The reinvention of Bill Newton Dunn

 

Bill Newton Dunn, Bill Newton Dunn,
Furnish’d and burnish’d by Lincolnshire sun.

One of the minor pleasures of yesterday's local elections was the success of Bill Newton Dunn in the Liberal Democrat landslide in Richmond upon Thames.

He was elected for the South Richmond ward, one of two covering the town centre. It proved a rare area of strength for the Conservatives in the borough last night: two of them topped the poll in this three-member ward.

Bill squeaked home in third place, beating the final Conservative by six votes.

Still, four years ago the Tories were more than a thousand votes clear of us in South Richmond, so his victory still represents quite an achievement.

Bill Newton Dunn is a good sort. He was the Conservative MEP for Lincolnshire between 1979 and 1994, returning to the European parliament in 1999 as one of the members for the East Midlands.

The following year he crossed the floor (or whatever you do in Brussels) and joined the Liberal Democrats. He remained as a Lib Dem MEP for the East Midlands until he was defeated at the 2014 elections.