The Final Irony.....
As I sit here with the first bulletin of the post-election period, I struggle to find the words to describe how I feel inwardly, without being either unkind or derogatory to others; however despite having fought an election campaign based on plain speaking, truthfulness and honesty, it seems that the forces of spin, deceit and economies with the truth have prevailed in this case, and you now have two Liberal Democrat Councillors in Elmdon.
I have nothing against either of these ladies; other than being LibDems they seem perfectly rational, normal human beings; I do however question some of the doorstep tactics used by their canvassing crews, which openly questioned my abilities as a local Councillor and inferred that I used my wife's illness as a ploy for sympathy.
"She's ill, not dying", and "I'm sure she's not that bad" were but two of the reported responses from residents that I know personally, both of which were statements made without any knowlege of the true position.
That position is a stark one; my wife is terminally ill with cancer, and has probably less than a month to live - just how "ill" or "bad" do you have to be to qualify for these people?
That position is also the sole reason why I was unable to get round the ward to canvass your support; daily fifty-mile round trips to Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry eat into free time voraciously, with a full-time job, Council commitments and other voluntary work that I do on a weekly basis taking up the remainder.
Another issue that contributed to the result, and one that is more concerning as time goes on, is the upsurge in support for the BNP; in Elmdon they polled 609 votes, most of which came from my core vote as a right-wing stalwart and thus undermined my ability to keep the lefty Liberals out of the seat.
If those of you who did vote BNP had done some basic arithmetic, you would have seen that by casting a protest vote for them you would be letting the leftwingers in by default, with precisely the opposite effect to the one you hoped for.
A similar thing happened in Lyndon ward, where Irene Chamberlain fought Greg Goldingay for the top honours; although Greg had improved the Tory vote last year, the introduction of the BNP into the mix saw both Tory and Liberal votes drop by fifty-odd for the Tories and over two hundred for the LibDems.
The BNP vote was just over 400, which is a worrying trend, considering their policies revolve around national issues and not local ones.
For those of you who follow the numbers game, after all the dust has settled the overall position is that the Liberals have lost one and gained one, Tories have lost one and gained three, and Labour have lost another two in the forms of Hugh Hendry in Smithswood and John Kimberley in Kingshurst & Fordbridge.
Alf Hill in Chelmsley came very close to losing this time with a tiny majority, and the Greens now have their first Councillor on the force in Smithswood in place of Hughie Hendry - the times they are a'changin'!
I will miss being part of the Council, and I'll also miss being involved in the daily round of looking after my residents and those other duties that come as part and parcel of the job; however it will give me the time to reorganise my life after my wife passes on.
My heartfelt thanks to all of you who did support me and sent messages of condolences, and I promise that at some time in the future, just like Arnie --- I'll be back!
Johnny Bramham.
I have nothing against either of these ladies; other than being LibDems they seem perfectly rational, normal human beings; I do however question some of the doorstep tactics used by their canvassing crews, which openly questioned my abilities as a local Councillor and inferred that I used my wife's illness as a ploy for sympathy.
"She's ill, not dying", and "I'm sure she's not that bad" were but two of the reported responses from residents that I know personally, both of which were statements made without any knowlege of the true position.
That position is a stark one; my wife is terminally ill with cancer, and has probably less than a month to live - just how "ill" or "bad" do you have to be to qualify for these people?
That position is also the sole reason why I was unable to get round the ward to canvass your support; daily fifty-mile round trips to Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry eat into free time voraciously, with a full-time job, Council commitments and other voluntary work that I do on a weekly basis taking up the remainder.
Another issue that contributed to the result, and one that is more concerning as time goes on, is the upsurge in support for the BNP; in Elmdon they polled 609 votes, most of which came from my core vote as a right-wing stalwart and thus undermined my ability to keep the lefty Liberals out of the seat.
If those of you who did vote BNP had done some basic arithmetic, you would have seen that by casting a protest vote for them you would be letting the leftwingers in by default, with precisely the opposite effect to the one you hoped for.
A similar thing happened in Lyndon ward, where Irene Chamberlain fought Greg Goldingay for the top honours; although Greg had improved the Tory vote last year, the introduction of the BNP into the mix saw both Tory and Liberal votes drop by fifty-odd for the Tories and over two hundred for the LibDems.
The BNP vote was just over 400, which is a worrying trend, considering their policies revolve around national issues and not local ones.
For those of you who follow the numbers game, after all the dust has settled the overall position is that the Liberals have lost one and gained one, Tories have lost one and gained three, and Labour have lost another two in the forms of Hugh Hendry in Smithswood and John Kimberley in Kingshurst & Fordbridge.
Alf Hill in Chelmsley came very close to losing this time with a tiny majority, and the Greens now have their first Councillor on the force in Smithswood in place of Hughie Hendry - the times they are a'changin'!
I will miss being part of the Council, and I'll also miss being involved in the daily round of looking after my residents and those other duties that come as part and parcel of the job; however it will give me the time to reorganise my life after my wife passes on.
My heartfelt thanks to all of you who did support me and sent messages of condolences, and I promise that at some time in the future, just like Arnie --- I'll be back!
Johnny Bramham.
posted by John Bramham. @ 3:36 pm
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