine and seemed to struggle a bit on stage ... He's not MP material, but I could see him making a good councillor and he probably does.”.

And as for the Green’s candidate ... “Victoria Percival I felt sorry for, she kept saying that 'it made her sad' to see something and I could just imagine her going back home with a bottle of fair-trade wine and weeping gentle organic tears into it.”

When he first began blogging in March, Mr Elkington told his readers that he would like to begin with a thank-you to “all the people who have helped me to become the man that I am ...”

A few blogs down the line, we think we’re starting to get the idea of the sort of man he is.

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Some election trivia for you now...

... Although we have seen one or two political couples competing, our nomination for the most tenacious family goes to the Ransomes ... Sisters Felicity Elizabeth , Elizabeth Lucy and Jodie are contesting Coastal, Five Villages and Swineshead & Holland Fen respectively, whilst mum Sue is standing in Station Ward, and dad Don is West Ward.

... the most heavily contested election will be in Witham Ward where eight candidates are vying for two places. There are no uncontested wards.

... the Lack of Interest This Time Round award goes to the English Democrat movement. Spurred on by the examples of Elliot Fountain and David Owens, they fielded 11 candidates in 2011. This time they have none - and their place appears to have been taken over by the more voter friendly UKIP

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We don't know what they were thinking of in the first place, but BBC Radio Lincolnshire has backed down after some harsh words on the internet and in the social media pages over its decision to exclude the Green Party candidate, Victoria Percival, from a live radio “hustings” which is being broadcast from Blackfriars in Boston on 1st May.

Whilst the event is organised by BBC Radio Lincolnshire it is purportedly supported by the Boston and Skegness Standard “newspapers” – although precisely what the paper’s role in the event is, we do not know.

Perhaps they’ll be putting the chairs away afterwards.

The debate as originally organised was to feature the Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem, and UKIP candidates with the remaining five having “the chance to speak on air during the evening.”

In a county like Lincolnshire we find it hard to imagine why the Greens should have been blacklisted in the first place – and let’s not forget that earlier in the year, the prospect of TV election debates between the party leaders suffered a blow after David Cameron refused to participate in them if the Green party was excluded.

The debate following the local decision indicated just how annoyed with the BBC many local people were.

A number questioned whether BBC Radio Lincolnshire was able to exclude parties on a whim.

But the answer was – yes, it was ... and if you are interested enough to read the full Ofcom regulations, you can find them here.

Initially, when Ms Percival’s agent, Biff Vernon, raised the issue with Radio Lincolnshire’s Managing Editor, Charlie Partridge, he received the sniffy reply: “It is indeed the case that our Boston Debate on Friday 1^st May is going to be between the four main parties: Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem, and UKIP.

“Our decision is based on previous electoral performance and evidence of support locally. Although the Greens will not be invited to take part in the debate itself, we will be contacting you in order to arrange an interview with you in the three hour election programme that the debate is part of.

“I should point out that the Boston Debate is one of seven that BBC Radio Lincolnshire is promoting, and that the Greens will be included elsewhere.

“I hope this makes our position clear.”

Clear it may have been.

Acceptable it was not.

Quickly and unsurprisingly Mr Partridge caved in to public pressure – although his Tweet, on the day he changed his mind, is a tad baffling and sounds like the mixture as before: “All candidates will get a chance to put their case in three hour show. Debate is part of that prog and will feature the four main candidates.”

Whilst we can understand the BBC’s reluctance to engage as many as nine people in any sort of meaningful debate, it is clearly guilty of not thinking things through sufficiently well before announcing the line-up.

There are clearly some classic no-hopers among this ennead whose exclusion would in no way harm their chances – but they will still have a chance to speak outside of the debate, apparently.

Before Managing Editor Partridge caved in we understand that quite a lot of people complained to him and were “annoyed” by his response.

Complaints were being prepared for the BBC Trust and the Electoral Commission and the director of Blackfriars Theatre was warned that hosting an event to which only some candidates were invited might be judged by the Electoral Commission as a donation to those parties and that such a political donation could threaten the theatre's status as a registered charity.

Fortunately, Partridge’s surrender rendered these actions moot.

More seriously, perhaps, we are told that Stephen Stray, who edits the Boston and Skegness Standard ,seemed to be washing his hands of any responsibility – saying it was not his call.

So much for any form of joint enterprise.

As we said earlier, we understand why the BBC would want to keep the numbers down.

But we have concerns about a local “newspaper” copping out of any responsibility, when it has a far wider duty to its local readership than our local BBC radio station does to its county audience.

It’s a fairly safe bet that the 1^st May broadcast will attract few, if any, listeners

But if the Standard relies on it for source material – which we are sure it will as it’s a nice, lazy way to cover an event – then candidates are likely to be disenfranchised by what may well be an unbalanced account.

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All of which reminds us of how things have changed. At the 1983 general election broadcasting of debates was more rigorously regulated by the Representation of The People Act.

At that time, BBC Radio Lincolnshire was hoping to break what– for it – was then new ground with a live round table debate.

Under the rules in those days, all candidates had to agree to take part, and if one refused then the whole programme was kicked into touch.

One Conservative candidate – confident of his chances and, we suspect, concerned lest he made a fool of himself on the wireless – refused on the following grounds.

“The people of -------- have voted Conservative for years, and I can see no reason for them to change their minds.

That’s democracy for you!

***

A couple of UKIP whimsies for you before we close...

Whether it’s a case of supreme confidence in victory, or one of caution about fighting simultaneously on two different fronts, but we note that Robin “Boy Wonder” Hunter-Clarke has waved goodbye to Skegness Town Council, where he has been King of Winthorpe for the past four years.

He has told his Twitter followers: “Skegness Town Council meeting commences. My last one.... cannot believe it's been four years!” Looking at his Skegness Town council photo, we certainly can ... he has clearly begun to shave since the photo on the right was taken!

Meanwhile, supporter Robert Kimbell, who pompously calls himself a “well-travelled geopolitics junkie and EU-antagonist UKIP Activist.” rather over-eggs the pudding on Twitter with his claim that “YouGov Nowcast has UKIP as high as 47.6% in Boston and Skegness.”

What YouGov actually says is that the constituency is “too close to call” and shows the gap between UKIP and the Conservative's Matt Warman so narrow that you can’t slip a fag paper between them.

Mr Kimbell chooses to highlight UKIP’s popularity – but overlook that of the Tories.

Understandable, perhaps, but not quite " cricket”

And finally ...

There’s an old joke – attributable, we think, to the late and great Les Dawson – which runs along the lines of “I’ve just put a picture of my mother-in-law on the mantelpiece ... it’s not very pretty, but it keeps the kids away from the fire.”

We think that our local Kippers had something similar in mind when they came up with this cod Jolly Fisherman poster to highlight Nigel Farage’s recent visit to Boston and Skegness.

Aside from the fact that the thing scares you half to death, it also set off the usual rumblings about abusing the famous image such as the one which landed Viz magazine in big trouble back in 2008.

We think that Jolly looks scary enough already without the Farage makeover!