Conspiracy claim will drive voters away from the Tories
The Front Page of today’s Mail on Sunday.
Does anybody think Dudley North will remain a marginal constituency after today’s allegations about Conservative (ex-)candidate Afzal Amin?
According to the Mail on Sunday, Mr Amin encouraged the English Defence League (EDL) to announce a march against a new “mega-mosque”. The paper said he planned for the march to be scrapped so he could take credit for defusing the situation.
Mr Amin denies the claims, but the Conservative Party has stated that it is a matter of serious concern and has suspended him as a candidate.
Dudley North is currently a marginal constituency; the Parliamentary seat is held by Labour’s Ian Austin with a majority of just 649.
It seems unlikely that this will continue to be the case as voters may see the allegations as proof that sleaze is slithering back into the Conservative Party – and go back to providing majorities in the thousands for Labour.
The fact that the story has been broken by the ultra-Conservative Mail on Sunday makes it all the more convincing.
Vox Political recently reported that David Cameron was afraid to release his planned Dissolution Honours list, for fear that Conservatives he nominates might be embroiled in a scandal before polling day. This blog stated: “Clearly, corrupt and immoral behaviour among Tory MPs is expected by the Conservative leadership.”
It seems the allegations about Afzal Amin may confirm that view amongst the electorate.
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drive voters away from the Tories… give more ammunition to the kippertards imho
Not in that constituency – it was a two-horse race last time and the Kippers are a spent force, having suffered too many scandals of their own recently.
Doing the debates should be an absolutely essential part of being the PM, just to show that he/she doesn’t hold all the power, all the time. Maybe if they know that they face a grilling about their performance, then maybe they might think about what they do during their time as PM.
I wouldn’t expect anything else from the nasty party it’s the only way they know about winning telling lies, lies and more lies. That’s all they’ve told us over the past five years.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/454787/Labour-questions-as-Baroness-Warsi-associate-wins-120k-Government-WW1-lecture-deal Sun, Jan 19, 2014
Labour questions as associate of Baroness Warsi wins £120k Government WW1 lecture deal
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is paying Curzon Education Ltd £120,000 for 50 talks this year at an average of £2,400 each.
The company’s sole director is retired Army captain Afzal Amin, who was named the Tory parliamentary candidate for the highly marginal Labour of Dudley North last February.
The Sunday Express has also discovered that Curzon Education is currently trying to secure a business case for a new free school later this year.
It intends to submit an application to Education Secretary Michael Gove by April.
The six-month First World War project was not advertised publicly, which is allowed under Government rules, and the grant was agreed after negotiations between Mr Amin and civil servants last September.
He had originally bid for £500,000 of public funding but this was refused.
Each talk will last up to 3.5 hours, making Curzon’s rate about £685 an hour on average.
The company is linked to the Curzon Institute, which provides consultancy advice to “government agencies, NGOs and private sector clients in their interactions with their minority communities”.
For the DCLG project, distinguished former military officers will visit schools, colleges, army regiments and mosques to highlight the contribution of soldiers from the Indian sub-continent, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and the West Indies during the First World War.
The talks form part of this year’s centenary commemorations for the war.
The project was publicised last November when Baroness Warsi appeared with Mr Amin at a grand launch event where a video message from David Cameron was beamed to congratulate the “flagship programme”.
This story reminds of a Darwin Awards story about a firefighter who wanted his job back, and started a fire so that he could put it out but unfortunately got caught in hos own blaze and died.
Anyone who votes for UKIP after this will be wasting their vote. You may as well vote Tory because that is what UKIP are…extreme Conservatives.
Wondering if this will kick off next week as it appears to be very quiet on the news channels today, I also wonder if the electoral commission will launch an investigation as it is just what chickendave needs so close to the election.
Don’t hold your breath – I’m expecting a war to kick off in time for the elections – and of course the incumbents will win by a landslide – ‘remember Maggie? ‘Hoping I’m wrong Mike, but feeling a distinct sense of déjà vu. Namaste