Anne Milton - Guildford MP (and Dipstick)

This weblog is shutting down for a couple of weeks so I can focus on The Political Weblog Project.

Oh, but here is a message for Dennis Paul to tide you over.

PS - Anne Milton appears to have a new website on the way. I'm sure it will be quite wonderful to look at.

Labels: david cameron, dennis paul, housekeeping, mike chambers

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. This poster appears on a local council noticeboard and in the local public library. It's a fair bet that this action has been taken throughout the constituency...

That's twice now that an issue has been raised by this weblog, shaming Anne Milton into action.

That's twice now that such an issue has been raised by this weblog and subsequently - belatedly - acted upon by Anne Milton's office... when they have yet to show the courage or courtesy required to acknowledge the role this weblog has played and/or reply to my emails.

It's also interesting to note how many anonymous 'impartial' contributors have come charging in demanding to know what the big deal is... when all the while it was treated as a bloody big deal by Anne Milton and/or those at her office.

She was clearly in the wrong and she knew it... otherwise the response would not have been so immediate.

Also, the following has not changed:

1. Anne Milton had a 'no appointments' policy before the election, and has an 'appointments only' policy now.

2. There are still no dates or locations listed. Anywhere. This is an important accessibility issue.

3. Despite promoting her pseudo-surgeries heavily before the election, upon becoming an MP, Anne Milton did not go anywhere near the lengths Sue Doughty once went to to publicise her now-official surgeries. Until she was shamed into doing so. (Sorry, but she cannot undo this without a time machine.)

4. Tories got first dibs on surgeries following the election.

That last bit may not have been deliberate, just a 'happy accident' involving (scant) surgery details included - perhaps even as an afterthought - in a local Tory newsletter when they were not being publicised properly (or at all) elsewhere.

See also:
It was the blog what done it
Surgery details
Surgeries II
Surgeries III

(Oh, and I'd just like to mention that - were this website simply a personal attack by an unstable hate-filled individual - then this issue would not have been resolved in this way. Instead, the campaign would have begun with graffiti in local public toilets reading; For a good time call 01483 300330...)

Labels: inaction

See also; Surgery details (July 25) and Surgeries II (27 July)

At the latest Bramley Parish Council meeting (28th July) a request came from Anne Milton's office that the BPS website carry "details of surgeries throughout her constituency". The wording was quite odd; it was almost as if they wanted to back-date the request for some strange reason.

I think we can assume that similar requests have now gone out to other regional sites of this type (where they'll probably fare better than they will with BPC, who tend to avoid party politics).

But why these websites? Why not her own?

Well, I'm glad you asked...

Over the weekend, a new page that actually acknowledges the existence of surgeries has appeared on the guildfordconservatives.com website.

Future dates and locations have yet to be posted, but this would seem to be progress. Of the A281 variety.

It's a sad state of affairs when an MP who won her seat on promises of action over and above that of the former MP has to be publicly provoked into taking simple measures like this.

I get the distinct impression that - like Nick St Aubyn, the Tory MP who served before Sue Doughty - Milton has little intention of doing much in the constituency aside from an opening barrage of questions meant to 'address' some major election promises (Gesta Non Verba, anyone?) and she will take what measures she can to avoid this (primary!) aspect of her role.... *if* she feels she can get away with it.

Well, I don't plan to let her get away with it. She's here to serve us; not use us as her entry-ticket to Willy's Westminster Chocolate Factory.

I fully intend to see that she works for us to the full extent of her somewhat limited capacity.

And if she thinks that she can win the seat a second time without moving into the constituency, she's got another think coming.

Labels: inaction