Sitting pretty on an 8,000 vote majority, the Conservative candidate for Bridgwater and West Somerset in next Thursdays General Election-Ian Liddell-Grainger (359th in line to the throne)has seemingly gone into hiding and apparently refused to face the voters.
The absentee toff has been so noticeable by his lack of presence that a local man, Tom Douglas (not affiliated to any party) has set up a Facebook site 'Wheres Ian Liddell-Grainger?' and asks the question "What strategy is this? Media blackout? Zero public appearances... Why o why? Surely a prospective MP must engage in some electioneering if he is to regain a seat in the Commons? Can he really believe that the esteemed votes of the noble constituency will simply vote for him with no ounce of effort on his behalf? People! This is nothing short of an extremely insulting outrage! "
And now the 'Wheres Ian?'Facebook site has received coverage on the BBC! Shadow Business Secretary Ken Clarke (a Tory) said: "...Ian is a colleague I value and so if he's having a different campaign in Bridgwater then good luck to him. I'm sure Ian is campaigning as effectively as ever."
But this has cut no ice with the other candidates who have all attended public meetings largely to debate which one of them feels they are best placed to grab the, barely warm, seat of the 'Hide and Seek Member '.
Labour's Kathy Pearce, the main contender to Liddel-Grainger , needs 8,500 votes to oust the Tory. "Labour came in second place in the last General Election in 2005 and I am determined to unseat this guy . I haven't seen him at all during the campaign. He's either treating the voters with contempt or is too nervous to face them after he let them down over the Splash!"Kathy's task has been made harder however by a late surge by the Lib Dems (in 3rd place but with such a little power base in this constituency that they've had to bring in a candidate from Wells who has resorted to putting out glossy lib dem leaflets distorting the voting figures and confusing the anti-tories. Kathy said "People want to get rid of Liddel-Grainger and to do that in THIS constituency people really need to get behind Labour . The alternative is a split vote and that lets in the Tories.
The REAL voting statistics;-
2005 General Election;-Conservatives 21240
Labour 12771
Lib Dem 10940
2007 District Elections
Labour 12 Councillors
Lib Dem 1 Councillor
2009 County Elections
Conservatives 10 councillors
Labour 1 Councillor
Lib Dem 0 councillors
The candidates for Bridgwater and West Somerset are: Theo Butt-Philip, Liberal Democrats; Bob Cudlipp, Independent, Charles Graham, Green; Peter Hollings, UKIP; Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative; Kathy Pearce, Labour; Donna Treanor, BNP.
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