23rd February 1974: Actress Honor Blackman lends support to the Liberal Party as she joins Johnnie Savile, brother of broadcaster Jimmy and candidate for Battersea North, London, on a canvassing tour of the constituency.Sure enough, the Wikipedia page for the Battersea North constituency reveals that a J. Savile stood there for the Liberal Party in the February 1974 general election. He finished third, polling 4683 votes.
And a recent Daily Mail report suggests that Johnnie was no more pleasant than his brother.
poor Honor, I met her and made her a cup of tea, lovely lady.
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ReplyDeleteEven today it is incredibly easy for some one to get selected for a hopeless seat as I know from personal experience.
Labour don't seem to be much better. They had to disown several of their candidates just before the 2010 election.
"Labour don't seem to be much better. They had to disown several of their candidates just before the 2010 election."
ReplyDeleteAs did the Conservatives...
I remember a Conservative Party political broadcast on the radio during the mid 1970s which broadcast part of an interview with Jimmy Savile where Jimmy said he supported the Conservative Party.
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ReplyDelete@ Anonymous - which candidates did the Conservatives disown in 2010?
Philip Lardner for North Ayrshire, just for starters, they dropped him during the middle of the campaign. That was pretty embarrassing as the fellow already had a long track record for unpleasant views on various social issues. There were others, just I've forgotten their names/constituencies/misdemeanours.
ReplyDeleteAcording to Private Eye, Cyril Smith had a bit of a thing about boys' bottoms and, as Mayor of Rochdale, took a lively interest in their, er, welfare.
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