The Conservative campaign in the Wellingborough by-election has run into trouble over two of the people who have nominated their candidate Helen Harrison.
They are pithily described by the Sun as:
a benefit fraudster and ex-cop who covered up drink driving.
And the paper goes on to give full details:
One of Harrison’s endorsers was Matt Binley, the son of Northampton South’s former MP, Brian Binley.
It was reported in the North Northants Journal that the ex-cop was slapped with a four month jail sentence in 2010 for conspiring to cover up drink driving.
Having smashed the car Binley then pretended that it was his relative who drove the car.
Another of Harrison’s local supporters is Bhupendra Patel, a convicted fraudster.
It was reported in the BBC that in 2013 Patel was given a suspended jail sentence for failing to disclose his councillor allowance while receiving incapacity benefit.
Patel resigned the Conservative whip once convicted.
This is simply a cracking news story, so it may be wise not to read too much into the fact that the Sun has reported it so fully. But I am reminded of the run up to the 1997 general election.
Then, Labour did not win because the Sun backed them: the Sun backed them because they were going to win. And I wonder if something similar may happen this year.
This report also confirms what I blogged the other day in my post about those spurious Facebook groups set up to campaign against the 20mph speed limit in Wales. The Tories have a problem with the sort of members they now attract.
And it makes you wonder if their Wellingborough campaign is being run by Peter Bone's Friends and Relations rather than people appointed for their competence.
Finally, a word in praise of tabloid news reporting. Notice how economically this story tells you what nominators do in an election.
1 comment:
"Finally, a word in praise of tabloid news reporting. Notice how economically this story tells you what nominators do in an election."
I concur. It's frustrating how the processes of government and elections are represented in drama, and even in news. The basic distinction between elected members and paid officers is too often misrepresented by fiction writers -- but if you read Private Eye, you start to wonder whether role holders understand it.
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