Thursday, January 11, 2007

North Wiltshire Tories go to war

Extraordinary goings on in a part of the world where Liberals have traditionally come second but never won. As the Daily Telegraph reports it this afternoon:
A Conservative MP, who is fighting for his political life after his affair with a married mother of three was exposed, has written to supporters urging them to look past his “human failings” and judge him on his role as an MP.

The news comes as 1,000 members of the North Wiltshire Conservative Association start to vote today to decide whether to adopt James Gray as their MP at the next general election.

Mr Gray called for the postal ballot after the constituency’s executive council decided to deselect him in November in the wake of Mr Gray’s widely publicised affair with Philippa Mayo, a married Countryside Alliance campaigner, while his own wife Sarah was being treated for breast cancer.
Indeed there are letters flying about in all directions as the different factions take shape. Conservative Home has the text of them all here and here. The comments on those postings make entertaining reading too.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The new N Wilts seat loses its most Liberal bits to the new Chippenham seat which is, of course, a Lib Dem/Tory marginal. However, it looks as though the odds on an unlikely double have just shortened.