“No Confidence in Goddfrey[sic]”

A Letter to the Editor from a previous Enquirer contributor, Frank SHEPHERD, offering a resident’s reaction to Councillor Michelle DONOHUE-MONCRIEFF’s recent critique of the Hunmanby Tory candidates – Godfrey ALLANSON and ‘Tweeting’ Tom SESTON.

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Dear Sir,

Having read the letter from Cllr Donohue-Moncrieff, published under the heading “Little and Nothing”, I feel compelled to add my own observation to the debate.

For some bizarre reason, veteran Hertford (Hunmanby) Ward Councillor Godfrey Allanson has chosen to turn the local elections into a Vote of Confidence.

So rather than asking voters to choose him as their representative, he asked them to back him (or sack him, presumably) on whatever his own agenda may be.

The lack of understanding of the role of Councillor is hardly surprising as he has spent the last four years (or should that be five decades) as apologist for the uncaring nasty party and putting whoever happened to be his party Group Leader above those who foolishly voted for him.

Perhaps, Godfrey, you want us to express ‘confidence’ in your recent callous and indefensible statement calling for the boarding-up of shops to force vulnerable homeless people from what little shelter they can find, only to sleep out in the rain and cold in the depths of winter?

Is your questionable morality, and distinct lack of humanity, supposed to fill us with ‘confidence’ in your ability to represent the vulnerable, hard-pressed and struggling residents of your ward? Is that what you want our ‘confidence’ in?

It may be you want us to show our ‘confidence’ in the Conservative record? Nationally, the ‘bedroom’ tax, leaving people to starve on Universal Credit, raising the pension age and stripping women of the benefits they thought they had earned in a lifetime of hard work? Or is it cheating the nation out of the biggest vote for anything in history? Locally, do we have ‘confidence’ in your cheating businesses who voted against being taxed more to replace Council spending on tourism?

Could it be taking objectors to court for trying to save their beloved theatre, or taxing us to subsidise tickets for the ‘well-heeled’ to go to Open Air Theatre shows that most of us can’t possibly afford? No?

Then it must be giving unsecured millions to dodgy developers and expecting us to pay for your Leader to go on a nice holiday to Paris with that bicycle man. Yes, you are right. The national and local Conservative Party record should be subject to a Vote of Confidence.

For me, though, the one thing that marks you out as a farcical puppet candidate, as a useless yes-man and an utter hypocrite, is to pretend for a second that you have the slightest interest in representing us. For eight months last year your residents were illegally denied proper representation. Your fellow ward Councillor, independent Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff, was unlawfully barred from attending Council meetings, speaking or voting on our behalf. Not once did you speak out for us residents. You did not step up to demand our rights to representation be reinstated. Instead, you were complicit in blocking Labour and Independent colleagues from raising the issue at an Extraordinary Meeting.

This blatant perversion of the Council’s procedures and misuse of RIPA powers for your petty political vendetta has not gone unnoticed; the Labour candidate in Hunmanby Ward even going so far as to mention your abuse of an electoral opponent:

“They have also run the town hall in a way that many people think is undemocratic. Your own Independent councillor in Hunmanby was excluded from council meetings; it was Labour councillors who came to her support.”

Nor did you increase your efforts to ensure you bridged the gap by representing us yourself. You chose instead to back the a politically motivated abuse of a disabled Councillor who, ironically, despite being ill and despite the might of your establishment conspiring against her, did more to represent us in that eight months than you have done in the past 4 years.

Yes, Godfrey, lets make this election a Vote of Confidence – that is NO CONFIDENCE in YOU, your Conservative Group, and your Conservative Party.

Yours,

Frank Shepherd