New LD, same old bull
The LibDems never change do they? No sooner has the brilliant Harriett Baldwin been selected as a Conservative candidate in West Worcestershire than the LD cheap attacks begin.
The great irony is that their own candidate isn't from anywhere near Worcestershire himself. Not only has Richard Burt already been rejected by local Lib Dems let alone the wider electorate - they rejected him as their candidate before the last election - but he comes from the Midlands conurbation - he's a councillor in Dudley, where he stood as a candidate for Parliament before - and his wife is MP for Solihull.
Indeed, further examination is even more revealing.
Lorely Burt MP, is described on her own website as "local" to Solihull. Indeed she is described as local to Solihull no fewer than 39 times in her own press releases. Richard "Dirty Trick Dick" lives in Solihull himself. His address is 20 Ashborough Drive, Solihull according to the West Midlands LD website. How can she be local to Solihull and yet her husband is local to West Worcestershire; or is he not?
What is more Mr Burt betrays his rank hypocrisy on his own website. He criticises Harriett Baldwin (most unfairly) for being a "part-time" candidate - something which is particularly amusing given she has not been selected a week - on the basis that she has a job in London.
Check out this link, though. What email address can you contact him at? burtrNOSPAM@parliament.uk I'm intrigued as to how he can get a parliament.uk email address without having a job at Parliament, which as we all know is in the heart of London. Doesn't that make him a "part-time candidate not fit to be MP"?
Indeed, further sleuth work reveals this to be the case. The Register Of Interests Of Members' Secretaries And Research Assistants (HERE) reveals that Mr Burt is either Mrs Burt's (MP for Solihull) secretary or a rsearch assistant for her and notes he is a Councillor in Dudley. Perhaps, to be fair to Mr Burt he can commit full-time to West Worcs, but if that's the case he would have to be neglecting those he represents in Dudley, or failing to do work to justify his parliamentary pass. Is he a taxpayer-funded member of his wife's staff or does he do it out of love or for his local Solihull? And why is he using his taxpayer-funded email address for personal promotion purposes?
What's more, how exactly is Dirty Trick Dick local to anywhere in Worcestershire?
Talk about pots and kettles! West Worcestershire is a fine seat in a fine part of the country. It deserves better than this LD charlatan: Cheap Trick Dick?
UPDATE: Today's local paper makes it quite clear just how inaccurate Cheap Trick Dick's cheap trick is.
8 Comments:
The Lib Dems always claim this now - even if the Conservative candidate is completely local!
We should know this by now, and should learn to react and issue an immediate rebuttal. However, what we should really be doing is acting first rather than letting the Lib Dems have the first shot. We should be setting the agenda of modern Britain again - and if we are successful in doing this, we will obtain power.
Mr Burt appears to be local to Parliament, local to Dudley, local to Solihull. He also appears to be local to Shrewsbury where he also stood.
Can anyone take this man seriously?
What we really need to do, Ed, is to find out when the Lib Dems take advantage of a local non-A-Lister in their election material. Surely somewhere there will be a "Tories field second class candidate in constituency X" leaflet.
Re Parliament email addresses - easy to have one and not work in London. Plenty of people work for MPs in their constituencies around the country and have a Parliament email address. But I guess from the tone of your post, you're not really interested in that :-)
Well done on some great detective work- the implications of your research are right - the Lib-Dems fight in a much more underhand, dirty way than the other two parties.
I was involved in the fight to beat Chris Huhne in Eastleigh and you have never seen anything like it- Huhne claiming to be local while living in London, producing leaflets impersonating Labour ones, Conservative posters being removed in the middle of the night, EU money being spent on Lib-Dem propaganda being just some of the low-lights!!!
You can read more at my blog
www.mattdeansoton.blogspot.com
Best wishes,
Matt
Mark,
RE; Parliament. email addresses.
Actually you are not right there- very very few people have them who are not based at the House itself. Most researchers working for MPs tend to use their own specific MP addresses or link to the local party of which their MP is a member. A lot of those using the parliament domain tend to work for the House itself in support roles e.g. Commons Library staff. I wonder if Mr Burt is an exception to this?
Regards,
Matt
www.mattdeansoton.blogspot.com
Mark,
Even accepting your supposition that Mr Burt doesn't work in London, by your own admission he works in his MPs (wifes) constituency. That means he still isn't local to West Worcestershire! No matter which way you look at it, to brand his competitor 'a part-time candidate' when he himself has a job funded by the state elsewhere highlights the sort of dirty tricks Dick seems to be involved with. On another note, i was recently speaking to someone involved in the fight against Lorely Burt in solihull where she engaged in similar smear tactics and foul play. Clearly a family trait. I await with interest to see who 'Dirty Trick Dick' will claim to be local to.
Good point Ken, Chris and others.
Mark: the post is perfectly balanced. I think this passage addresses your point. "Perhaps, to be fair to Mr Burt he can commit full-time to West Worcs, but if that's the case he would have to be neglecting those he represents in Dudley, or failing to do work to justify his parliamentary pass."
Now, does Dirty Trick Dick work in London?
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