If the Lib Dems learn anything from their Swindon campaign this election, it's get someone professional to do your leaflets.
And don't just photograph each candidate in front of the same ambulance at the Orbital in separate photos. At least Liz Webster's North Swindon leaflet doesn't feature bits of ambulance sticking out of her torso as her South Swindon colleague's does.
It seems Swindon's Liberal Democratgs Liberal Democrats aren't spending their money on their leaflets, as the Adver's Chris Humphrey's has found.
For an MP of a railway town, Justin Tomlinson's attitude towards railways doesn't seem to know if it's coming or going.
Tomlinson talked in August 2014 of working hard to limit annual ticket price rises (despite it being government who control the rises), but has voted four times to not controlling public transport ticket prices.
He also appears to have remained silent on pleas from bus companies for help on the Bus Service Operators Grant.
He also sees fit to claim that Labour did not invest money in the railways. Once again, Tomlinson has not read his recent history, that it was Labour who announced the Great Western Main Line electrification, but that's not stopped him claiming the investment for himself and the Conservatives Theresa May party on every single one of his election leaflets.
Stand back from the platform edge, it's the 'Flipping Flopsman' storming through.
Swindoncentric received reports of Tory leaflets being dropped through doors on Thursday, before general election campaigning was due to restart this morning.
Not really appropriate.
'Strong and stable' may be Theresa's mantra, but for Swindon's incumbent MPs 'silent and still' would suit on the Honda Brexit elephant in the room.
The government has promised Sunderland's Nissan something (but has not admitted it), no doubt officials from Honda UK have been keen to get similar treatment, but nothing has been revealed in public.
But never mind our MPs since June last year, who have gone into the election campaign without a word about the 3,500 workforce's future outside the EU, or those many thousands locally in the supply chain for the South Marston plant that will depend on whatever deal is eventually struck on exiting the EU.
The industrial backbone (along with at least 3,500 voters) of Swindon deserves better treatment from it's local incumbent Tory candidates.
Justin Tomlinson's attitude to his own party's council-owned Forward Swindon seems tied to political opportunities as they come along.
He recently slagged off Forward Swindon for 'stubbornness' with regard to the old carriage works on London Street and why they hadn't just let developers get their hands on them like the buildings north of the railway that he toured with a fellow minister on a visit.
Tomlinson's argument is as shallow as his depth of knowledge on his own town's history, and, oddly, the way government processes work. The reason the Historic England offices (along with the Outlet, Steam, the Test Chain flats development and the Bottelino's restaurant) are as high quality developments as they are is because all the buildings were hurriedly listed when it became clear the developers of the works site wanted to pull down, or heavily alter, most of what was there. As a result of the listings, the developers of the works have had to meet high levels of sympathetic development.
Private developers don't retain nice old fittings just because they're nice, but because they legally have to if the building is given a Grade Listing.
He also suggests that developers have been chomping at the bit to get their hands on the old carriage works buildings, hardly, they've been mostly empty for over 10 years!
Tomlinson isn't adverse to riding on the coat tails of Forward Swindon and others when there's publicity for the asking, such as when TNT praised the organisation's help in getting them to South Marston.
It says much that Tomlinson's office is now in a brand new glass carbuncle at the Orbital and not in one of the empty 1980s/1990s units at one of the many business parks across North Swindon.
Tomlinson has remained quiet on the Swindon Gateway development that was criticised by many of his own residents, labelled 'bland' and 'uninspiring architecturally' by a Swindon Borough Council planning officer (listed under 'Urban Design Comments - 26-05-16'), officially objected to by the owners of Regent Circus and The Parade and was part of an intense lobbying (listed under numerous 'objection comments') campaign against it from the inSwindon BID organisation. Plus according to Forward Swindon, the development rides roughshod (listed under 'Email from Forward Swindon Re Kimmerfields') over rules for available land for the same development closer to the town centre.
So is he on the side of unrestricted privately-led development, or partnership working between Forward Swindon and developers? It must depend on the level of publicity available.
The hopes of the new Swindon parishes being a haven from traditional party politics were dashed, as the usual battles were fought last night.
The only things to note :
- The uncontesting of many wards by the Tories, are they afraid of Labour in their traditional strongholds?
- The number of independents that ran and won.
- The level of 'gotta get a double seat' by candidates who now have the bizarre, but self-inflicted situation of representing the same ward as a local Borough councillor and now as a Parish councillor, surely a conflict of interest and pointless ultimately. Are they going to disagree with themselves?
- The return of the previously politically dead former local Borough councillors that were persuaded by HQ to return as a parish councillor as they can do it while they sleep the sleep of the undead.
- The very unwelcome return of the disgraced former Mayor.
- The family affair of many candidates, often in the same seats, husbands and wives, mothers and sons, partners, you can imagine it must be a riot in those households of an evening.
So parishing has done exactly what people feared, created an entirely unwanted and unnecessary new layer of administration, with, mostly, the same people in charge of the biggest parts of the town (bar the independents) and a lack of imagination, especially from the Tories, with the wheeling out of undead former councillors to fill the gaps.
Onto the general.
