… and it’s about a Lib Dem!

The democratic process in South West Surrey has become a farce following the suspension of the Lib Dem’s Parliamentary Candidate Patrick Haveron for alleged electoral fraud relating to statements on his nomination paper.

Whilst the alleged offence relates to Mr Haveron’s nomination paper for election to Waverley Borough Council, in which the former Waverley councillor is (and still is, pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against him) standing as well as a General Election candidate, the Liberal Democrats have suspended Mr Haveron and he no longer represents them in either election.

But the ballot papers have been printed and postal votes have been sent out, so Mr Haveron’s name will appear alongside the Liberal Democrat logo in voting booths across the South West Surrey constituency Thursday week.

Waverley Borough Council, the responsible authority for the election in South West Surrey, believe that election law prohibits them from doing anything more to notify voters of this situation in polling stations next week.

And you won’t have read anything about this story in Conservative-supporting papers. A search of the Daily Mail and the Telegraph websites reveal no results. Google News currently shows the story, which broke last Sunday, has been covered only by the BBC, ITV, Mirror and a mention in The Guardian, together with a couple of local online news sources.

So why the cover-up?

Publicity about the Lib Dem candidate’s suspension COULD CAUSE JEREMY HUNT TO LOSE HIS SEAT!

The vote in South West Surrey is complex. Whilst it is currently seen as a Conservative stronghold, in 2005 Jeremy Hunt first entered parliament with only a 6,000 vote majority, with the Liberal Democrats in close second.

True, Mr Hunt strengthened his majority in 2010 significantly, but there remains a strong liberal and somewhat rebellious undercurrent in the Blue Hills of Surrey due in part to the large Creative Arts contingent pottered around Farnham’s University of the Creative Arts.

And yet the biggest threat to Jeremy Hunt’s Commons seat is the National Health Action Party, who are targeting South West Surrey with an incredibly strong candidate in Dr Louise Irvine, a GP with a long history of local campaigning who lead the fight to save Lewisham Hospital.

Bookmakers already had NHA ahead of the Lib Dems in South West Surrey, pulling in support from disenchanted voters of all colours concerned about the current state of the NHS after 5 years of major re-organisation under Andrew Lansley and Jeremy Hunt.

The suspension of the Liberal Democrat candidate certainly panicked local Conservative Party activists when they realised the National Health Action Party was the only realistic alternative for the sizeable Liberal vote left with no Liberal candidate.

So it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that the Conservative-supporting press are sitting on this.

The fewer Liberal Democrat supporters who know that the candidate listed on the ballot paper no longer represents their party the better, as far as the Tories are concerned in their attempt to prevent voters rallying around Dr Louise Irvine and the National Health Action Party.

IP