We’ll forgive you if you haven’t heard of Elliott Adair. Parliamentary selections are plentiful at the moment, and one can’t possibly keep up with every single hopeful.
Adair, however, is seeking the Labour candidacy in South Basildon and East Thurrock, contested at the last general election by then-Basildon MP Angela E. Smith. There’ll no doubt be a lot of competition for the nomination. The self-described “wannabe entrepreneur” recently set up a Facebook page, and to his credit, he’s been answering every question posed to him there.
A big issue in the town has of course been the eviction of residents from Dale Farm, a brownfield site in the area that was bought by members of the traveller community after long-term failure of Essex local authorities to provide sites. The eviction has been championed by the town’s Tory leader Tony Ball, who now calls for evictees to foot the £4.3m bailiffs’ bill, and opposed by the opposition Labour group. The evictees have also been backed by Labour MEP Richard Howitt.
Elliott Adair, however, takes a different view. Asked by a party activist on his Facebook page, he concedes that councils should offer “allocated traveller sites”. But he continues:
There is certainly a case for charging the dale farm evictees, because the eviction cost millions of pounds worth of taxpayers money, when they were the ones who went beyond their allowed boundaries
Nice!
As someone who comes from a traveller background, I would be deeply dismayed if this gentleman’s candidate application came to fruition. The inherent inequalities suffered by the traveller community are deep rooted, and the solutions are the opposite to that which he proposes above.
Surely there’s a wealth of anecdotal evidence about obnoxious prospective and actual Labour candidates. The SW Region Labour candidate in the last Euro election (Glyn Ford) produced a disgusting dog-whistle leaflet with a content heavy on how he’d get tough on immigration and asylum seekers. Fortunately, he didn’t get a seat.
Well if he gets selected I’ll come campaign for him.
John Reid: Do you just try to be contrarian for the sake of it?
No, but I can understand why it could be seen that way, it could be argued my backing for Jon McDonnell as leader with Ed M, as second choice and DM, fifth, I was trying to annoy Blairites, But as Lord Glasman said Ed M understood how unpopular we were, DM Didn’t,
John McDonnell didn’t even stand mate. What are you on about?
He was going to stand originally ,and before the ballot forms went out I said I’d back him and Ed M second choice
A Labour councillor who thinks that all people are equal under the law, and also equal when they break it ?
It’ll never catch on.
The law gives travellers no option but to break it. It’s not their fault.
I’m fairly sure it says there ‘is a case’ not ‘charge them immediately because they’re bad!’ He’s refreshingly honest and not simply trying to please everyone, I like that.
John P Reid is a Metropolitan police joker who trolls on left wing sites.
I’M the constituency secretary of the hornchurchUpminster Labour Party, Cairan,
Is that why you are so pro murdering plod?
When has it been Labour Party polices to kill poice, I must look into that