|
|
 |
| |
‘Roadkill-gate’ just laughable
• LIB Dems foam with faux moral outrage about my supposedly insulting description of Mildmay residents. Let me immediately say that I would be happy to clutch each and every Mildmay voter to my bosom in admiration and respect
The risibly trivial ‘Roadkill-gate’ affair’s genesis was on Iain Dale’s blog, the most celebrated Conservative web forum, which I contribute to regularly. So do friends of mine who were inadvertently responsible for the Conservative Party’s failure to field a candidate in said ward.
My remarks were unmistakably humorous and intended only to tease our Mildmay team in the knock-about context they were made. I subsequently removed any scintilla of doubt on Mark Pack’s achingly tedious Lib Dem blog on which he originally posted this dreary tittle tattle, prior to the Tribune’s coverage.This they know full well.
I should demand that the Lib Dems offer a personal apology to me for their slurs on my reputation and by implication the Conservative Party in Islington. Actually, “I am not bovvered”. I relish the prospect of continuing childishness.
Councillor Lucy Watt is correct about my views on excessive council housing, though. With 50 per cent of the borough in social housing and 70 per cent of the inhabitants on benefits, the social mix of Islington is dangerously skewed towards benefit dependency.
Councillor James Kempton has said he “had no intention of letting Islington become a 21st-century slum”. Under pressure from the Greater London Authority he has since rolled over like a soppy spaniel and about 11,000 more units are to be crammed into London’s most overcrowded borough.
Cllr Kempton told me at a meeting of the Islington Association that we needed to replace housing stock lost to leaseholders. Of course, the whole point of right-to-buy was to encourage a greater proportion of ownership.
Leaseholders have been a magnificent asset to the borough. Islington’s 11,000 leaseholders, however, are being treated shamefully. They are being asked to pay service charges of up to £50,000.
The good news is they will be given assistance in releasing equity. How kind, a mugger who escorts you to the cashpoint to get the rest of your savings.
I have been working with leaseholder representatives and next week we have a meeting with Michael Gove, the Conservative shadow housing minister, to look for real solutions. I do this for no reward of any kind but because I care about ordinary Islington people and try to help.
No, Councillor Rhodri Jamieson-Ball, I will not be disciplined. I believe and trust our beloved president, Boris Johnson, will find it in his heart to forgive any naivety I may have shown.
PAUL NEWMAN
Vice-chairman, Conservative Party, Islington North
Thorpedale Road, N4
• So Islington Conservatives’ vice-chairman Paul Newman claims he was just having a laugh when he referred to “the denizens of Mildmay” as “almost bestially stupid” (‘Roadkill’ jibe sparks storm, April 20).
No doubt he was also showing his wit and wisdom when he described Tory Central Office as “the usual Alzheimer victims beloved of the Conservative Party’s administration” in the same blog. Mr Newman should realise there is a difference between cracking a political joke and turning your party into one
CLLR MERAL ECE
Lib Dem, Mildmay ward |
 |
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
