timmullen1
Labour
Closing account as BossMan declines to respond to messages seeking support.
Posts: 11,823
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Post by timmullen1 on Aug 29, 2020 16:23:05 GMT
This means that for the first time ever, the Conservatives become the largest party on Stoke-on-Trent council. As a place it appears to fit the new core Conservative demographic very well - predominantly white, working class, non-university education. It’s probably worth mentioning that one of the defections - my councillor, Shaun Bennett - is only a surprise in that it’s taken him so long; he’s been a Conservative candidate since he was eligible to stand, admitting in more than one leaflet that he was different to most teenage boys in that he had pictures of Margaret Thatcher on his bedroom wall. The odd thing was they always gave him the most unwinnable seats until in 2015, having again been overlooked for Hollybush & Blurton West he had a hissy fit and joined the CIndies. I think all of us expected him to be back in the Blue corner at last year’s elections. One other side note, the CIndies have now lost four councillors this year after Randy Conteh quit their Deputy Leadership, the Cabinet and the Group after the budget debacle pre-lockdown.
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Aug 29, 2020 19:34:17 GMT
Shaun Bennett is well known to those of us who used to frequent UKPR, also the comments sections on Conservative Home. Quite a character
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Post by Andrew_S on Aug 29, 2020 19:52:19 GMT
For the last 10 years I've had a mental image of what Shaun Bennett might look like. It wasn't quite this though.
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Aug 29, 2020 20:02:13 GMT
For the last 10 years I've had a mental image of what Shaun Bennett might look like. It wasn't quite this though. I'm not sure quite what my mental image of him was, but it was basically of a teenager
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Post by gwynthegriff on Aug 29, 2020 20:41:34 GMT
For the last 10 years I've had a mental image of what Shaun Bennett might look like. It wasn't quite this though. I'm not sure quite what my mental image of him was, but it was basically of a teenager Well, judging by his facial hair . . .
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Post by syorkssocialist on Aug 30, 2020 11:09:41 GMT
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Post by tonygreaves on Aug 30, 2020 12:33:15 GMT
I'm not sure quite what my mental image of him was, but it was basically of a teenager Well, judging by his facial hair . . . Which one is Bennett then?
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timmullen1
Labour
Closing account as BossMan declines to respond to messages seeking support.
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Post by timmullen1 on Aug 30, 2020 12:49:02 GMT
Well, judging by his facial hair . . . Which one is Bennett then? Without making assumptions, he’s named Shaun and there’s only one man amongst the four photos 🤔
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Post by heslingtonian on Aug 30, 2020 15:41:22 GMT
Is the bow tie a regular feature? There are quite a few bow-tied councillors who use it as part of their image. Current council leaders John Halsall (Wokingham) and David Bittleston (Woking) are two examples.
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Post by greenchristian on Aug 30, 2020 20:25:02 GMT
Which one is Bennett then? Without making assumptions, he’s named Shaun and there’s only one man amongst the four photos 🤔 Careful there. You don't want to get labelled a TERF.
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timmullen1
Labour
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Post by timmullen1 on Aug 30, 2020 21:06:18 GMT
Without making assumptions, he’s named Shaun and there’s only one man amongst the four photos 🤔 Careful there. You don't want to get labelled a TERF. I tried so hard to be politically correct 😇
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Post by tonyhill on Aug 31, 2020 5:48:57 GMT
Bow ties and camouflage gear both immediately make me wary of the person wearing them. Having said that there used to be a LibDem councillor in the New Forest called Jonathan Gatty who invariably sported a spotted bow tie and had a monocle.
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Crimson King
Lib Dem
Be nice to each other and sing in tune
Posts: 9,440
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Post by Crimson King on Aug 31, 2020 8:36:21 GMT
I started wearing a bow tie when I did my first Obs and Gynae job (the is a good reson for not wearing the traditional dangly tie) and I’m afraid it became my ‘thing’ as a GP. I also wore a selection of appropriate (eg union jack for jubilee events, musical notes for concerts) bow ties when I was DLM
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Post by greenchristian on Aug 31, 2020 11:14:54 GMT
Bow ties and camouflage gear both immediately make me wary of the person wearing them. Having said that there used to be a LibDem councillor in the New Forest called Jonathan Gatty who invariably sported a spotted bow tie and had a monocle. But bow ties are cool.
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Post by carlton43 on Aug 31, 2020 11:24:13 GMT
Bow ties and camouflage gear both immediately make me wary of the person wearing them. Having said that there used to be a LibDem councillor in the New Forest called Jonathan Gatty who invariably sported a spotted bow tie and had a monocle. But bow ties are cool. I like them but just can't master tying one. And my neck has been too thick for any tie wearing until recently. A wonderful friend of mine who taught fine art at Hull and was an officer in the TA (not a common combination) was a keen wearer. I confessed my own failure to master the art of tying and he gave me a demonstration of how to do it in a surprisingly short time and partially one-handed. I was amazed but hardly followed the technique because he made the demonstration whilst driving me at speed up Rosedale on a very windy wooded road!
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timmullen1
Labour
Closing account as BossMan declines to respond to messages seeking support.
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Post by timmullen1 on Aug 31, 2020 11:24:15 GMT
Following on from Friday’s four defections, Conservative Leader, Abi Brown, has had a cabinet reshuffle, in the words of The Sentinel “sacking” the two remaining City Independent members (one of whom, Ann James, was Deputy Leader of the Council) and replacing them with CIndy defector Janine Bridges and Labour defector Ally Simcock (who’s become very much persona non grata in the local Momentum Facebook group of which she was an Admin). The Annual Council on 10 September may be fun if Labour Group Leader Paul Shotton dangles a couple of Cabinet positions Ms James’ way...
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jamie
Top Poster
Posts: 6,893
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Post by jamie on Aug 31, 2020 14:04:57 GMT
Following on from Friday’s four defections, Conservative Leader, Abi Brown, has had a cabinet reshuffle, in the words of The Sentinel “sacking” the two remaining City Independent members (one of whom, Ann James, was Deputy Leader of the Council) and replacing them with CIndy defector Janine Bridges and Labour defector Ally Simcock (who’s become very much persona non grata in the local Momentum Facebook group of which she was an Admin). The Annual Council on 10 September may be fun if Labour Group Leader Paul Shotton dangles a couple of Cabinet positions Ms James’ way... So she defected directly from Momentum to the Conservative Party?!
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CatholicLeft
Labour
2032 posts until I was "accidentally" deleted.
Posts: 6,326
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Post by CatholicLeft on Aug 31, 2020 14:40:35 GMT
Following on from Friday’s four defections, Conservative Leader, Abi Brown, has had a cabinet reshuffle, in the words of The Sentinel “sacking” the two remaining City Independent members (one of whom, Ann James, was Deputy Leader of the Council) and replacing them with CIndy defector Janine Bridges and Labour defector Ally Simcock (who’s become very much persona non grata in the local Momentum Facebook group of which she was an Admin). The Annual Council on 10 September may be fun if Labour Group Leader Paul Shotton dangles a couple of Cabinet positions Ms James’ way... So she defected directly from Momentum to the Conservative Party?! The Sue Slipman du jour.
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timmullen1
Labour
Closing account as BossMan declines to respond to messages seeking support.
Posts: 11,823
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Post by timmullen1 on Aug 31, 2020 14:52:03 GMT
Following on from Friday’s four defections, Conservative Leader, Abi Brown, has had a cabinet reshuffle, in the words of The Sentinel “sacking” the two remaining City Independent members (one of whom, Ann James, was Deputy Leader of the Council) and replacing them with CIndy defector Janine Bridges and Labour defector Ally Simcock (who’s become very much persona non grata in the local Momentum Facebook group of which she was an Admin). The Annual Council on 10 September may be fun if Labour Group Leader Paul Shotton dangles a couple of Cabinet positions Ms James’ way... So she defected directly from Momentum to the Conservative Party?! It would appear so. Got to confess to not knowing her, but she’s gone from this last weekend, and being a member of the Miner’s Wives Choir (I’ve lost the link to their YouTube video), to a Conservative Cabinet member.
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Post by tonygreaves on Aug 31, 2020 15:53:57 GMT
Which one is Bennett then? Without making assumptions, he’s named Shaun and there’s only one man amongst the four photos 🤔 Oh, nowadays I have stopped making such assumptions.
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