General councillors and other notable defections

[marksenior]

Derek Pickup , Labour councillor for Hartcliffe ward on Bristol UA has resigned from his party and is now Independent .

[iainbhx]

Oct 21, 2013 10:41:38 GMT marksenior said:

Derek Pickup , Labour councillor for Hartcliffe ward on Bristol UA has resigned from his party and is now Independent .

I smell a deselection.

[andrea]

Oct 21, 2013 12:12:22 GMT iainbhx said:

Oct 21, 2013 10:41:38 GMT marksenior said:

Derek Pickup , Labour councillor for Hartcliffe ward on Bristol UA has resigned from his party and is now Independent .

I smell a deselection.

Apprently not accepted into the new approved prospective candidates list.

[Deleted]

Honestly, you needed to be selected in the first place and were willing to carry the party's banner then, why complain when it works against you?

[marksenior]

Lisa Higginbottom , Labour councillor for Mackworth ward on Derby UA has resigned from the party and is now an Independent . Reason is stated to be cuts in funding to local voluntary groups

[Deleted]

Now I could accept this as a reason.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

I don't think Robin was reporting that he had himself defected, only that a Labour councillor in Bristol had.

[Tony Otim]

Oops - I completely misread that. Brain not with it at the moment. My apologies and post deleted.

[Deleted]

Two conservative District Councillors in Daventry have defected to UKIP.

www.daventryexpress.co.uk/news/local/two-northamptonshire-tory-councillors-cross-floor-to-ukip-1-5608042?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

[carlton43]

Oct 21, 2013 13:36:46 GMT CatholicLeft said:

Honestly, you needed to be selected in the first place and were willing to carry the party's banner then, why complain when it works against you?

That's a very 'Party View' and lacks the human and personal aspect. Of course one would be upset and feel let down if deselected. I know there is no 'tenure' but so often this is just factional politiking and can be deeply personal. Do you contend that in every case there is a 'much better' candidate lurking there to take over from a careworn hasbeen? Usually it is the need for a seat to satisfy the strongest faction, a relative of the Leader, the prospective candidate chosen by the local powerful union or to accommodate the aspirations of some pushy younger lad in a hurry. I would be deeply miffed if I was 'bumped' for one of those reasons and would very probably do the same....go public with my reasons...then fight a hard campaign as say 'The Peoples Man You Know' as an Independent. But then I have never thought that party loyalty was very important...unlike the 'Comrades' to whom it is often much more important than policy, probity, honesty or decency. I may not have 'tenure' but neither does the Party 'own' the freehold to the seat.

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2013 13:18:41 GMT carlton43 said:

Oct 21, 2013 13:36:46 GMT CatholicLeft said:

Honestly, you needed to be selected in the first place and were willing to carry the party's banner then, why complain when it works against you?

That's a very 'Party View' and lacks the human and personal aspect. Of course one would be upset and feel let down if deselected. I know there is no 'tenure' but so often this is just factional politiking and can be deeply personal. Do you contend that in every case there is a 'much better' candidate lurking there to take over from a careworn hasbeen? Usually it is the need for a seat to satisfy the strongest faction, a relative of the Leader, the prospective candidate chosen by the local powerful union or to accommodate the aspirations of some pushy younger lad in a hurry. I would be deeply miffed if I was 'bumped' for one of those reasons and would very probably do the same....go public with my reasons...then fight a hard campaign as say 'The Peoples Man You Know' as an Independent. But then I have never thought that party loyalty was very important...unlike the 'Comrades' to whom it is often much more important than policy, probity, honesty or decency. I may not have 'tenure' but neither does the Party 'own' the freehold to the seat.

If you could show me that the person who has been deselected was somehow 'clean' of the process when they were first selected, then I was concede the point. People can, of course, change their views or decide that another party is a better place for them.
I just struggle with this belief that the party is a good place to be when you win your place as a candidate, but not when you are deselected. If you wish to live by the party rules, then do so. It is not suggested that the councillor in question had intended to quit the party before his deselection, then why now?
As it happens, my position is nothing to do with being a party man or a 'comrade', I would hold that somebody elected as independent of a party label should also be called to quick account when they suddenly take the party whip.

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2013 12:49:09 GMT @trident said:

Oct 21, 2013 16:24:07 GMT CatholicLeft said:

Now I could accept this as a reason.

I'm not sure that I could, to be honest. Anyone elected as a Labour councillor in the current financial and political climate must know that they will have to take difficult decisions, and I don't have much sympathy for people who aren't prepared to face up to those decisions. A lot of us have had to vote for things that have much more far-reaching impacts than a cut in funding to a voluntary group.

I get that, and I did not suggest that I totally agreed with her, just that I 'could' accept it as a reason, rather than the earlier reported resignation of a deselected councillor.

[carlton43]

Yes CL people do 'go off the rails', jump ship, change views and change party especially during the rise of the new (SDP and UKIP)but often the reason for deselection is a grubby tawdry back-room fit-up as you well know. These cases leave a bad taste in all our mouths...or they should.

[Deleted]

My point is that many of these people got their positions by similar political shenanigans, as you will know. My exasperation is that people often jump ship because it didn't go their way this time. Not exactly elucidatory behaviour.

[Deleted]

Two Wiltshire Councillors have defected from the Liberal Democrat party to go independent.

Coun Simon Killane resigned from the party a week after he narrowly missed out on being selected as its parliamentary candidate for North Wiltshire.

Coun Chris Caswill, who has been a member and supporter of the Liberals and then Liberal Democrats for nearly 50 years, left saying he was dismayed at his fellow members’ choice of Monkton Park for a skatepark, and was disillusioned with the support by Lib Dem MPs, including Chippenham’s own Duncan Hames, of certain policies in Parliament.

Malmesbury town and Wiltshire Councillor Killane said that going independent is a weight off his shoulders, separating him from what he called “old, dogmatic, party political dinosaurs”.

Coun Killane said he had always felt the party needed to change and focus on listening to what people want.

“I’ve been flung off the rollercoaster, dusted myself off and got back on with things,” he said.

“I lost by three points. It’s not sour grapes but I did have to ask myself ‘what am I doing here’? The candidacy was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I will go through any doors that I can to change politics and when that door closes I will move on, and that is what has happened.”

[Deleted]

At the risk of becoming a clashing cymbal on this subject, Cllr Killane would have been encouraging party activisits to support him in his campaign to become the MP for North Wiltshire if selected, but he lost and suddenly discovers that he was unhappy in the party he wanted to represent in parliament.
I would think the Lib Dems will count themselves lucky to have just escaped selecting him.
As for Cllr Caswill, I think leaving after so long must be a real wrench for him and I do feel sympathy for him.

[erlend]

I think I largely agree with both halves of that. The latter is partly a good local cllr falling out over a local issue (exacerbated by national things).

But going from attempting to be a PPC to leaving on the spot is cynical.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Will resigning from a party in a huff, after losing a Parliamentary selection, be known as "doing a Simon Killane" or "doing a Prem Goyal"? Discuss.

[Deleted]

It depends on whether Mr Killane now decides to set us his own party, with impressive website, and claims the Lib Dems are undermining the prospects of those of Irish origin (as his name implies).

[erlend]

I have a feeling that you need to remain above the radar to do so. Mr Goyal seems to have done so, so far at least. I somehow doubt that Mr Killane will.