5 November - It seems I am Billy No-mates
It was mentioned
here a few days ago that when the unmentionable Reform UK candidate demanded £4,800 compensation and the removal of
what little General Election coverage there was
from Bonkers there was quite a lot of dithering on my part on how to respond.
Over the years quite a lot of Bexley Councillors have given me insights into the
candidate’s modus-operandii
and as I formulated my response I wondered about using some of that information.
It seemed appropriate to let them know the direction in which my mind was drifting.
When Ms. F. last got litigious one of my Labour Councillors asked for a copy
of all the legal documents that led to her downfall and the other offered a
great deal of support in other ways. Neither responded to my email although
their Leader Stefano Borella did when he heard about recent developments
thus confirming his reputation as Mr. Nice Guy.
Rather more Conservatives had rallied round when I was accused of harassing the
aforesaid and charged by Kent police. More than one was secretly telephoning
support right up to the day before my Court appearance and their numbers remain
on my phone contacts list to this day.
One described the litigious lady in graphic terms and has continued to do so in
recent months. So I wrote to all the probable supporters to let them know that I might in
anonymously vague terms refer to their support when responding to the solicitor who was demanding the £4,800.
When one considers that I only mentioned the candidate’s chequered past in Bexley
because I was asked to do so by local Conservatives it didn’t seem to be much to
ask. In the event I did not say anything about history except to suggest a search
of Bexley Council’s website might be productive.
Not a single Conservative Councillor replied to my email (caveat below).
Not the Councillor who sent me a load of emails and was in contact by phone too
when I was charged with harassment. Not the Councillor who was phoning me
monthly to discuss local issues. Not the Councillor who called on me at home
seeking advice and assistance. Not the Councillor who had emailed in a different
context to the effect that he was always ready to help and certainly not the small number who pretend to
be friends when I go to Council meetings.
Were they under instructions not to reply? It has happened before.
This poses something of a dilemma. Will I be impartial when reporting on their activities in future?
Will I find some subtle way of naming them?
Ahh, the caveat…
Three Conservative Councillors contacted me in secret by alternative means. One
supportive, one very helpful with a few choice words that he might use if in my position, and
another who undertook to check over my draft response before it was sent.
It is more than three months since the response was
posted; six pages of letter and
two more of appendices. I didn’t include, but referred to, my two hour audio
recording of the interview I did with a couple of knowledgeable property
businessmen. No one has ever heard it apart from myself and I doubt publicity
would be welcome in certain quarters.
Since then there has been total silence. My dossier of inside information may
have proved to be too much of an obstacle. I might have relished making it all
available but i seems it isn’t going to happen
Note: For the record I was charged, unusually perhaps,
by the police but the CPS dropped the harassment charges
when they read what I had said fewer than 24 hours before I was due in Court.