Hammersmith Tory candidate

petercoe Sat May 12, 2007 at 02:44:53 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

There's an interesting blog here looking into the claims by the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hammersmith, Shaun Bailey, that he runs a grassroots charity in North Kensington. 

The blog's author -  someone called Ivan Pope - has been trying to find out what this charity is, and has come up with blanks.

Not trying to imply that Shaun Bailey doesn't do what he says he does, but you'd think there'd be some information about it somewhere, especially with the media profile he's developing... 







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Hammersmith Tory candidate | 2 comments (2 topical)

Re: Hammersmith Tory candidate (#1)

by Anzi on Sun May 13, 2007 at 05:01:53 PM GMT

It does look a bit bogus. But before we start being partisan, there are plenty of libdem & Labour politicians who have similar backgrounds. They represent a new breed of career politician. They are trustees of umpteen virtual charities which either do not exist or exist as a website only. But hey, the people electing these guys are none the wiser. I've read some Labour Party CVs that really do stretch credulity. Setting up a scam society with yourself as chair/ president is pretty common in student politics. What a pity modern political parties allow these little creeps to get away with it!


Re: Hammersmith Tory candidate (#2)

by petercoe on Sun May 13, 2007 at 11:25:44 PM GMT

You're right in noting some of the (hilarious) claims made by many candidates applying for selection: I've come across candidates who claim to have invented the Labour Rose, the Harrier Jump Jet and the Scud missile (the latter two by the same candidate, who may not even have been born when the Harrier Jet was first designed!)

They make an otherwise monotonous process at the outset at least slightly enjoyable. But these candidates generally tend not to get selected - outlandish claims on CVs tend to be a symptom of a candidate aiming for a position beyond their competence and activists of all parties weed them out early on.

In Shaun Bailey's case, he's actually got through - and let's be fair: he's got some game: he's articulate, smart and untypically Conservative (though equally I think that local Tories think that counts for way more than it's actually worth in vote terms).

Hence this is slightly more of an issue - which can easily be cleared up if the charity is bona fide, but let him do so quickly.


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Hammersmith Tory candidate | 2 comments (2 topical)