5 June - It’s not illegal but it makes you think
Since
responding to @dannyhackett on X last Saturday (he had Tweeted a simple
“No” when I asked if Daniel Frances would make a good MP) my voting intentions have continued to be volatile,
especially yesterday when the flights of fancy took me to a different conclusion
dependent on which Bexley constituency I was in.
The weekend feature on the Belvedere waste burner and its doubling in size in a
few short years drew forth comment from a number of nature lovers concerned
about the loss of wildlife habitat. Not only about
their campaign but straying into website design too - I find the code that runs
theirs unnecessarily complicated, but that was just a brief digression.
Eventually I asked what support they were getting from local politicians because the website said almost nothing about that.
I was directed to MP
Abena Oppong-Asare’s
letter from last November.
“Nothing else? Nothing from Daniel Francis?” - who claims to have
fought against the incinerator since 2000 on his General Election website.
“No not a thing. Nothing since he moved out of Belvedere [to Sidcup].”
“Have you fallen out with him?” “No, we think that Cory Environmental may be behind his change of heart.”
Easily said but could there be any truth in it and how would one find out?
Fortunately Labour activists are not as tight lipped as Tories and there have been several public fallings out over the years. One
quoted in a Conservative manifesto
(third page) and another canvassing for them - and there are other examples. Maybe some tongues
would wag if asked. I asked and the tongues duly wagged. I found myself on the end of
a good telling off for my positive comments on the Labour candidate for
Bexleyheath and Crayford. “An April the First style joke!” and far too generous apparently.
“Nothing but self-service, only interested in his own advancement,
the worst Labour
election performance ever in Old Bexley and Sidcup, he is a campaigning
liability but is desperate to inhabit the shark-infested waters of the
House of Commons” to mention only a selection of the choice words on offer.
So we may have another ruthless greasy pole climber but what else would one expect of any ambitious politician?
“Thanks for your views but did Daniel Francis accept money from Cory Environmental and drop support for the Greenies.”
“Yes, I am afraid he did” is the essence of a much longer reply.
No proof offered but eventually Google came up trumps.
The Belvedere Community Forum. Charity Number 1116584. Daniel Francis is now Company Secretary.
What is a man supposed to do when offered money by a company that he has been
“opposing” since 2000? An awkward situation for an ordinary man but at least we know what a politician does
in the circumstances. Abandons years of his own campaigning effort and cashes the cheque.
Politicians eh? Why do we kid ourselves that they work for us? Disillusioned again.