Anne Milton - Guildford MP (and Dipstick)

The Times - Battle of the Guildford gals: It's a Tory-Lib Dem marginal and the top two candidates don't get along. Believe me, these babes hate each other. "Have you seen the website?" Doughty, who is defending the seat, had asked me gleefully over a plate of pate in the bland corporate dining area of the nearby Holiday Inn. Yes, I've seen it. Doughty is referring to a local blogger's site entitled Anne Milton: Nurse, Mother, Dipstick. An entire website dedicated to trashing - with spite, nastiness and some acuity - Milton's campaign to return Guildford to the Tory embrace which, these past four years apart, has held it tight for most of a century. Not the most cruel allegation on the site is that Milton resembles the popular entertainer Julian Clary. Worse, it is revealed that almost all of the local people photographed in Tory leaflets praising Milton are, actually, Conservative activists. "The picture of 'Andrew from Christchurch', for example, is in fact Andrew from Christchurch, the Tory deputy leader of the council," says Doughty, smothering a snigger. And the blogger has reproduced fairly risible leaflet pictures of Milton "taking action on the environment" (picking up some litter), "taking action on families" (talking to a lady with a pushchair), "taking action on immigration" (hitting a black person with a claw hammer). Actually, I made the last one up. There are no black people in Guildford, or almost none. To her credit, Milton takes it all in good heart, even if she suspects the Liberal Democrats of having some clandestine involvement (which they deny).

Clandestine? Try overt. There's Sue herself letting me know via a national newspaper about yet another ringer in this pamphlet (PDF). Damn it, she was supposed to deliver this message via coded entries in the *crossword*. Maybe if we keep quiet about it, no-one will notice.

Anyway, let's get to the meat of this article, which is the journalist (Rod Liddle) being just a *little* bit sexist. And a bigger bitch than he paints Sue or Anne to be in the process.

Get close to any hard-fought campaign and you'll see the same level of personal/emotional conflict; it doesn't matter if the candidates are male, female, or a little bit of both (insert needlessly cruel comment about the Conservative candidate's Adam's apple here).

Oh, go deeper into the article and you will happen across a 'nail on the head' moment. Sue Doughty is praised for being "a fine and principled politician with a pretty impressive CV from within the public and private sector."

While the best that can be said of Milton is that she's feisty and has the common touch. Arguably good qualities for winning votes, but not for doing the actual job. And substance is what it's about, folks.

So far, this blog has revealed racism, deception and outright lies at the heart of Anne Milton's campaign. And what is quite possibly a serious breach of electoral guidelines. In the space of about four weeks. One can only wonder what she'll get up to over the space of four years if given the opportunity to 'serve' as an MP.

Labels: tory ringers