The other day I blogged that former Socialist Cllr Knowles was using the services of a spin doctor his new Tory chum Cllr Ian Lewis to contact constituents on his behalf. Further to that reproduced below is the reply to a Seacombe resident who was surprised to say the least to receive a reply from Cllr Lewis, having contacted Cllr Knowles.

Hello Mr ……

Thanks for your email, regarding the decision by Cllr. Denis Knowles to leave the Labour Group and join the Conservatives. Councillors, across the country, do switch parties.  It’s rare but not unheard of – here in Wirral, councillors have, in the last five years, left the Liberal Democrats to join the Conservatives and left the Conservatives to become an ‘independent’.

There is no law or ruling that requires a by election – either in a local government or Parliamentary seat – as we saw when a Conservative MP (who, I admit, I had never heard of) joined Labour and is now a Labour  Minister, all since being elected as Conservative in 2005.

The election of a councillor is as much about the person as the councillor.  We saw that in the 2004 elections when Denis Knowles won more votes than the longest-serving councillor, even though both were Labour.  As such, it is the winning candidate who signs the oath of office pledging to do ‘his or her best for their community’.  The Party isn’t mentioned in the oath.

Personally, and you could say ‘you would say that’, but I don’t think there should be a by-election when a councillor defects – plenty of people change their minds about which Party to support, why not councillors?

Sorry if this all sounds a bit ‘politician speak’… 

Ian Lewis

Conservative

Councillor for Leasowe & Moreton East