Tory candidate in Tiverton and Honiton by-election goes missing

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It's fair to say the Conservative candidate in the Tiverton and Honiton by-election is proving elusive. So much so that the Guardian political correspondent Peter Walker has been reduced to tweeting to ask if anyone knows where she might be:

Attn Tiverton/Honiton residents! Could you help me track down the Conservative candidate, Helen Hurford – more specifically if you happen to know where she might be tomorrow, when I'll be in the area? More formal attempts to establish contact have been.... inconclusive so far.

Still, Helen Hurford has emerged, blinking like a timid forest creature, to say the one thing that those producing the Lib Dem literature wanted to hear.

Radio Exe reports:

The Conservative candidate for the upcoming Tiverton and Honiton by-election is backing prime minister Boris Johnson, after he survived a vote of confidence by his own MPs – and says he has a new mandate to lead.

Helen Hurford says she “welcomed” the vote on Monday night, which the prime minister won by a margin of 211 to 148 to remain in office, as it “draws a line under what’s been happening.”

Elsewhere, she has declined to say how she would have voted in Monday's no confidence vote, but I think she's given us more than enough to work with.

They may not have a visible candidate in Tiverton and Honiton, but the Tories have been delivering leaflets.

The blogger Jack Montgomery describes receiving one of them:

It had ‘Thinking of Voting Liberal Democrat?’ in big, bold black letters on a yellow background. I don’t know why, but this time I opened it.

Inside were five points under a heading ‘Key Things to Know About the Liberal Democrats.’

The first was that they want to re-join the EU. At this point, I thought it was a leaflet from the Lib Dems.

The second point about voting against plans to strengthen borders didn’t change that view. But the third point, which referenced child murderers and sex offenders, had the alarm bells sounding and I realised I was supposed to be shocked and outraged at the previous points, not nodding in favour. 

And he concludes: 

as political leaflets go it was highly effective. It completely swayed me, but not in the way its author wanted.

I haven’t made up my mind who I’ll vote for in the Tiverton and Honiton by-election. But it sure as hell won’t be for anyone who produces leaflets like this.

If the Tories can't manage a decent nasty leaflet, what do they have left?

Polling day in Tiverton and Honiton is 23 June and the Liberal Democrat candidate is Richard Foord. His campaign offices are at:

118 High Street

Honiton

Devon 

EX14 1JP

and

8-9 Mountbatten Road

Tiverton

Devon

EX16 6SW

Please let the campaign team know if you are coming to help them plan ahead.