Cllr David Walker and his adorable late wife Julie just before a Civic Parade in 2006.
I have neglected my website whilst I have been out fighting the local elections. sorry about that lol
Anyway…
Thank you
Tomorrow when I put myself before the electorate, I am doing it for my late wife Julie, bless her. I have been telling people, for some time, that this will be the last time I stand for election in Bridgnorth. What ever the result tomorrow, it has been such a tremendous honour and privilege for me to have served the town I love so much for the last 10 years. If I win I will be a proud and happy councillor for another 4 years. If I loose I will be for 1 more year only. It is my intention to support the new Mayor for the next 12 months as we have some very exciting things in the pipeline. But in a years time I will resign from the Town Council. I have also said to people that I will never be Mayor. That was something I was going to declare when I seconded Mac Griffiths at his Mayor Making ceremony. But that was an emotional night for me and I would have broken down if my speech had lasted any longer. Colleagues on the Town Council have been trying to persuade me to become mayor for at least 6 years. They were trying again last night, but that is now impossible, as the one person I would do it with is no longer here 🙁 If I don’t paint myself into a corner they will be on at me till the day I die. So now it is in writing and I am a man of my word, who doesn’t break his promises!
At this point I must express my sadness for loss of Graham Kidd. A huge loss for his family and friends and to the people of Ludlow.
MPs are a bunch a Bs
Like everybody else, I have been taken a back by the scale of the brazen, immoral and arrogant behaviour of MPs. Day after day this behaviour been exposed in the media spot light. Personally I can not believe they have been so stupid. Anybody who has been following me on Twitter will know how angry this has made me feel. The anger has largely been because of the way the Westminster gentleman’s club has collectively sought to create such corrupt practices!. The way many MPs have simply turned a blind eye to it is quite staggering. Not only that I am angry because of the untold damage their selfish behaviour has done to politics in general.
I have been a local councillor for just over 10 years now. During that time my expense claims are there for all to see. NIL. As a matter of principle I haven’t claimed for driving from home to council meetings. The tax man wouldn’t like it if I claimed the mileage to drive to the office, so I think it is wrong to claim to claim for the commute to my place of work as a councillor. This has been a financial penalty for me, but for me, that is something I take on the chin for civic duty. I happen to know unsubstantiated stories of councillors, who are on 2 authorities & have claimed the mileage for driving between the two councils but claiming the same mileage off both councils! Takes your breath away. So take it from me councillors need to look at how they operate too.
Anyway, back to MPs…. When the Conservatives were in power MPs collectively decided to set-up this now discredited expenses system. A system which allowed them to avoid unpopular large wage rises open to wholesale abuse – purely for their own self interest and certainly not in the interests of the electorate. As each year has passed since then, the thieving blighter’s have taken more & more of tax payer’s money in perks. When a row erupted about whether MPs Expenses should be available under the freedom of information act, MPs from the Labour & Conservative parties defeated LibDem calls to open then up to public scrutiny. The defenders of secret expenses largely claiming that to release was a personal security risk for MPs. Now we know most of them have had their snouts in the trough and actually didn’t want to get caught with their pants down.
Thankfully, many MPs have been caught out. But they still haven’t got the message! They think they can simply hand the money claimed back and expect everything to be forgiven. What about the interest and the financial gains they have made too?! Even if all of that comes back to the tax payer, that won’t be enough to satisfy me or the public. It doesn’t say a great deal for our law makers if they think it is that simple to avoid justice!! The police should be in there right now investingating MPs claims with a view to bringing charges against those who have been making fraudulent claims.
For those MPs who have gone a step further and have said they will resign at the next election, I only have one thing to say… Resign now!!! Not next week!!! Not next year!!! Resign now!!! You have brought politics into disrepute and if you had shred of decency you would hand your head in shame and just sod off now! Unfortunatley, there are MPs who think resigning next year is good enough & they still expect a big payout when the leave in disgrace. Geese they must think we are all stupid!! If you have disgraced your office and betrayed your electorate you should do the honourable thing. I know I would die from the shame if I was in their shoes. Again it is unfortunate that many MPs simple hope they can keep their head down and hope it all blows over by the next election. Haha, you fools that isn’t going to happen!!!
Nick Clegg & Vince Cable have shown real teeth over this issue and for that I am overjoyed. They have suggested a raft of solutions to the problem of a discredited parliament which have been widely applauded. Our poll ratings are shooting up as a result!
Today the LibDems have joined the SNP and Plaid’s motion calling for the dissolution of parliament. They have called for the Chancellor to be sacked. They are demanding a power of recall so that the people can sack their MP. They have called for MPs holiday to be scrapped until this mess is sorted. They have called for charges to be brought on any MP accused of fraud. Coupled with our success in overturning the Government’s shocking immoral treatment of the Gurkha’s and how well we have responded to the economy thanks to Saint Vince – simply the best MP in the whole building and a lovely man too!! Bless him.
How all of this is going to play out tomorrow will be fascinating. Damn hard work for everybody but the feeling I get is a good one. Roll on tomorrow! Roll on Sunday when I can get some rest!! 🙂
Labour Meltdown
Labour are now finished! Period. Nothing they can do now will change that fact. The LibDems have overtaken them in the polls & I expect them to come 4th nationally. Locally in my election they haven’t stood for the first time in ages. They are an embarrassment and should have been kicked out of office already lol Now all the rats are leaving a sinking ship they are facing complete meltdown when the election comes. When it does I am expecting the Libdems to have a massive surge. The prospect of the LibDems becoming the official opposition is now very tangible. Roll on the General Election preferably now but if not next year will do!! 🙂
Good Luck for the election!
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