We heard from our Lib Dem colleague June Lumley today that she is going to seek re-election to the District Council this year ? but this time as a Conservative.
June has been both a District and Town councillor in Grange Ward for a long time, with a good reputation that has helped her survive repeated Conservative challenges. June has indeed been a dignified and serene chairman of the District Council this year.
If June had stood as an independent, that would not have been a surprise ? June has been an independent on the Town Council for a long time. But standing for the Tories isn?t going to be easy- the Conservatives are pretty unpopular in West Rayleigh right now! Her switch is bound to be seen as an endorsement of the Tory District Core Strategy which may lead to all the proposed development North of London Road.
If she wins it will be interesting to see how she manages moving from the Lib Dems, where she has not been whipped, into a tightly-whipped Conservative Group.
For the local Lib Dems , this gives us the chance for more some vigorous campaigning and recruiting in Grange Ward. In a period of 10 years, we found 7 good candidates in Downhall and Rawreth to stand for us around Rayleigh. No new candidates came from Grange Ward.
One of many, I suspect, who will leaving the Clagtanic as it heads towards the election iceberg…..
In the Echo today you are quoted as having said;
While she has been welcomed into the Conservative Party fold by Mr Francois, Lib Dem group leader Chris Black questioned the move. He said: “I think it is an absolutely huge mistake for her to join the Conservatives.“They are extremely unpopular party in this district at the moment.“It is the Conservative group that has been pushing through the Core Strategy.“It is that strategy which will lead to the over-development of Rayleigh. “It is a disappointing decision,but not unexpected.“However, it now means myself and Ron Oatham, the remaining Lib Dems, can act more freely and vigorously.”
I don’t often agree with Oz but yes rats deserting a sinking ship sums it up – not surprised as the move to Chair Person ( in an otherwise Tory dominated cabinet )
Looked like the first step away.
June was elected as chair of the whole council, which is more of a ceremonial role than anything else. I don’t think there was any kind of secret deal like “”We’ll make you chair if you cross over later”.
Chris You are 100% correct, there was no deal. June had been Chairman for many months before discussions began
Ceremonial maybe but that created many Mark Francois style photo opportunities over the last few months – to be fair a well worked strategy.
Chris, as I said quite openly yesterday I voted for June because I knew she would make an excellent Chairman of our council. I have know June for years through her voluntary work in the community.. The post on a certain facebook page saddened me. to throw such aspersions about such a lovely lady is very wrong. What did they aim to benefit from it? It was just plain UNFAIR. I don’t think anyone can deny what a brilliant job she has done
Just to add, I am pleased to see the moderated of the page has had the courtesy to amend the said post.
Jo @ 7&8, lovely lady she might be but personally I do not care. Voters are more concerned about representatives working to bring about the changes that were promised by these people when they stood for election. When they abandon ship mid course they are betraying those that voted for them. End of, but , as Jim rightly says, a few photo opportunities for our invisible MP…now, what’s his name again….
This seems to be an increasing trend both locally and nationally. As I have no criticism for Toby Mountain and the Capons for moving away from the Conservatives, I feel that I have to show the same understanding towards June Lumley here. For me it’s a case of its not what you do but the way that you do it. If someone has reasons for moving on then it should be done in such a way as to cause minimum ill feeling and or inconvenience to those friends who you are leaving behind. For example in the cases of Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless, I have no problem with them moving to UKIP but think that putting their local associations (containing people that have given them support over the years) though the work and considerable cost of a by election a few months before a general election was very unkind when it was not those people that they had the quarrel with.
I am not a Libdem supporter for ideological reasons but I would like to offer the hard working group my best wishes to their team following their let down. One thought was will the air at the ‘Lumney’ breakfast table now be ‘blue’? I can’t imagine the principled Chris Lumney turning right for any political advancement.
Our MP’s “earn” £67,060 pa + office expenses. I do not know if our invisible MP reads this site but if he does can he really justify this wage ? Just what does he do ? Maybe Mr Brown can enlighten us…
Our MP is Minister of the Armed Forces on £102,000 pa plus expenses.
Linda @ 13, I did not know that, he should hold his head in shame…..unless of course he tells us what he actually does for that money, not much here as far as I can see…..
The Mighty Oz, if you so strongly believe in visibility then start posting your comments under your own name like everyone else on this thread. Whatever weaknesses Nick Clegg or Mark Francois may have, they have the courage to stand up and be public figures and take flack from people who disagree with them.
I’ve got to say Oz, what do you mean by ‘visibility’? Where and when do you expect to see Mark Francois?
Actually our MP has been very visible recently not least for playing a leading role speaking at Rochford District Council against The North of the London Road Planning Application and, I understand, providing some written evidence to justify REFUSAL. And I further understand that the Hullbridge Residents Association will be asking our MP to be the leading person to speak Against again when the big Hullbridge Planning Application comes forward. But no one is sure whether that will come before the LPA before or after the Elections.
Chris, for instance, I watch the BBC Look East programme, you often see local MPs on talking about the issues that face their constituants ( maybe something like excessive house building ) I have never seen our chap.
Angelina, give me over £100,000 pa and I will be any name you want……
Mighty Oz, if I was in possession of a large amount of spare money and you were actively involved in something that benefits local people then I would gladly help, same goes for the local causes that other commentators on this thread support. There are a variety of people on this thread all of you are people I respect for the work you do in your different ways for local people.
Angelina, on a serious note for once, you have no idea about me but I can assure you I take a very active part in helping people in the community, both in the past and present……I don’t want to go into detail on this forum, it’s not for public consumption but my conscience is very clear.
John @17 – I think that the ,”kissing the baby” style of the obviously ‘photo opportunities’ that our MP does on a regular basis is a turn off for thinking people –
treated with some suspicion.
I was impressed with his content and delivery at the 29/01 ‘refusal meeting’ but it was 180 degrees to the backing he gave at the Planning Inspector’s meeting which led to approval of the Applications Document. In fact prime movers Cutmore & Hudson also voting against their own creation ( in accord with MF ) makes me suspicious -given an election looming up.
I agree Jim @ 21. I think that our MP should build on his success of speaking at Rochford District Council on Planning and drop the exclusively “Photo Opportunity” type of Facebook Page and engage with the electorate in the discursive style so that they can ask questions of him and get answers from him.
I know that many residents are suspicious of the 180 degree manoeuvre but no one can argue that the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council (Councillors Cutmore and Hudson), and in particular our MP, did not lead strongly and with evidence and conviction to deliver the result, Refusal, that residents of Rayleigh had called for. But what will happen next?
I believe that Countryside will come back ( after the election ) with a revised application which will include lots of clever words addressing the main objection
topics / some increased sums of money which will be enough for the Tory Councillors to applaud a jolly good effort and vote for it to be approved.
What it will not do is model the worst case traffic ( 10 years of Construction ) and the
Downstream Flood Risk Assesment ( Rawreth Village ) which are the obvious negative impacts that should be addressed – don’t forget two years ago Mr Hudson told the Echo it was a ” Done Deal” .
Now that Cllr June Lumley has declared herself as a Conservative and made disparaging remarks in public about UKIP, is it appropriate for her to remain as a Member of the Standard’s Committee? She has defected from Lib Dem to Tory (whether official or not, her public remarks have made the case clear). The Standard’s Committee now comprises 6 x Conservatives, 1 x UKIP, 1 x RDR – This causes me concern. If someone had a case to bring a member of the Conservatives in front of the Standards Committee, it is difficult to remain confident of transparency and non bias. If possible, surely it’s now appropriate for June to voluntarily remove herself from the Standards Committee to be replaced by either Chris Black or Ron Oatham?
Toby, agree, it’s so annoying when people get elected under one banner and then change tack…..
Oz – hopefully that will be reflected in the Ward voting when it comes……..????
Touche! The Mighty Oz @ 25 – The difference being… I left the Conservatives because they stifled debate and with an imperious use of the whip, they made it very difficult for me to represent residents under the “open and transparency” wording of my election address – The same cannot be said of the non-whipped Lib Dems at District Council. Also, once I left the Conservatives I was removed from the Local Highways Panel and lost my Chairmanship of the Audit Committee. So with respect, you’re not comparing like for like!
I have genuine concerns about transparency and non-bias on the Standards Committee and also believe it was inappropriate for the Chairman of the Council (a supposedly non-political role) to make disparaging remarks about a political party who have representation in the Council Chamber. I would be very interested to hear from Chris Black what his thoughts are on the matter….
Toby , I’m actually fairly relaxed about the Standards Committee situation. I would expect all councillors to act in a non-partisan way at meetings of the Standards Committee.
And councillors can make disparaging remarks about political parties , its treated very differently to disparaging an individual.
Whether June during her year of office as Chair should have made those comments is something I’d like to reflect on.