Guildford Liberal Democrats jump the starter's gun

I am informed by a confederate that the Liberal Democrats have delivered leaflets, clearly prepared originally as the first shot in their autumn General Election campaign, to parts of Guildford. I eagerly await a copy for my amusement and of course, careful dissection. It seems that the leaflet, having been prepared in haste and too early, contains a couple of factual errors (no, I don't mean the usual Lib Dem pork pie, deliberate type of error, I mean actual howlers.) Apparently some of the photographs are hilarious too. I can hardly wait.

Waverley Liberal Democrats routed, Woking Liberal Democrats trounced and Guildford Liberal Democrats repulsed – Surrey Lib Dems in full reverse

Whilst Labour strongholds in Woking and Guildford fell to the Surrey Liberal Democrats, the silver lining was that nearly everywhere else in Surrey the yellow tide has been halted or is receding. There is a lot of work to do yet, networking with new-found, like-minded friends and strengthening the alliance against the Surrey Liberal Democrats. We have to work through a pile of Lib Dem election leaflets, cross-referencing and fact checking them for use against the Yellow Peril at the next election. And yes, and we have some nice, shiny new Surrey Lib Dem councillors around these parts, so we’ll be watching their every political move over the next few months to make sure they keep all of their promises. I’m going to be busy for a few months, so let’s make an appointment to meet again, here, at the beginning of July.


The Liberal Democrats. Didn’t they do well?!

Surrey Liberal Democrats and the Art of Deception

I had always been bemused how so many correspondents to local newspapers, “independent” commentators and campaign groups in Surrey were hostile to the Tories.

On the face of it, most of the councils in Surrey are Tory. When something that should have been done isn't, it is reasonable to expect the Tories to take the flak. Not giving campaigners what they want or what commentators think the councils should do, similarly might be expected to give rise to justified criticism of the Tories. However, the hostility and sarcasm expressed against the Tories makes it obvious that it is personal. The hostility is ingrained and reflex. Listen to what the critics say for long enough and their cloak of impartiality quickly slips around their ankles leaving their prejudice exposed. These letter writers, commentators and campaigners are, quite simply, from a different political tribe, even though they seek to hide or deny it.

There is nothing wrong with being from a different political tribe. In fact, democracy depends upon it. When (in Surrey) a Labour or Liberal Democrat councillor accuses the Tories of doing something wrong, the first thing you think is, well they would criticise wouldn't they? before considering what is being said and asking yourself but is what is being said fair comment/true? The system works when people of a particular political persuasion fly their colours. Everybody knows where everybody else stands. Readers of this website know that I disapprove of Liberal Democrat tactics generally and in Surrey, in particular. I think they fight dirty and then compound the insult by accusing their opponents of being so. I could be Tory, Labour or Green but the bottom line is that my partiality against the Surrey Liberal Democrats is plain for all to see. You make of my posts what you will, with that in mind.

Individual “unbiased” commentators have a tendency to say too much, disclosing their prejudice and are a relatively insignificant problem (a recent example being the avowed Anne Milton MP “supporter” who discussing the forthcoming local elections said, “…it comes as no surprise to see that the Conservative council candidates standing in the forthcoming local election are claiming the credit…” Don't you just know that shortly before the next general election, some “heinous wrongdoing” committed by Anne Milton will “come to light”, causing the “shocked and disappointed” gentleman in question (with all due fanfare and publicity in the Surrey Guardian) to vote for “truth and justice”, namely the Surrey Liberal Democrat candidate, Sue Doughty….. just like he did last time.)

Individuals writing to the local press are rarely politically neutral, though a cursory glance at their letters would give the impression that they were genuine - a method used with great success by the Guildford Liberal Democrats against the Tories from the late eighties, when year in, year out the Letters page of the Surrey Advertiser would host a letter from a “local resident” complaining about the Tories not having done this or that, or having done this wrong or that wrong, or wasted money here, or there. The list of Tory crimes was unending. The “drip, drip” damage caused by such “impartial” criticism was gradual, but considerable. Hostile letters can be dealt with by letters in rebuttal, though - a tactic the Guildford Tories failed to employ effectively until well after they had lost control of the council in 1995.

More seriously, in Surrey, and I am sure elsewhere too, Liberal Democrats and fellow travellers join and even sometimes instigate, local campaign groups. At the outset, these groups always profess their political impartiality. In most cases the campaign is in favour of a popular cause, but very quickly it is used to embarrass the local (usually Tory) council or a particular (Tory/Labour) councillor. In its worst form, the campaign group is hijacked and used as a mere platform for a Liberal Democrat campaigner to challenge for an elected position. It is all so calculated, nothing to do with supporting the local community and everything to do with enhancing the political prospects of the Surrey Liberal Democrats.

No one can claim to be politically impartial. As soon as anyone tries to, alarm bells should ring. We all have sympathy for or leanings towards one party more than any other. It is just that some people's affiliation is relatively weak, so when their preferred party does something that offends them, they might be vocally critical, or not bother casting their vote or even vote for the “other side”. Over the course of time however, they will inevitably vote for “their” party more than any other, or they will listen to their party's politicians more sympathetically, less critically than another's. People who write to the local papers, join campaigns and feel it necessary to let you know about their opinions (by whatever means), have an axe to grind. They are politically motivated. Don't let them ever fool you into thinking that they are not. When an individual or local campaigner makes a point of trying to convince you of his good faith and political impartiality, he seeks to deceive.



The Liberal Democrats. Never nailing their colours to the mast.

Guildford Liberal Democrats and the innocent victims of War (or in this case, local politics)

A long, long time ago, when controlling borough councils in Tory Surrey was a twinkle in the eye of the Surrey Liberal Democrats, there was a road. This road was not far from you, in fact. It was a busy main road. A local mothers’ group, a local middle-class mothers’ group, decided that it was such a busy road, that it needed a lollipop lady to help the school children to cross the road when going to and leaving school. This mothers’ group started off by being a true residents’ organisation, politically neutral, but as so often happens with real local democracy, ordinary residents had more important things to do than attend numerous meetings, write letters to local councillors (who just happened to be all Tory) and to the local newspaper. So after a very short while, this mothers’ group was run by the only people who do have the stamina to campaign, in other words, local politicos. Surrey Liberal Democrat politicos. Surrey Liberal Democrat wannabe councillors, in fact. Now this “mother’s” group huffed and it puffed until, against local Tory indifference, they got their way. The mothers’ group was duly congratulated by the local Liberal Democrats for showing what residents’ power could achieve against a recalcitrant Tory council.

Now not far away, was another road. It was a very, very busy road. And it had even more school children crossing it, than the Surrey Liberal Democrats’ road. Unfortunately, there was not a concerned mothers’ group in this area, because, well, the residents were not so well organised. On hearing about the other road having a lollipop lady at the crossing, and considering that her road was far busier, was more dangerous and had far more children crossing it, a woman from the wrong part of town wrote to the local rag to query why that road had been so favoured, in an ever-so-slightly critical tone.

The Surrey Liberal Democrats were apoplectic. “Tory!” they screamed, amongst other things, in letters to the local paper. A sub editorial in the rag harrumphed about the Tories making a political issue about “children’s safety”. Poor, hapless woman. She wasn’t a Tory. Far from it. She was the Real McCoy, an apolitical, local resident.

I was reminded of this incident when hearing that some Old Dear put her foot in it recently when writing to the Surrey Advertiser, appearing to criticise the local Tories. The Tories, smelling an under cover Guildford Liberal Democrat, went in with both feet. In reacting to what should have raised suspicions as a possible Not Lib Dem plant letter, designed to provoke a response - just to enable the Old Dear’s son to pipe up, “lay off my old mum!” and grab everyone’s sympathy, the local Tories, as usual, appear to have reacted with all the subtlety and competence of the Keystone Kops, leading to critical comment in the local rag. That the Muppets at the Surrey Advertiser, that sad excuse for a local newspaper, took up the cudgels on behalf of the innocent correspondent is hardly surprising, after all, when have they ever exercised a critical faculty when dealing with anything said by or favouring the Surrey Liberal Democrats?

This might be just another lollipop-lady incident, with trigger-happy politicos shooting off at anything that looks vaguely menacing. If not, and this latest incident proves to be a cynical political ploy by the Surrey Liberal Democrats or their supporters, then truth will out, most likely just when it will do the most damage.


The Liberal Democrats. They can dish it out but they can’t take it.

Time to tell the Surrey Liberal Democrats what you think of them

Local democracy is important, so vote on 3rd May.

Vote for the local candidate who best represents what you believe in, not the one who says what you want to hear. Vote for the candidate who campaigns positively and doesn’t smear his opponents. Don’t cast a vote just to “teach Tony Blair a lesson”. Borough elections are about local services.

If you are a natural Labour supporter, your local Labour candidate is more in tune with your interests than anyone else, so get out and VOTE LABOUR. Euro sceptic? Don’t waste your vote by marking the cross against UKIP – none of their candidates have any chance of winning and anyway, what has the issue of UK independence got to do with the Boroughs of Woking, Guildford and Waverley?

If green issues are really your thing, then VOTE GREEN.

If you are not green or red, then you can only VOTE CONSERVATIVE, there really is not any alternative.

Those of you who are intent on voting Liberal Democrat, go ahead and do so, but don’t expect me to talk to you again, ever.

The Liberal Democrats. Time to wash them right out of our hair.

Just a few timely reminders about Surrey Liberal Democrats

Something you should ask your local Lib Dem canvasser

Liberal Democrat comes clean

Liberal Democrats are unprincipled and immature

It' so close here!


The Liberal Democrats. Always having us on.

Woking Liberal Democrat Pork Pie goes national

Notwithstanding having been in control of Woking Borough Council for just two years out of the past seventeen the Liberal Democrats' election broadcast this week lauded the (Liberal Democrat since May 2006) Woking Borough Council’s Combined Heat and Power (CHP) station (very green, you see.) Although the broadcast did not actually come out and say “Look what the wonderful Woking Liberal Democrats have done!” that is what you were supposed to think, otherwise what was the point of mentioning it?

A good example of a little local fib snowballing and getting out of hand.


The Liberal Democrats. Utterly shameless.

Surrey Liberal Democrats

Working for THEMSELVES

Woking Liberal Democrats make it personal

I’d like to tell you about Colin Scott (left) who is the Woking Liberal Democrat candidate who wants Labour’s seat in Old Woking ward. He employs a common Surrey Liberal Democrat tactic when dealing with an opponent – slag them off for allegedly doing nothing and accuse them of being disingenuous (that’s just short of a liar, to you and me.)

Says Mr Veracity Scott, in his personal page on the Woking Liberal Democrats website,

“As the date of Old Woking's election draws near, there has been a sudden burst of activity from its Councillor, Mr Ford.

No wonder people get cynical about politicians!”

No Mr Scott, people get cynical about politicians when they bad mouth their opponents, and are a bit economic with the truth about their opponent’s alleged shortcomings.

“Why is Mr Ford falsely raising local residents' hopes…? It is just a cynical ploy to gain re-election.”

Pass that one by me again. Cynical ploys to gain election are what the Woking Liberal Democrats are at, Mr Scott, but then you know that.

Oh, and by the way, that concrete fence that you had cleaned, you know, the one you are shown pointing at in your photo opportunity, the fence that has suffered graffiti and been cleaned before (by the then Tory Council at the request of Labour’s Peter Ford, probably) will you show so much interest in having it cleaned after May 3rd? After the local elections I think I’ll mosey down to Priors Croft and check it out. Regularly.

And by the way, I’d never vote for anyone who looks that ridiculous.

Vote Labour. Vote Peter Ford.

The Liberal Democrats. Cynical ploys R Us.

How many websites does it take a Guildford Liberal Democrat to win an election?

The answer is about a dozen, and that doesn’t include party supporters with their own sites. That’s a lot of duplication in spreading the same message, you might say, a bit of a waste of money. Well, some of them have a green theme, others a women's’ theme and three of them belong to Guildford Liberal Democrats’ Sue Doughty PPC, but yes, all of them say much the same thing. But it’s not a waste, I can tell you. All those interlinking sites, all making each other look very important to the search engines. Even when you search for the Guildford Tory site, on Google you get the Guildford Liberal Democrats mentioned on page 2. The local Tories have tried to address the disparity in web presence, but unfortunately Labour….haven’t. For now, this is not so significant, but at the next General Election, it will be. The lesson to Labour and the Tories is simple: sort it.


The Liberal Democrats. They’re all over the place.

South West Surrey Liberal Democrats and their “local” candidate

Sarah Di Caprio is the Surrey Liberal Democrats’ prospective Parliamentary candidate for the constituency of South West Surrey, currently held by the Conservatives. Sarah is a typical local Liberal Democrat candidate…..living outside the constituency, in Guildford. But hey, South West Surrey and Guildford are contiguous and it’s hardly Tierra del Fuego. Sarah is so “into” South West Surrey local politics that she is a County Councillor…..for Guildford, South East. No doubt Sarah will be showing her commitment to the constituency by buying a residence there, because as we all know, Liberal Democrats (and particularly the Guildford Liberal Democrats) don’t think you are local unless you live in the constituency full time and have moved in before an election. Clearly we are going to have to keep an eye on ol’ Sarah, just to make sure she doesn’t let the side down.


The Liberal Democrats. Don’t do as they do, just do as they say.