12 January (Part 3) - E & T Tories go forth with Firth
When
I last looked in on the Erith and Thamesmead Conservative Association, metaphorically that is, they were squabbling over who should be their candidate
for the General Election.
The candidates favoured by the Greenwich contingent were being squeezed out by the Bexley
crew who think they own the place, and in a sense they do. Bexley councillors and their
wives have taken all the top committee jobs.
After failing to decide which of them is least likely to lose in May they
resolved to give hostilities a rest until the new year.
Yesterday the waiting was over as it was announced that a councillor from Sevenoaks had drawn the short straw.
A bit of research reveals that
Anna Firth is
the reject from the Rochester and Strood Primary where she came second to Kelly
Tolhurst who went on to be soundly beaten by UKIP’s Mark Reckless in last
November’s Parliamentary by-election.
So Erith and Thamesmead is to get Rochester’s cast off. It could be worse, a
Bexley councillor could be contesting the seat.
When I went to
the UKIP Erith and Thamesmead selection meeting as an observer,
they faced a similar dilemma to the E & T Conservatives. viz. a Kent county
councillor from Tunbridge Wells and a less experienced local man. UKIP selected
Ronie Johnson from Plumstead.
Last month the Tories sidelined Amandeep Bhogal who lives in the constituency
which left, as far as I can tell - they don’t talk to me - only one other almost
local man; former Greenwich councillor Alex Wilson. Of the two they preferred
the barrister from the shires.
Whether the voters from Thamesmead or even the posher areas of Erith will agree with their choice
is another matter but obviously Ms. Firth hasn’t a clue about this part of the world.
It’s a long time since I was a member of the local Conservative
Association but I don’t think that expensive looking front door is in either
Thamesmead or Erith. I have a suspicion it’s in Bexleyheath. Maybe the selection
committee found an ability to fib at every level an added attraction.
The May election campaign looks set to provide plenty of excitement if you are
into that sort of thing but when one remembers that the only two people likely
to become Prime Minister are David Cameron and Ed Miliband it is a deeply
depressing prospect. One dreadful and the other slightly worse.