Tory leaflets cause fury at County Hall

7:30am Thursday 11th October 2012 in News By Tom Edwards

Tory leaflets cause fury at County Hall Tory leaflets cause fury at County Hall

THOUSANDS of Tory party leaflets for the upcoming police and crime commissioner elections were secretly stored at County Hall’s car park, sparking fury.

The Conservatives covered them in dust sheets to “avoid drawing attention to their identity” and used the site as a distribution hub for activists to go along and pick them up last week.

Boxes of the leaflets, extolling the virtues of Tory candidate Adrian Blackshaw, were unloaded onto a section of bays in the staff car park last Monday.

A leaked e-mail to the party from Councillor Ken Pollock, who is co-ordinating the campaign, said: “I would be grateful if you could arrange to collect your allocation from the car park as soon as possible after Monday at noon – I have said they would all be cleared by Friday.

“I will seek to arrange some dust sheets to cover them, to avoid drawing attention to their identity.”

The party was given permission to use the car park to store leaflets by Simon Mallinson, the county’s legal chief, and David Harrison, boss of property services.

But the move has prompted fury from political rivals, who are outraged the council allowed it to go ahead.

Coun Richard Udall, a Labour councillor, said: “Simon told me if we’d have asked for the same thing, we’d have got permission, but I told him I would never have put him in that position.

“This is an abuse of the council’s goodwill. They have been using the car park as a distribution hub for their own ends. I am outraged. The car park has effectively become Conservative central office.

“This is a public building and should be treated with more respect by the Conservatives and senior officers.”

The commissioner elections, on November 15, will see Mr Blackshaw take on Labour’s Simon Murphy and independent Bill Longmore for the £75,000-a-year role.

Mr Blackshaw said: “This is not meant to be a political appointment, and when you bring politics into it, it undermines the end game.”

Coun Pollock said: “It’s very sad some people should criticise a concession made specifically to me, when I would have had difficulties moving the boxes up two flights of stairs to the offices.” Mr Mallinson said it was a reasonable and sensible agreement that did not cost the authority any time or money.

“The council agreed some leaflet boxes could be left temporarily in the underground car park to avoid the need for them to be taken up and down the floors,” he said.

“This was on the condition the council would not be involved, nor be put to any cost or inconvenience.”

  • Do you have questions for our PCC candidates? Send them to Tom Edwards, PCC Questions, Worcester News, Hylton Road, Worcester, WR2 5JX.

Comments(42)

brooksider says...
8:04am Thu 11 Oct 12

Typical Ken Pollock.
Embarrassing Worcestershire again.

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outside-edge says...
8:15am Thu 11 Oct 12

Wonder what else they've been up to?

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mayall8808 says...
8:26am Thu 11 Oct 12

Under hand as usual CONservatives, they have no scruples and could'nt careless about anyone but themselves, i say they are using a public area they should pay storage.

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Arthur Blenkinsop says...
8:28am Thu 11 Oct 12

My God this is an outrage.......... leaflets in the carpark! Whatever next? (there is no emoticon for sarcasm)

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Leeolitina says...
9:10am Thu 11 Oct 12

Big news - does it rally matter? Who the ..... cares that they were stored on a car park. Is the fact that they were stored on a car park at county hall going to benefit anyone in any way. Get real!

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MJI says...
9:13am Thu 11 Oct 12

You know what?
.
I don't care.
.
Waste of money, and a silly idea anyway.

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High Time says...
9:38am Thu 11 Oct 12

This as got to be the biggest non story so far.Cllr Udall will be complaining about free Labour party meetings in the Guildhall next.

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Doogie 46 says...
10:49am Thu 11 Oct 12

Read the article four times to try and detect the reason for the "fury" or any serious wrongdoing - what am I missing?

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MrStJohns says...
11:27am Thu 11 Oct 12

It seems on this occasion councillor udall your outrage is nothing more than a ploy to appear in the paper once again, serve your constituents rather than spending your time being ‘outraged’ that leaflets have been stored in the car park. Theres bigger issues in Worcester.

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Jabbadad says...
11:44am Thu 11 Oct 12

There is a point. When anyone is campaigning all costs involved have to be declared, even a value placed upon freebies and there is a maximum that can be spent. I think it's fair to realise that all major parties find ways of producing huge amounts of leaflets etc, while smaller candidates don't have access to these facilities. there would perhaps be less comments if all candidates had been allowed the same facilities. But of course County Hall is run by the Tories, enough said?

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Jabbadad says...
11:46am Thu 11 Oct 12

And of course the very fact that they were covered up was perhaps to avoid the very exposure that has followed. So well done Coun Udall.

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Vox populi says...
12:02pm Thu 11 Oct 12

Who cares?

Who you vote for or support depends on nothing more than where you are or see yourself in society.
If you are struggling or love to help what are often losers you vote labour for free stuff which the middle man gets scr*wed by tax to provide it.
If you are in the middle and fed up of being taxed to the hilt to provide free stuff for others then you vote Conservative.

No right or wrong about either, its your choice however to feign horror over leaflets as a political agenda is frankly laughable.

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pronstar says...
12:55pm Thu 11 Oct 12

Vox populi wrote:
Who cares?

Who you vote for or support depends on nothing more than where you are or see yourself in society.
If you are struggling or love to help what are often losers you vote labour for free stuff which the middle man gets scr*wed by tax to provide it.
If you are in the middle and fed up of being taxed to the hilt to provide free stuff for others then you vote Conservative.

No right or wrong about either, its your choice however to feign horror over leaflets as a political agenda is frankly laughable.
I care, when the role of Police and Crime Commissioner is hived off to the party political system because real, independent people are priced out of the contest.

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AlexKear says...
2:14pm Thu 11 Oct 12

Whatever next, political leaflets in the car park! Next will be people recording each other having an argument and sending it to the press!

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Jabbadad says...
2:49pm Thu 11 Oct 12

Well Alex having yourself been involved in elections you probably should have understood, that any slight of hand how ever small (as in the typically "couldn't care less" eyes of vox) is but a fraction of political deceit which goes against the politically smaller candidates who are as important if not more so than those who wish to bend the election rules. They (the smaller ones) being at this stage of their political journey, possibly politically untainted. But sadly it doesn't last long.

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New Kid on the Block says...
3:55pm Thu 11 Oct 12

What a non story.
Simon Mallinson has already said that the same opportunity would have been offered to others.
They were not stored in a public area. The underground car park is not the staff car park. It is for Councilors only. It is also commonly used for storage.
If moving the boxes up two flights of stairs would have made it all ok what on earth is the problem.
Why not leave the boxes where they can easily be delivered and collected thus minimising the trouble and disturbance to others.

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Jabbadad says...
4:07pm Thu 11 Oct 12

Obviously a supporter then.

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New Kid on the Block says...
5:10pm Thu 11 Oct 12

Yes I am a supporter of common sense.
The underground car park is a sensible place for this sort of activity.
No-one was inconvenienced.
No-one was offered any special favours.
No-one did anything underhand. It was cleared with all the relevant people.

Perhaps someone would like to explain what would have been gained by taking them up two flights of stairs to be stored as from the article that appears to have been the other option.

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Jabbadad says...
6:06pm Thu 11 Oct 12

Quite simple really they should not have been at County Hall anyway, The Tories have perfectly adequate offices of their own in town, and that is where any political canvassing material should go or to the candidates home. Simple as that, No council department should be seen as showing any additional favour to any political party during elections. And the fact that it was suggested to cover them over in order "to avoid drawing attention to their identity" says it all.
So where is your common sense that you frequently strut in these columns?

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New Kid on the Block says...
8:19pm Thu 11 Oct 12

This facility was also open to Mr Udall so no Council Department was showing ang additional favour to any Political Party.
If Mr Udall had used it I doubt that we would have seen any of these complaints from Jabbadad.
As I said before why not use facilities that are available where no cost or inconvenience is incurred by the council. This was an empty space that was not being used for any other purpose.
I think that there are plenty of other things that are of much more importance and your attention to this matter is pure party political mischief making.

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Keith B says...
8:38pm Thu 11 Oct 12

I'm interested that Worcestershire candidates are known but Herefordshire ones are not. Surely we have a single police authority - West Mercia - so is each County to have it's own commissioner? And why are the political parties involved anyway - surely we need non political commissioner. Quite frankly if I see a Party label against any candidate they will not get my vote on principle. I'd just like to know who my candidates are in this important election and what they stand for.

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The answer is 42 says...
10:30pm Thu 11 Oct 12

Seems like any political party would be allowed to do the same thing - no issue, no problem, no story.
There must be more important things going on surely - how about the shock and horror of the tree leaves going brown and falling of?

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Keith B says...
10:43pm Thu 11 Oct 12

3 x 14

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Brummagem Bertie says...
10:47pm Thu 11 Oct 12

There does appear to be an issue here. There are very strict rules in place leading up to an election to prevent public servants and public facilities being used for party political purposes. Those rules appear to have been stretched to the limit, if not broken.
Odd that the Tories are so against public funding of political parties but so in favour of public facilities being used to support their own campaign.

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Jabbadad says...
12:23pm Fri 12 Oct 12

The legalities relating to elections are very explicit and rigid no matter which if any political party you represent, and apply to all aspects of expenses allowed per candidate. And as to the use of this storage at County Hall, there has to be a value contribution, even if not charged. And so it becomes relevant. And in answer to New Kid on the Block he should recall that I have in the past criticised Richard Udall or anyone from any party where it has been called for.

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sugarlump says...
2:41pm Fri 12 Oct 12

it's sunny outside

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®og says...
5:38pm Sat 13 Oct 12

I'm **** off by the government adverts on TV saying "vote for your local Police Commissioner on 15th November" - when most folk don't have a clue who is in the running 'cos nominations haven't closed yet. I tried to find out but only discovered that most of the relevant links from the Worcestershire CC web site were 'broken' - if I can be bothered to vote it will be for the Independent candidate - because I have ZERO faith in the present bunch of politicians.

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ushmush83 says...
4:35pm Mon 15 Oct 12

Outrage shmoutrage. Yeah, that's right.

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rackedoff says...
9:01pm Mon 15 Oct 12

How completely ridiculous for Mr Blackshaw to say this is not meant to be a political appointment. How can it be anything other than that when any independent candidate is expected to commit 5k as a deposit if standing without political backing. It's interesting isn't it, that this 'non political' appointment requires a deposit 10 times greater than that of an independent candidate in a general election. And if it's not political, why is it that the Conservatives are distributing leaflets? Perhaps they'd like to multitask and deliver them for Bill Longmore et al.

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Keith B says...
10:07pm Mon 15 Oct 12

Once again - you all seem to know who is standing in Worcestershire yet for the same post in Herefordshire the candidates have not been declared.

Something is wrong here.

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More Tea Vicar says...
12:58pm Tue 16 Oct 12

Ah, the blessed Worcester News FURY headline again.

In a way, this is a non-story, though it does raise questions about political parties using public resources for their own purposes.

How would the Tories react if, say, Labour, UKIP, the Green etc were to do this on a regular basis?

But the big question is about the elections.

It seems to be a massive amount of money, at any time, let alone a time of cuts. The system is skewed in favour of big party candidates, and against independents and smaller parties.

And the government is creating yet another layer of government and big salaries for political insiders. The fact that Johnny Two Jag Prescott, who seems to have got very rich doing nothing, is applying, should tell you all you need to know.

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batchelorboy says...
9:34pm Tue 16 Oct 12

I don't understand the attention this article has fetched.

I don't care which party wins ... in anything ... as long as they fix this broken country! Crying over leaflets stored in a car park is just ridiculous!

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Keith B says...
9:42pm Tue 16 Oct 12

batchelorboy wrote:
I don't understand the attention this article has fetched.

I don't care which party wins ... in anything ... as long as they fix this broken country! Crying over leaflets stored in a car park is just ridiculous!
It makes one wonder if these sort of people should be given the vote.

It's about the possible winner of the person who is going to run the police in this area corruptly using a publicly funded facility to help with his election. Will his first task to be to order his own arrest?

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Jabbadad says...
9:46pm Tue 16 Oct 12

It must be bliss going through life ignoring rules and regulations. How about accepting that it's okay to drive on the right here in the Worcestershire, some days just because you feel a little continental?

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imustbeoldiwearacap says...
8:43am Wed 17 Oct 12

At last, something to report about re the election of police commissioner! The election looks like to go down as the lowest turnout ever! I don't think West Mercia electorate are ready for this - noone I know has the foggiest idea for what a why we are holding this election. The candidates will in the main be all be part of the parties machines and will have no idea about how to actually run a police force! The only candidates of any worth will be the independents who have personal knowledge of the police service, but the electoral sheep will as usual vote on party lines Not one of the coalition's better ideas (not that I've seen any good ones either!)

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Jabbadad says...
8:51am Wed 17 Oct 12

I totally agree, there has been little information in the press or other medias, and I agree how those without any experience of the police force can even be allowed to stand. There has to be somewhere a political line hiding behind the actions here again.
It should be that if in any election for public office that there has to be a minority of votes cast across the district concerned to make it a true representation of the public's opinions. And if that percentage of the people do not vote then this should be taken as a NO VOTE to the proposals.

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batchelorboy says...
1:32pm Wed 17 Oct 12

Keith B wrote:
batchelorboy wrote:
I don't understand the attention this article has fetched.

I don't care which party wins ... in anything ... as long as they fix this broken country! Crying over leaflets stored in a car park is just ridiculous!
It makes one wonder if these sort of people should be given the vote.

It's about the possible winner of the person who is going to run the police in this area corruptly using a publicly funded facility to help with his election. Will his first task to be to order his own arrest?
OK...

I don't care who wins... in anything... as long as they do their job! I mean, nobody would run for 'election' if they didn't have every intention of doing the best they could do in the role!

Petty squabbling over any election is just pathetic. I'm tired of feeling like my country is falling to pieces... I'm of the impression that whoever has been 'in power' up until now have done a very crap job.

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Keith B says...
5:47pm Thu 18 Oct 12

Jimmy Saville did a really good job as a disc jockey playing records and a good job as a TV host - but maybe not the most appropriate person to host a show where he sat next to children.

What is an election but petty squabbling but how else would you appoint people to the job as a representative police commissioner other than by election - would you let a local landowner choose them (as once happened) or a Lord - or Elton John or the Queen (sorry - same thing).

Your Country isn't falling to pieces - it's better than most and the reason why that is, is that in the end, we settle most things by democracy and the will of the people.

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batchelorboy says...
8:11pm Fri 19 Oct 12

How pathetic to use Jimmy Saville in your argument. This is exactly the petty squabbling I'm talking about.

What's wrong with interviewing for the role, just like any other job! Do we have elections for brain and heart surgeons?? No, and they have our actual lives in their hands!

The will of the people is fading...

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Jabbadad says...
11:03am Sat 20 Oct 12

There are very strict rules when involved in elections, there apply to everyone, they are a legal obligation, and so not petty squabbling, or political point scoring..

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Jabbadad says...
11:04am Sat 20 Oct 12

should read. they apply to everyone,

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Keith B says...
11:14am Sat 20 Oct 12

batchelorboy wrote:
How pathetic to use Jimmy Saville in your argument. This is exactly the petty squabbling I'm talking about.

What's wrong with interviewing for the role, just like any other job! Do we have elections for brain and heart surgeons?? No, and they have our actual lives in their hands!

The will of the people is fading...
mmmm

I can see the logic.

I think Hitler, Stalin, Mugabe, Castro had the same kind of thoughts.

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