Anne Milton - Guildford MP (and Dipstick)

a•non•y•mous (adj.)

1. Having an unknown or unacknowledged name: an anonymous author.
2. Having an unknown or withheld authorship or agency

cow•ard (n.)

One who shows ignoble fear in the face of danger or pain.

bul•ly (n.)

1. A person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to those in a disadvantaged position.
2. A hired ruffian; a thug.

Continued abuse of the open comments system by people who claim to be impartial (but are so obviously biased that it's painful to watch) will not be tolerated. As fun as it may be to watch them dance around the truth and put their foot in their mouths as they do so, it is very time consuming.

If these people continue to abuse the system, I will have little choice but to make comments for 'members only'. This will require anyone who wishes to make a comment to apply for membership directly via email. Anybody will be free to do so, but it's a bit of a fuss and I'd rather do without this barrier-to-entry, which will discourage the casual visitor from making comments.

However, if the current system continues to be abused in this way I will have little choice.

It should be clear that the Miltonites with their empty bleatings about free speech now threaten the ability of others to have their say on this website.

Currently, anonymous contributions are welcome on this site, but if you make a claim or accusation, you had better be prepared to back it up with evidence, see it investigated, or at the very least put your name to it.

Also, people who read this website have the right to know if certain opinions are driven by political allegiance - or perhaps direct employment. (The Miltonites must agree with this point, otherwise they wouldn't go to so much effort to convince people that I'm working for the Lib-Dems. Which I'm not.)

A 'members only' move will help to enforce this, but I would rather continue with the trust system for now. However, there is already one minor change in place:

Comments are now being closed overnight and/or when I am away or busy.

The reason?

Well, let's hear from one of our 'impartial' contributors:

Whether we support the Tories or not is a private matter and I would ask that you respect peoples right to privacy.

Yet, while they hide behind this screen of anonymity, they take every advantage they get to intimidate those who *do* have the courage to put their name to their opinions, statements and findings.

Just one example: This week, one on our 'impartial' contributors started and continued an ever-so-subtle homophobic thread in their comments, suggesting a more-than-friendly relationship between myself and another contributor. When this contributor - a Lib-Dem supporter and activist - responded with a fair comment about 'family values' hypocrisy within the Tory party he was branded a homophobe and threatened with a Tory press release on the subject.

Whoops: This would suggest the 'impartials' have rather close connection to a Tory party office, wouldn't it? And certainly a local one, otherwise they wouldn't bother targeting a local activist.

Whoops: They didn't realise the man they were branding a homophobe... is gay.

They've done worse, and they know it (the 'worse' comments have since been deleted). The overnight closure is in place to ensure that comments that are designed to intimidate (and go way, *way* over the line in the process) come to my attention immediately.

And I'm sorry, but whether you support the Tories or not *stops* being a private matter the moment you pose as an impartial observer... but being a Tory isn't the primary issue here. (I know many Tories and manage to maintain healthy, friendly and cordial relationships with them. We don't have to avoid talking about politics. We don't even have to avoid talking about Anne Milton... because - sometimes 'off the record' - they agree that she's a dipstick. And it was members of her own party that gave her the nickname 'Princess Pushy'.)

No, the primary issue is being an anonymous, cowardly bully acting on behalf of Anne Milton. (Calm down dears; I said 'behalf', not 'behest'.)

And do you know what? The only people who have spoken consistently in favour of Anne Milton on this website have been... anonymous, cowardly bullies.

Says a lot for her support-base, doesn't it?

Something else that says a lot for her support base is the startling number of Tory activists, councillors and people directly connected to her office via employment or family who posed as 'ordinary members of the public' in her election literature. (Ref: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

I once asked Anne Milton directly about the first such pamphlet that came to my attention. I worded my question very carefully. I asked if *all* of the people concerned were directly connected to the Conservative Party and/or her campaign. This gave her an easy out. Only one would have to have been genuine and she could have said 'no' and got away with it.

But she didn't say 'no'... she simply dodged the question and asked why I was such an angry person. And when questioned by a journalist on this same subject?

A blogger has been having great fun outing party activists who are featured on Mrs Milton's leaflets as local people. "Politicians have to be very careful in this day and age," she said and muttered opaquely that it was possible to use a photograph inadvertently. "I'm not going to talk about this blogger. He's an angry young man."

1. Given how many of these 'impartial' supporters of Anne Milton are (or were) Tory councillors and activists, I would argue that any sensible person would have doubts about anyone claiming to be an 'ordinary member of the public' who supports Anne Milton. On this website or anywhere else.

2. Claiming bias due to party-politics (or anger-management issues) is a ploy used time and again by Milton's team to divert attention away from the facts and/or avoid answering questions on any given subject. Milton has done this herself in the past (see quote above and this fine example), and the 'ordinary members of the public' working to defend her here have *excelled* at it this week.

Short version: The 'impartial' contributors show far-from-impartial behaviour. Past form would suggest that they only wish to remain anonymous because they don't want to reveal a close association with Anne Milton... but any judgement on their status as Tory members, activists, councillors or staff-members, I leave to you. The trust system remains in place... for now. Comments will be closed overnight and/or when I've got better things to do than battle with gutless time-wasters.

Cheers all.

Labels: housekeeping

Well, well, well... look what I happened upon when I was directed to a pamphlet containing surgery details that went out to selected members of the constituency. Here's a picture of Anne's 'Bramley Conservative Action Team'... featuring Councillor Richard Gates:

Now take a look at this pre-election pamphlet which has a large page headed; Why local people think Anne Milton will be Guildford’s next MP

Not only do we see the lovely Katherine, we also see... Councillor Richard Gates!

Of course, he's not billed as 'Councillor Richard Gates', just 'Richard'... but at least they gave voters a sporting chance of spotting a ringer by using the same picture this time.

It also needs to be noted that:

1. Being a councillor does not stop one from being local
2. They were right; she *did* become Guildford’s next MP

Of course, in the mind of Miltonites, this completely negates the significance of this little deception.

Labels: tory ringers

(NOTE - this post was updated at 14:08 27 July in order to clarify the difference between 'Local Issues' and the 'Community News' pamphlets.)

Well, that certainly put a cat among the pigeons...

On Monday I published this post on Anne Milton's failure to publicise surgery details and anonymous 'contributors' came from out of the woodwork to defend Anne's position.

Well, actually, what they mostly did was attack mine. Their 'arguments' ranged from unsubstantiated claims that I'm a member of the Liberal Democrats to assurances that the appointment policy was due in part to unstable people like me wanting to do the poor woman harm. They even went on to suggest that I was the thin edge of the terror wedge. But they did nothing to disprove my actual point.

Well, they *almost* did, but I'll get onto that foot-in-mouth moment in a jiffy. Firstly, here is what has been established so far:

FACT #1 - Anne Milton had a 'no appointment' policy when she held psudo-surgeries before the election, but she has an appointment policy now.

Best defence from the Miltonites: Now she's a 'high profile' MP, she is a target. Sue Doughty required appointments. Wahhhh!

FACT #2 - Anne Milton publicised her pseudo-surgeries heavily - even to the point of advertising in the Surrey Ad - before the election, but has failed to do so now she's been elected.

Best defence from the Miltonites: Two anonymous contributors (make that 3 - see below) claimed to have received literature through their letterbox that contained surgery details. Again, I'll get onto that in a jiffy.

FACT #3 - Upon becoming an MP, Anne Milton did not go anywhere near the lengths Sue Doughty once went to to publicise her advice surgeries. Within weeks of becoming our MP, Sue Doughty put out posters showing dates and localities and the number to call to book an appointment and had them distributed to local public libraries and/or posted on public noticeboards. Anne Milton has failed to do the same.

Best defence from the Miltonites: A suggestion that 'Lib-Dem thugs' had been tearing Anne Milton's surgery notices down.... but no claim that they were published or put there in the first place.

FACT #4 - Anne Milton does not mention the current availability of surgeries on her website (unless you count the references made to them in PDF versions of Conservative leaflets that 'tomtom' argues put them 'in the public domain') and she certainly doesn't list dates and locations as many other MPs do.

Best defence from the Miltonites: "What other MP's (sic) do is their business."

On that last point, I'd just like to say that this makes Anne less than extraordinary. In fact, it makes her efforts seem less than ordinary. Moving on...

All of these 'defences' were buried amongst a load of accusatory hyperbole and diversion. When asked to put up or shut up on any particular claim or accusation (be it on-topic or not), they failed to put up... then failed to shut up. One anonymous contributor was so intent on disrupting debate, he (or she) had to be moderated. Then the new diversion was a load of bull about the right to free speech. Anonymous contributions are welcome on this site, but if you make a claim or accusation, you had better be prepared to back it up with evidence, see it investigated, or at the very least put your name to it.

Now, as I type this and prepare to address the aforementioned mystery-pamphlet, another anonymous Miltonite has piped up and claimed to have received this same literature outlining surgery details. So that's three people, all of them stolid supporters of Anne Milton, and all recipients of this same mysterious pamphlet. That they refuse to show me.

I'd very much like to see a copy of this pamphlet and/or learn more about where it was distributed, as circumstances would suggest that they were delivered only to members of the Conservative Party and/or members of Guildford Conservatives.

If this is the case, then the MP who pledged to serve *all* of Guildford has just been caught out giving her Tory supporters preferential treatment on advice surgeries.

I've seen a few different versions of the local Tory newsletter 'Local Issues', and they do mention surgeries. You can also see another circular sent to some residents of Bramley here, and yes, this also contains the following message: Anne holds regular surgeries. To make an appointment please call 01483 300330.

No dates, no details... but enough, you may argue, to be informed enough to ask about dates and locations. (*If* you were lucky enough to receive this and/or if you've signed up for the Guildford Conservatives. But you *definitely* will have received these details if you were a happy recipient of the former, which is a Guildford Conservatives newsletter.)

None of these anonymous contributors seem willing to confirm it, but it would certainly appear that one of these items this is the literature they're referring to.

And when the implications of what they'd inadvertently revealed hit them - that's when the anonymous Miltonites went well and truly batshit. It was Diversion City.

They ducked, they dived, they questioned my sanity and called this a hate campaign... before finally settling on the suggestion that perhaps Anne was putting out literature about surgery details region by region, and they just haven't reached letterboxes in my area yet. Unless, of course, you've signed up for the Guildford Conservatives.

They even suggested that I wasn't doing my part because I failed to publish those details here on this website (when Anne has clearly published them on her website somewhere in the back pages stashed inside a range of PDF files).

I can do better than that, folks... but first I'd like to point out that when I called Anne Milton's office on Monday and requested future surgery dates, only one was available (if you want to book an appointment for this date, please call 01483 300330):

12th of August at Sutherland Memorial Hall

I was assured that no further dates would be set until Anne came back from holiday.

So, if a pamphlet arrives on my doorstep outlining these dates:

Surgeries are arranged by appointment through Anne Milton's office in Guildford. To book an appointment at one of Annes surgeries please call 01483 300330 or email anne@annemilton.com Anne's next Surgeries are: 8th July - Bramley Village Hall, Hall Road, Bramley. - (17.15 - 19.00) 15th July - Guildford Conservative Association, 15 London Road, Guildford. GU1 2AA (09.00 - 11.00) 22nd July - Guildford Borough Council Offices, Meillmead - (16.00 - 18.00)

... then it's a bit sodding late, because it's now the 27th of July and my flux capacitor is in the shop for repairs.

If a pamphlet magically arrives with new dates in the next week/month, then it's the A281 all over again. Anne Milton will have promised, suggested, claimed or provided a certain level of service before the election, and then failed to deliver the same after she was elected... until she was shamed into doing so.

In my view, Milton has tried to bluff her way through and minimise her workload by simply reducing the number of people who were aware of surgeries being held in their area at a suitable time/date. Unless of course, they're members of Guildford Conservatives, in which case they've had a fair shot of finding out the details for themselves.

Now, onto me doing my bit.... here's my draft for a poster promoting the only available date we have at the moment:

If anyone from Anne's office wishes me to revise the design or content before publication and distribution, then they have but to ask. Of course, I could simply publish it here and claim that this offer was in the public domain, but I'll do the polite thing and email them directly.

If they fail to get back to me within 3 days, then I'll have to assume that we're good to go. Unless one of Anne Milton's supporters (sorry, best make that 'independent observers') wishes to have a say. In which case, they will need to make their requests for revision directly via email. For security reasons, natch.

Labels: inaction

If you take a look at the now-infamous March 2005 pamphlet (Ref: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) you'll notice something rather odd.

In it, Mike Nevins, Christine Stacey, Dennis Paul, Cyril Bailey, Andrew Povey, Tony Rooth, Waqas Ahmad, Nick Brougham and Maurice Byham all make the same promise: "To hold surgeries in your area and keep you informed regularly."

But Anne doesn't make this promise herself.

This is especially curious as - since her selection - Anne had been holding pseudo-surgeries with the help of such people as Councillor Andrew Hodges and neighbouring MP Sir Paul Beresford. These were mostly held in the cafe of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. Many were advertised in the Surrey Ad and the link above is an advance-notice post on the guildfordconservatives.com website (you might want to remember that bit for later). The presence of an actual elected official was required so someone could actually follow up the casework. I've heard that a successful complaint was made to the Speaker about Beresford being in breach of parliamentary etiquette as a result, but this post isn't about pseudo-surgeries from Anne's time play-acting as our MP; it's about actual surgeries during Anne's time 'acting' as our actual MP.

There have been some, but you can't be blamed for missing them, because the details appear to have been posted on the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard!"

In Sue Doughty's time as our MP, I got used to seeing surgery and contact details posted on Parish Council noticeboards and on the public noticeboards in our local public libraries.

But since Anne Milton became our MP, there have been no such details posted at any of these locations.

Now, to be fair, this isn't something that MPs have to do, it's just a useful service they can provide for constituents if they so wish.

They also don't have to publish details of upcoming surgeries on their website... but many do, and the first thing Tom Watson and Boris Johnson asked for was a page that addressed this.

In Anne's case, the best I could find online was the following list of surgery dates posted to cranleighvillage.net

Surgeries are arranged by appointment through Anne Milton's office in Guildford. To book an appointment at one of Annes surgeries please call 01483 300330 or email anne@annemilton.com Anne's next Surgeries are: 8th July - Bramley Village Hall, Hall Road, Bramley. - (17.15 - 19.00) 15th July - Guildford Conservative Association, 15 London Road, Guildford. GU1 2AA (09.00 - 11.00) 22nd July - Guildford Borough Council Offices, Meillmead - (16.00 - 18.00)

There was also this at guildford.gov.uk:

Anne Milton holds surgeries regularly in Guildford. To book an appointment to see Anne at one of her surgeries please call 01483 300330.

Please note that both detail the need for an appointment. Again, to be fair, there is nothing in the rules that requires MPs to conduct walk-in surgeries or allow for walk-in approaches... but it needs to be noted that Anne held a walk-in policy before the election, and now appears to hold an appointment-only policy.

It also needs to be noted that there is no mention whatsoever of current/future surgery details, how to get them or how to make an appointment at annemilton.com or guildfordconservatives.com (which are one and the same site). There's no mention of surgeries on the upcoming events page; there is no invitation to make an enquiry or appointment on the 'contact us' page. The only mention of any surgery on this website is the aforementioned pseudo-surgery (screengrab here). The pseudo-surgery where they state that "No appointment is necessary."

And Anne Milton certainly didn't go so far as the advertise the most recent dates in the local newspaper. As she did before the election.

Didn't Anne campaign on a platform of listening and acting? Didn't she and her cohorts insist time and again that she would make an extraordinary MP (as opposed to ordinary one) and would - at the very least - bring great enthusiasm to the job?

I'm not seeing a lot of enthusiasm here. All I see is constituents being kept in the dark and/or at arm's length.

(FYI, Anne is away on a well-earned holiday at the moment, but the next surgery is scheduled for the 12th of August at Sutherland Memorial Hall. Currently there are no further surgery dates available.)

Labels: inaction

Cheadle Liberal Democrats: The Liberal Democrats have today exposed a misleading campaign leaflet produced by Stephen Day's negative Conservative campaign. The Conservative leaflet highlights five people who all say that they will be voting or supporting Stephen Day. But the names of the five people do not feature on the local voting list.

Ten quid says they feature on the Tory payroll, though. (Ref: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Here's one from the flipside from yesterday's Independent: One leaflet, entitled "Shame on you Mr Hunter", highlights the fact that the Liberal Democrat candidate lives a few miles away in the neighbouring constituency. Tory posters are free from party branding and include the slogan "living here" - a gibe at Mr Hunter, who complained: "The Conservatives have run a nasty and personal campaign."

As they did here. While weeping ever-so-convincingly over 'personal attacks' from this weblog.

On the small matter of locale, one might be tempted to quote Anne Milton, who was once heard to say; "It's hardly Tierra del Fuego, now is it?"

Or perhaps one could consider the words of Sue Doughty: Mrs Doughty said of Mrs Milton: "She keeps saying she lives in Guildford. She has a one-bedroom flat in Guildford. She also has a family of four with a very highly paid husband. We don't believe that the family is squeezed into the one-bed flat." This column protested that it is quite unfair to blame Mrs Milton for declining to uproot her family before she has even won the seat. But Mrs Doughty was not to be mollified. "We've never had a Tory live in this constituency. They've always taken flats.

As I pointed out in my post about Anne Milton's cosy little flat: The address must be your current home address, not a business address. The address does not need to be in the constituency in which you intend to stand; it could be anywhere in the country.

So she could have used her Reigate address (say it with me again; "It's hardly Tierra del Fuego, now is it?") but she didn't. Why? Because she campaigned posing as a local. More than that, actually... she did her very best to give the impression that she was the local MP.

(SIDEBAR: Did Anne Milton use the Tierra del Fuego line again and again and again, or did she lift it from Damian Whitworth... and then use it again and again and again?)

Labels: 'local'

Here are two highlights from Anne Milton's recent participation in a debate on local taxation...

Highlight No. 1

Anne Milton:

I have a list of all the taxes favoured by Liberal Democrats, who love taxes because they think that they keep people in their place. They are: VAT on new homes, stealth inheritance tax, speed camera tax, rubbish tax, plastic bag tax, parking taxes to shop, parking taxes on business, land tax, income tax at a new regional rate and a new local rate, hotel taxes, 4x4 taxes. I could go on...

Phil Woolas (Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister):

Keep going.

Anne Milton:

I could, but the fact remains...

Ahahahahahahaha! I'm sorry, but I've read this a number of times now, and it still amuses me.

Highlight No. 2

Anne Milton:

I have campaigned yearly on the council tax increases in Guildford. I even took to the streets and marched from one end of my constituency to the other. It is a shame that people do not take to the streets more often.

Or in greater numbers, for that matter.

I present, for the enjoyment of participants and observers, a photo of Anne Milton's Great March Across Guildford:

UPDATE - And here is another, where Amme can be clearly seen. Walking next to campaign director concerned citizen Grant Griffiths, by the looks of things:

Labels: ignorance, publicity