23rd July 2016

Wirral Council is a Labour-controlled council and includes the parliamentary seat of Wallasey within its boundaries.

They’re not backwards in coming forward when it comes to publicity, but after noticing they’d become unusually quiet, and concerned that they were unwell, I sent an email to all Labour councillors on 9th July to ask who they’d be backing in the leadership race.

At this time, stalking horse Angela Eagle was the only challenger to Jeremy Corbyn, whilst in the background the finishing touches were being put to Owen Smith’s as yet undeclared bid.

From: Paul Cardin 
Sent: Sat 7/9/2016 9:30 PM
To: Abbey, Ron O. (Councillor); Brightmore, Phillip A. (Councillor); Davies, George (Councillor); Davies, Phil L. (Councillor); Davies, Bill J. (Councillor); Doughty, Paul A. (Councillor); Hackett, Pat (Councillor); Johnson, Treena A. (Councillor); Jones, Adrian ER. (Councillor); Jones, Christine M. (Councillor); Leech, Anita (Councillor); McLachlan, Ann RC. (Councillor); McLaughlin, Moira (Councillor); Meaden, Chris C. (Councillor); Mooney, Bernadette M. (Councillor); Muspratt, Christina (Councillor); Norbury, Tony G. (Councillor); Patrick, Matthew J. (Councillor); Realey, Denise A. (Councillor); Reecejones, Louise A. (Councillor); Roberts, Denise E. (Councillor); Smith, Tony A. (Councillor); Smith, Walter W. (Councillor); Spriggs, Christine (Councillor); Stapleton, Jean V. (Councillor); Sullivan, Michael (Councillor); Walsh, Joe (Councillor); Whittingham, Stuart (Councillor); Williams, Jerry  (Councillor); Williamson, Janette (Councillor); Ward, Warren A. (Councillor); Foulkes, Steve (Councillor); Davies, Angela J.(Councillor); Kenny, Brian M. (Councillor); Stuart, Paul C. (Councillor)
Subject: Eagle to run for leader

Dear Councillors,

May I politely request that you advise the public – hopefully via the WirralInItTogether blog, where I can post the information – who you will be backing in the forthcoming leadership contest, starting on Monday 11th July 2016.

Although there may be more than two candidates I would hope by Monday close of play you will be in a position to update your public accordingly.

Your realistic choices are:

o    Jeremy Corbyn
o    Angela Eagle

As I am making this request in the legitimate and compelling public interest, I look forward to hearing from you soon,

Best regards,

Paul Cardin

p.s. I note that Cllrs M McLaughlin, D Roberts and P Brightmore have already made their intentions public

I’ve had one response so far – from Councillor Reecejones the very next day – who tells me she’ll be supporting Jeremy Corbyn.  As for the remainder, they’ve all ignored my email.

I sent the following reminder to the Council Leader and inveterate, unapologetic, shameless liar (see here, here, here, here, here, and here) Phil Davies on 12th July, which has also been ignored:
From: Paul Cardin
Date: Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 10:54 PM
Subject: Fwd: Eagle to run for leader
To: “Davies, Phil L. (Councillor)” <phildavies@wirral.gov.uk>

Dear Council Leader,

So it’s left to guesswork.  Using my skill and judgment, and my knowledge of who’s done what, how they’ve voted on issues like protecting and paying off abusers, closing down respite centres, (not easy to discover, so of little help), their general public image, who’s blocking me on Twitter, etc. I’ll try to match each councillor with their respective leadership challenger, current leader Jeremy Corbyn or former Pfizer PR man paid an £80,000 salary to lobby on behalf of legitimised drug runners, would-be NHS privatiser, would-be builder of white elephant PFI hospitals, yet recently made over in the easier on the eye form of a pretend ‘lefty’ … Owen Smith:

Abbey, Ron O - Smith

Brightmore, Phillip A - Smith*

Davies, George - Smith

Davies, Phil L - Smith

Davies, Bill J - Smith

Doughty, Paul A - Smith

Hackett, Pat - Smith

Johnson, Treena A - Corbyn

Jones, Adrian ER - Smith

Jones, Christine M - Smith

Leech, Anita - Smith

McLachlan, Ann RC - Smith

McLaughlin - Smith*

Meaden, Chris C - Smith

Mooney, Bernadette M - Smith

Muspratt, Christina - Smith

Norbury, Tony G - Smith

Patrick, Matthew J - Smith

Realey, Denise A - Smith

Reecejones, Louise A - Corbyn**

Roberts, Denise E - Smith*

Smith, Tony A - Smith

Smith, Walter W - Smith

Spriggs, Christine - Corbyn

Stapleton, Jean V - Smith

Sullivan, Michael - Smith

Walsh, Joe - Smith

Whittingham, Stuart - Smith

Williams, Jerry - Smith

Williamson, Janette - Smith

Ward, Warren A - Smith*

Foulkes, Steve - Smith

Davies, Angela J - Smith

Kenny, Brian M - Smith

Stuart, Paul C - Smith

* declared beforehand as ‘Eagle’ (nb: Eagle / Smith  preferences interchangeable as ‘anyone will do’)

So the Smiths have it.  By a landslide.

The above is by no means serious or scientific and is just a bit of fun, if that’s feasible in any collection of words and musings where the name ‘Phil Davies’ is included.

I imagine some may be incorrect e.g. Janette Williamson, but her apparent voting record (also a concern with Angela Eagle and Smithy) and her ongoing failure (despite a promising pre-council showing), to publicly oppose some of the tory-style antics of her leader and those propping him up, raises doubts and only succeeds in giving the watching public yet more cause for concern.

Still, any councillor reading this and wanting to set the record straight can do so by responding, albeit late, to the above email.  The vast majority of you have had this invitation to engage with your public but have spurned it.

I am therefore not expecting any hideously misconceived, doomed at the outset libel writs to come thudding onto my doormat.

p.s. I’ll finish with a daft little tweet from an ambitious, but deluded young fellow from New Ferry – who has a very loose grasp on:

• what the Labour Party is
• how its founding fathers fought tooth and nail to get it off the ground
• the noble ideas it once stood for before Anthony Charles Lynton Blair dismantled it bit by bit, flooding it to the gunnels with selfish careerists, pisspoor lackeys, egotistical charlatans, and bloodthirsty warmongers, 172 of whom think they can usurp the leader, defy democracy and shout louder than the voice of millions of disenfranchised, but newly-invigorated people.

Think again.