Guildford Lib Dems - halve truths and lies

Lib Dem Councillor expresses complaint on Facebook

2007-12-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

Below is an extract from Facebook taken from the "Lib Dem Gays's Wall".
(Tip -You need to read the posts from the bottom to the top and image and full text extracts are pasted below)

The text is a clear sign that support for the Lib Dems is getting thin on the ground, as demonstrated by Cllr Ward's complaint that "the reasonably attractive men" turn out to be "Tory". Perhaps Cllr Ward should join the Conservative Party where he'd a) be welcome; and b) would find a thriving scene.

Lib Dem Gays's Wall
Back to Lib Dem Gays
Displaying all 18 posts.

Stephen Harte (University of Edinburgh) wroteat 11:42pm on November 1st, 2007
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-5933.htmlThe dreadful Gordon Macdonald was I am ashamed to stay a leading Lib Dem candidate at the Scottish elections earlier this year. If (God forbid) anything was to happen to Ross Finnie MSP, Macdonald would enter Parliament as a gay-bating Lib Dem!
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Tom Clement (UK Parliament) wroteat 4:44pm on October 19th, 2007
Hey Guys 'n' Girls,Please add the Uk Political Parties Application and vote Lib Dem. I'm sure we can make the Lib Dems the biggest party.http://apps.facebook.com/ukpolitics/
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Tom Clement (UK Parliament) wroteat 6:34pm on September 26th, 2007
Hey people, I see one of our number has been nominated for a Stonewall Award:http://delga.org.uk/news/000189/lib_dem_msp_nominated_for_gay_award.html
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Ross Chmiel (Edinburgh) wroteat 1:25pm on July 25th, 2007
Does this mean that we have some straight members in the party? damn!
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David Nikel (West Midlands) wroteat 4:22pm on June 20th, 2007
Pretty crap as expected! I only got back from LA on Monday night so haven't had a chance to get over there yet. I'll be delivering all weekend
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Chris Ward (Surrey) wroteat 4:15pm on June 19th, 2007
David you even bigger gay! How's the byelection going?
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David Nikel (West Midlands) wroteat 3:33pm on June 19th, 2007
Chris you big gay. :)
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Chris Ward (Surrey) wroteat 8:03pm on June 18th, 2007
Actually you're not. Look harder. :P
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Yvonne Aburrow (University of Bath) wroteat 5:23pm on June 18th, 2007
if the term gay includes everyone, how come I'm the only woman on here?
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Chris Ward (Surrey) wroteat 8:15am on June 15th, 2007
It only disgusts you Gettleson cos you wish you thought of it first. ;)
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Mark Gettleson (Cambridge) wroteat 11:45pm on June 14th, 2007
'social group' - you disgust me, Ward ;)
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Jack Ashton (Warwick) wroteat 11:29pm on June 14th, 2007
We stand a reasonable chance of outnumbering the strait lib dems they will be able to claim minority group status. Hi all anyway i am new to this hole face book thing so if i manage to do something terribly wrong or against protocol let me know.
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Chris Ward (Surrey) wroteat 2:27pm on June 14th, 2007
Nah, the other group is a campaigning group. This is more of a social group. :)
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Scott MacDonald (Habs Boys) wroteat 2:20pm on June 14th, 2007
I must say, this group is surprisingly simmilar to : http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2257151771 .Though, if there are any young gays who work, live or socialise in London then I'd recommend joining the London LGBT Youth Council, check it out at: http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2297529850
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Chris Ward (Surrey) wroteat 2:03pm on June 14th, 2007
Yes, although I never got a chance to use that shower in the end. Damn.
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Nigel Smith (University of Bristol) wroteat 1:59pm on June 14th, 2007
At last an exalted position in this world that recognises my true potential... ;)
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Chris Ward (Surrey) wroteat 11:58am on June 14th, 2007
Yes. It is. I'm sick of speaking to reasonably attractive men, then half an hour in the conversation finding out they're a Tory.Actually it's more to provide a social scene for the gayers in the Lib Dems.
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Josh Bates (Surrey) wroteat 11:55am on June 14th, 2007
Mr Ward - this your latest way of scouting out talent? And by that I clearly mean political talent.
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The unemployable Ms Doughty - so would you elect her?????

2007-11-12T14:09:00.000-08:00

The unemployables: How our former MPs struggle to find work
By STEVE DOUGHTY - Daily Mail

Politicians who lose their seats struggle to make a living in the real world, research has found. The study said employers have little use for former MPs - and some take more than a year to find a job. And those who do manage to find work often complain that they do not earn as much as they did in
Westminster. Others sulk about losing the perks of the Commons.

A careers advice company cited in the report warned that a high percentage of former MPs 'were commercially unemployable at senior management level'.

Only a handful of them could command salaries in the business world that matched their Westminster wages, it added. A high proportion of those who do find work get places on quangos.

One in three of the 180 MPs polled for the report, called Life After Losing Or Leaving, were given public jobs after leaving the Commons.

"Some former MPs struggled to find work and many earned less after leaving the House of
Commons," said the report by Professor Kevin Theakston and his team at Leeds University.
"Around half of those who did not retire voluntarily from the Commons said it had taken three to six months to find a new job.
"Just one fifth said they were able to find work immediately or almost immediately. One in seven took a year to find employment.
"Many had difficulty adapting to life in the outside world, and felt isolated from the political party to which they had devoted much of their lives."

One former MP told researchers: "New jobs are not easy to come by. Some expertise in another area than politics is usually necessary."

Another said: "Many MPs do not appreciate that their skills on entering Parliament will not be
relevant when they leave."

And a third warned: "You are effectively unemployable and trained for nothing in the outside
world."

Sue Doughty, a LibDem MP who was defeated in Guildford in the 2005 election, registered as unemployed, the report said. She was "ordered to report for a suitability-to-work interview by the benefits office she had opened
only the year before."

The careers company which examined the CVs of 127 rejected Tory MPs after the 1997 election
said: "Anyone hoping to reach the higher levels of business and the City who then spends time in an environment such as Parliament puts their chances of getting a top management job in serious jeopardy."

Only four had any chance of getting a job paying £100,000 a year or more - the kind of salary
necessary to match an MP's package of £60,277 pay and hugely generous perks.

Some former MPs were disenchanted after leaving the Commons, the university study found.
One called working outside politics "demeaning". Another said: "It's a hard, cold, unforgiving world outside Westminster." And one commented: "No expenses for motor driving, no secretary, no parking space." But for one in three of the former MPs consulted for the report, life after Westminster included election to councils, the European Parliament, devolved assemblies, or jobs in the public sector or with quangos. Nine took jobs with NHS boards. Other organisations which employed former politicians included the Historic Buildings Council, the UN, the Home Office, the Police Complaints Authority, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the EU, Sport England, the Affordable Rural Housing Commission, and the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Some complained that they were forced to leave their Commons offices too quickly after election defeat. Former MPs are given a week to quit the Commons.

Others said they should get publicly-subsidised job retraining on top of their redundancy and pension packages.

The report said that some rejected MPs had to deal with "nervous breakdown, divorce, heart disease, alcoholism, depression, serious debt and even suicide."

Golden parachute failure

2007-11-11T01:27:00.000-08:00

Who cut the strings?

Vivienne Johnson has failed in her attempt to be parachuted into a seat in Holy Trinity Ward which became available after the death of the incumbent Lib Dem.

She lost the by-election by 166 votes, a massive reversal from the 100 vote majority the Lib Dems enjoyed back in May.

Now the Lib Dem recriminations will begin!

Did the campaign fail because of the young upstarts who ran it in the early stages?

Or was it that Vivienne wanted to exercise too much control over the campaign once she was selected?

Or perhaps it was the fact the Lib Dems are now rudderless following the political death of Sir Ming?

Or was it just the last minute negative leaflet that put many voters off?

Who knows, but one thing is correct, having been rejected in the Christchurch Ward that she represented for 16 years and now in Holy Trinity, Vivienne Johnson is starting to look like a serial election loser. But let's not underestimate her, one ex Lib Dem candidate once christened her the "Princess of Darkness" - and like all good horror films the villain often returns from the dead.

Guildford Lib Dems are used car salesmen.

2007-10-20T23:47:00.000-07:00

Residents in Guildford's Holy Trinity Ward are being offered the following:

One clapped out old banger, 16 years of service, dumped by previous owners on the side of the road after they went and got themselves a newer model.

Missing picture? Lib Dems delete evidence

2007-08-10T23:26:00.000-07:00

For those of you who wonder why their is an image missing in the post below, the answer is that it came from a link to Sue Doughty's website from where the image has now been deleted.

Foolishly I didn't take a copy of it, but I guess it would be Lib Dem copyright.

I can but speculate as to why it may have been deleted. But the image did happen to show Sue Doughty trudging round the site of the foot and mouth outbreak in Normandy. As stated in the original post, this was a higly irresponsible act, in particular as it also encouraged the media circus to trudge around the infected area as well.

I did however manage to get a thumbnail copy of this blogs page from Google's cache, I have blown this up below. Can you make out the carrot top women in a green jacket talking to police officers by what looks like traffic cones and blue no entry signs? This seems to be the only trace of this image remaining. Perhaps the Lib Dems fearing their stupidity would cause a backlash amongst farmers thought it better to remove the image.

Foot in Mouth: lame candidate spotted at infected farm

2007-08-07T00:03:00.000-07:00

Clearly bio-security measures and the risk of transferring infected soil round Surrey should never get in the way of a good story (I mean chance for self promotion).

Here is Guildford's lame Lib Dem Candidate spotted at the foot and mouth outbreak. Perhaps some blistering words are ruminating from her mouth.

Caught behind the bike sheds! More Lib Dem hypocrisy

2007-07-12T01:47:00.000-07:00

A fun article from the BBC which exposes the continuing hypocrisy of the Lib Dems.
Apparently Charles Kennedy was caught smoking on a train, despite having supported the smoking ban.

Lib Dem hypocrisy over incineration - yet more reasons why you wouldn't vote for Sue Doughty.

2007-06-02T23:41:00.001-07:00

Back in 2002, when the Lib Dems were still trumpeting their win in Guildford in the 2001 General Election, an event that they attributed to the stance they took against a proposed incinerator. An interesting article appeared on the Greenpeace website which actually revealed the hidden depths of hypocrisy of the Liberal Democrats.

The best quote is here: Stephen Tindale, Executive Director of Greenpeace, said:"The Liberal Democrats don't seem to have any principles when it comes to waste management and will say anything they think gains them electoral advantage. Their call for a moratorium on incineration is a hollow sham. It's simply unacceptable for the Lib Dems to lecture other political parties on the environment and then fail to apply those principles in places which they actually control."

The charming Mr Doughty

2007-06-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

Meet David Orchard. You might not know it, but he is actually Mr Sue Doughty. Following the publication of this letter (right + orange text below) in the Surrey Advertiser (1 June 2007), one wonders whether Mr Orchard was appearing purely as a concerned resident of Guildford or whether he might have been taking the chance to take a pot shot at Anne Milton MP?

The letter raises another serious question about his opinion on what MPs are meant to be there for. Yes they are meant to represent their local constituency and fight issues such as the Royal Surrey, which everyone knows Anne Milton has been doing. But this does not exclude MPs from talking about important national and international issues, which is another reason why they are in parliament. Perhaps Mr Orchard thinks it is inappropriate for MPs to talk about things like Iraq and events in Baghdad, after all its a very long way from Guildford?

MP’s questions are on the wrong track

I see that our MP , Anne Milton, is recorded in Hansard on May 24 as asking urgent Parliamentary questions about the redevelopment of Liverpool Lime Street mainline station, about which there is actually, for once in the history of urban redevelopment, no problem. Isn't this a bit off her patch”, and also a bit ill-timed as there was no problem there to start off with? Surely her concerns should be closer to her constituency issues, not least the Royal Surrey A&E, St Thomas of Canterbury school playing fields or — on redevelopment issues - the Civic?
Or is It that our MP wants to do a “chicken run” from Guildford, knowing that she might lose (on the new boundaries) at the next general election, and has decided to enter the current. Liverpool “Tory-free zone” by becoming selected as Tory candidate for the renowned constituency of Liverpool Exchange (home for many years to Bessie Braddock MP) where Lime Station is situated? As a local elector who was born in Liverpool and also who now lives in Shalford, I think we should be told. If the answer is as I fear, I must let my Liverpool friends know straight away so that they may expect the Tory onslaught aid injection of electoral resources that will deluge their doorsteps with “Talk of the Town” literature showing Anne cooking Scouse stew for her helpers?
DAVID ORCHARD

Stonebridge Wharf,

Shalford

A further example of why you wouldn't vote for Sue Doughty

2007-05-21T13:13:00.001-07:00

Below is an extract from Hansard, which again demonstrates Sue Doughty's finely tuned representational skills:

Sue Doughty (Guildford): The initiatives that the Minister describes are all very welcome, but the number of women on public bodies has increased by only 2.7 per cent. since Labour came to power. We may compare that with other countries, such as Iraq. In the United Kingdom in 2001, the percentage was 34 per cent., but Iraq surpassed that figure in 1990. By 1998, the figure for women in the public sector was 40 per cent. The Government have set a target that women should hold 45 per cent. to 50 per cent. of the public appointments made by Departments by the end of 2005. In the same briefing, however—

Mr. Speaker: Order. I do not like to interrupt the hon. Lady, but she is supposed to be asking a supplementary question.

Ms Hewitt: I think that I have got the gist of the question, although I must say that I would not have chosen Iraq as my exemplar of equal opportunities. A regime that employs professional rapists in its military hardly seems to me to be an exemplar that any hon. Member would wish to quote.

Why you wouldn't vote for Sue Doughty

2007-05-20T11:51:00.001-07:00

Following the local elections, it time for Guildford Lib Dems to turn themselves to national politics and their desired aim of winning back Guildford. Of course it would help their cause, if they had a better candidate.

I recently found this lovely sketch by Quentin Letts which reminds us of one of Ms Doughty's not so stunning parliamentary performances.

As the text is too small to read, I thought I'd include this little extract:

Sue Doughty, a Lib Dem frontbencher, edged to her feet and started to speak, or so I believe. She was so terrified that it was hard to be sure any words were emerging. MS DOUGHTY, whose surname is in itself a work of beautiful satire, blinked and gulped. She looks like a Womble. Not a very brave one. A few Tory men started to find amusement. ‘Yes!’ Ms Doughty finally said. The Tories loved it. ‘Yes!’ they all cried. ‘Yes!’ Hoots of laughter. ‘Leave ‘er alone!’ growled Nottingham North’s Graham Allen, a respected Labour veteran. Ms Doughty shot him a glance of pathetic gratitude. She warbled some meaningless words and sat down, looking faintly sick. ‘Well done!’ said Nottingham’s Sir Lancelot. But even he was by now finding it a challenge to keep a straight face.

More to follow, watch this space.

Guildford Lib Dems - selective with the truth?

2007-05-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

The Lib Dems seem inherently programmed to ignore the truth, perhaps this is the result of having a campaign manual that says:

‘Be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly’ (p.21)
‘Don't be afraid to exaggerate. For example, responses to surveys or petitions are always "massive". If a council is doing something badly, public expressions are always of "outrage".’ (p.23)
‘Positive campaigning will NOT be enough to win control of the council’

So now we turn to their summary of last week's local election results in Guildford. The news item on their website says,"The Liberal Democrats' success in last week's elections to Guildford Borough Council, when they made a net gain of two seats, has strengthened their resolve to hold the ruling Conservative group to account on the waste of tax-payers' money and the fight against climate change. The Conservatives made a net gain of just one, taking the seat formerly held by an Independent. The Lib Dems took both Stoke seats from Labour with convincing majorities, and gained two seats from the Conservatives in Onslow and Burpham. The Lib Dems missed taking the third seat in Holy Trinity by just 27 votes."

What they didn't mention is that they also lost two seats in Merrow and Christchurch to the Conservatives. But I guess its more fun to forget those and celebrate easy wins agains a very weakened Guildford Labour Party which is polling under 10% in most wards.

And now for a graph (in the style of Lib Dems of course).

Guildford Lib Dems decapitated - bring out the golden parachute

2007-05-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well the Guildford election results are now in and the big story of the night is the defeat of Vivienne Johnson (Lib Dem) by a University of Surrey politics student, Matt Furniss, who was elected for the Conservatives. There is an excellent article on the BBC website.

The problem Guildford Lib Dems now face is that they have lost almost all of their half effective Councillors. Whilst Fiona White (their leader for now) remains and 3 jobs Sarah Di Caprio (PPC for SW Surrey, Surrey County Councillor and now Borough Councillor) was newly elected, it is a fairly well known fact that Cllr Johnson used to pull many of the strings of the Lib Dems at Guildford Borough Council.

The question now is can they do without her? Perhaps we might soon see one of their lesser, but elected, figures step aside to allow Mrs Johnson to be parachuted in to a safe Lib Dem seat.

Is this a Lib Dem psychic prediction?

2007-05-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

Having just been handed a copy of a last minute Lib Dem leaflet, one wonders if the Lib Dems are making a prediction. Notice the numbers by the Lib Dem Candidate's names.

This leaflet is from Shalford, in that ward there are 2 Conservatives, 1 Independent, 2 Labour and 2 Lib Dems.

On current and past form Labour will come last. What about the Independent, could they sneak ahead of Mr Doughty (I mean Orchard) and Mr Thompson. If that were the case then positions 4th and 5th are probably correct. Let wait and see what happens when the results are called.

Chicken Run

2007-04-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

Meet Councillor Fiona White (right)

She was first elected to Guildford Borough Council in 1991, representing Ash, where she still lives.

Inexplicably, she jumped ship from Ash in 1999 to stand and represent the people of Stoughton. That also happened to be the year that the Conservatives recaptured all the seats in Ash, so perhaps Cllr White sensing the writing was on the wall decided to do what is known in the trade as a chicken run.

This year, Cllr White has decided to fly the coup and won't be standing in Stoughton, but will instead be pitching up nearby in Westborough, where she is also a County Councillor.

Are you thinking what I am thinking? Well I guess we will know on Friday.

Guildford Lib Dems blow a gasket

2007-04-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well the headline says what we always knew about Lib Dem literature.

This desperate leaflet is a sure sign the Lib Dems in Guildford are in meltdown. Parties always start behaving badly when things start to go wrong. I guess we can find out quite how badly they have gone wrong for the Lib Dems this coming Friday.

Things that rise again

2007-04-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

In common parlance things that are said to "rise again" generally need to have fallen, died, sunk, dropped in price or otherwise descended in some way prior to it being possible to genuinely use the phrase.

Possible candidates might be: The Titanic, the sun, Jesus and record sales.

But in the subtle linguistic world of Guildford Lib Dems, things that always rise can also rise again - ignoring inflation of course.

So here we are with this week's Lib Dem, stating the bl**ding obvious headline of "Council Tax bills to RISE again." Find me a year when Council Tax bills didn't actually rise and I might accept the leaflet as fair comment.

Oh yes, Guildford Borough cut its share of Band D Council Tax from £95.32 in 1998 to £91.96 in 1999. Strange that it was also the year of Borough Council Elections at a time when the Lib Dems ran the Council. But I guess they made up for the cut in subsequent years, with the GBC Council Tax rising 31% between 1999 and 2003.

Old news: Ex-MP signed on at job centre she opened

2007-04-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

Whilst digging through some old files, I found this juicy morsel from the Black Dog Column in the Mail on Sunday. Its about 11 months old, but deserves an airing.

How tragic!!!

2007-04-29T23:58:00.000-07:00

According to an article in the Scotsmans, the Lib Dems may be forced to make a £4.8 million payment to the authorities following a dodgy donation.
Thanks to Kerron Cross for spotting this article. Apparently individual Lib Dem members may have to be approached for between £60 and £80. What happens if Lib Dem members resign from the Party? Is the last man (or women) left standing forced to meet the entire bill?

Not exactly a positive manifesto - and not very truthful

2007-04-06T05:25:00.000-07:00

Normally political manifestos are meant to promote positive action and policies, but not Guildford Lib Dem's.

What they call their manifesto, is actually a document repeating various tired old halve truths about the Council. See the extract right, the truth is that Guildford's validated recycling performance is 33% and isn't the point of garden waste collections and composting to prevent stuff going into landfill and incinerators.

Come on LD's at least be honest and give credit where it is due.

Caught in the Net

2007-04-04T23:16:00.000-07:00

Gross lies exposed

It appears Sue Doughty and the Guildford Liberal Democrats need a basic lesson in finance.
Lib Dem leaflets have been circulating around Guildford claiming the cost of the new Civic Hall has increased from £2m to £20m. This of course is incorrect and fails to point out that the original figure of £2m was net cash after the Council had originally agreed to hand over £18m worth of land.
The Lib Dems are basically saying
£18m of land + £2m cash = £2m of value
The truth is the project has always had a gross cost of £20m, which is exactly what it would have cost back in 2001 if they hadn't originally failed to deliver it.