|
|
 |
| |
Liberal Democrats Tom Simon and Ed Fordham ready for a new campaign |
Polls fight begins with ‘ill councillor not a major issue’
Rival parties promise serious debate after Lib Dem’s resignation
A BY-ELECTION clash will not be reduced to an inquest into the short council career of Chris Basson, the front-runners to replace him insisted yesterday (Wednesday).
Instead, the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives started out on their five-week campaigns in the Belsize ward by talking more about police stations, post offices and dog mess than the mental health problems faced by the outgoing councillor.
Mr Basson stepped down last Monday just three years after being elected as a Lib Dem councillor.
In a frank resignation statement, he admitted suffering from manic depression and that said he was no longer able to do the job.
Some critics complained that the Lib Dems must have known about Mr Basson’s difficulties – his poor ascendance record stuck out like a sore thumb – and should have taken action last year to force a by-election.
But there was a calmer tack being taken this week with opponents stepping back from pushing the issue – many agreeing it was wrong to discourage people with mental health problems from wanting to take part.
Mr Basson, described this week as being shaken by the experience of being front-page news, said he had been supported by his colleagues.
And as campaigns began for the by-election caused by his resignation, the Lib Dems confidently said the issue would “blow over” and the response had been one of sympathy rather than anger.
“There’s been a few emails,” said Ed Fordham, the party’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn.
“But they have been more wishing Chris well than anything else. He’s doing OK.”
The election will almost certainly be characterised as a two-horse race between the two parties running the Town Hall: the Lib Dems and Conservatives, who held the seat until 2006.
Tory candidate Gary Bernardout, 34, a local businessman, said he would not seek to make political ground over Mr Basson’s condition and, during an interview with the New Journal yesterday, went no harder than saying people were “bugged” by the Lib Dems’ handling of the issue.
He spent longer talking about his hopes to promote independent small businesses during the campaign.
“In England’s Lane I think there are about six small businesses that have shut,” he said. “The closed shopfronts attract graffiti and it makes people feel unsafe. Belsize shouldn’t be about that so I want to see how the council can help these businesses survive.”
Mr Bernardout, who lives in Lancaster Grove, said: “I’ve lost count of the number of times people have mentioned to me about the problems of dog mess, but there are issues in Belsize about the loss of a post office and a police station.”
He said he was not daunted by the challenge of taking on the notoriously well-organised Lib Dem by-election campaign team, which has won five polls in the last three years.
The man at the front of the Lib Dem machine – sometimes jokingly referred to as a “leaflet juggernaut” by rivals – is Tom Simon, a trainee barrister who lives in Fellows Road.
The 32-year-old said: “I think people remembered a lot of the hard work Chris [Basson] did even before he became a councillor.
“And people can see the hard work that Arthur Graves and Alexis Rowell have done in this area since they were elected.”
Mr Simon said he too would be raising the issue of lost post offices and the threat to Hampstead Police Station in Rosslyn Hill.
“People want a post office in the area – I’m often told about people having to walk up to Hampstead. If you are elderly that makes life more difficult than it should be,” he said.
“In terms of the police station, what we know is what people want is a visible police presence in the area and they don’t want to see the station go.”
The Labour and Green parties have yet to announce candidates. The election will be held on April 2. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
