By Paul Adams
About 48hrs before the closure of Nominations for Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPC), Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) imposed a candidate on the Essex constituency of ‘Basildon and Billericay’. The candidate in question is none other than Richard Holden, the Chairman of the Conservative Party, whose seat of North West Durham, a seat he represented since 2019, disappeared under boundary changes.
Basildon and Billericay is a new constituency formed with new boundaries from the old Basildon constituency and the old Billericay constituency.
Basildon was considered to be a conservative marginal seat and Billericay was considered to be a safe conservative seat. Such a seat would have been seen as an attractive proposition for aspiring conservative candidates even with the conservatives in their current doldrums.
Basildon and Billericay Constituency Association have been outflanked by CCHQ. Had they had half their wits about them, they might have foreseen what was going to happen and chosen their candidate many months ago instead of leaving it till the last minute. They had expected to have a choice of three potential candidates from which to choose, but in the end they were offered only one… ‘a take it or leave it’ situation leaving local Tory activists in dismay.
They don’t appear to be able to run a bath and blow wind at the same time!
One should never underestimate the ability of the Tory hierarchy to ‘stitch up’ their own local conservative associations. This is straight from the Tory playbook.
Not only do the Tory hierarchy stitch up their local associations, but the Tory Government stitch up the electorate with broken promises and manifesto commitments are quietly dropped…. such as the 2019 General Election Manifesto commitment to reduce immigration. Instead, during the last Parliament, the electorate were presented with ‘stratospheric’ levels of immigration.
Shortly after Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, he flew to the G20 in Bali. Joined by the cohort of journalists present on the Flight, he was asked by the BBC’s Political Editor about Immigration, to which he replied, “legal immigration was not his priority”. This was a Manifesto commitment, a promise to the electorate.
Barely an eyebrow was raised by Tory backbenchers and so they are every bit as guilty as the PM.
Transparency is in short supply in the Conservative Party. They have taken the electorate for fools in the last Parliament, treating them with disdain and expecting there to be no consequence.
Now, the expected consequences are all too stark, where the electorate’s anger is overwhelming, with talk of the Conservative Party being annihilated on Polling Day.
British Democrats have a genuine local candidate for Basildon and Billericay in Christopher Bateman.
Below is Christopher’s message to the people in his constituency.
Dear Elector,
Many courageous soldiers sacrificed their lives to defend our once-great nation from invasion. However, the politicians at Westminster are now giving our country away!
I’m sick and tired of the continuous broken promises from the Lib/Lab/Con parties. It’s lie after lie, especially when it comes down to building on our green open spaces and dealing with uncontrolled mass immigration!
Putting people before politics should have been the standard for all parties. However, the career politicians of Westminster need to be held accountable for their failings. The British Democrats will always prioritise the British people!
I currently serve my local community within the Basildon and Billericay constituency as a volunteer Parish Councillor in Noak Bridge, originally elected for the British Democrats with 74% of the vote. I am a genuine local candidate at this election unlike others who are parachuted in from around the country!
Campaigning on your behalf,
Christopher Bateman
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As much as I want the Conservatives out of Office despite the biased opinion polls and double speak from the prolabour Press I see the Conservative party just about retaining Power due to apathy from the British Public there’s no appetite for Starmer as PM