More breaking news on the Tory runaway, Nicola Richards MP, front - and it just gets worse and worse ...
Prior to 2019 West Bromwich East was "represented" by Tom "Lazy Tom" Watson (aka "Twatson"), the grotesque Labour thug who is now, thanks to Keir Starmer, raking in the lolly as an unelected legislator in the House of, er, Lards. It is hard to imagine how anyone could be worse than the Rutting Walrus but ...
The General Election of December, 2019 saw a political earthquake with the Labour "Red Wall" being demolished by a Tory blue bulldozer. There were high hopes for two Tory young guns - Shaun Bailey in West Brom West and Richards in WB East. After half a century (yes, FIFTY years) of Labour failure the Tories went on to win a clutch of Council seats.
As I have explained elsewhere, the Tory dawn in Sadders was a false one and has ended in internal strife and outright political failure. On Thursday, a large number of the Conservative Councillors will pay the price at the ballot box. Most of them will not be missed.
Richards's tenure has been remarkable for achieving very little/nothing. She is high-profile in respect of Jewish issues (and there is absolutely nothing wrong in that) although the Jewish "community" in Sandwell is almost non-existent. She and her team - including the loathed Cllr Scott Chapman in Friar Park - have been conspicuous by their absence in important Sandwell matters.
Hardly had the pair become elected than there were whispers that Bailey and Richards hated each other and were incapable of burying their personal differences for the good of the benighted Borough. Us mere mortals wonder why the Party did not bang their hands together and ensure that they behaved, but it was not to be.
Meanwhile, the Boundary Commission was working on proposals to change constituency boundaries and this was going to affect Richard's seat. At first there was a suggestion that her constituency would bring in at least one ward from Warley constituency and that would be one of the rock-solid Labour ones down Smethwick way. Whereas most of the "indigenous" Sandwell population are thick, idle and indifferent to politics, the wards around Smethwick have highly-developed political machines supporting more and more Labour corruption. And Richard's pro-Jewish utterances were unlikely to win her any friends in large sections of the community there notwithstanding the current international situation.
Instead of getting on with representing her constituents Richards decided to run away. It was initially put about that she was "giving-up her seat", but whoever spread this rumour was lying. Instead this awful MP applied for a Party determination that she was "displaced" which the Tories were granting to those whose boundaries were being materially affected by changes, or those with influence who have wafer-thin majorities.
On 14th April, 2023 The Guardian reported that Richards HAD got her displacement. Let's look at that a bit further. By applying for, and being granted, a "displacement" it is absolutely clear that Richards was NOT giving-up her seat but simply putting two-fingers up to the folk of Charlemont & GV, Friar Park, Great Barr with YT, Greets Green & Lyng, Hateley Heath, Newton and West Brom Central who had made the big mistake of voting for her. (It could be argued that she put two-fingers up to the people of the "Sh*thole Seven" wards from the moment she was elected and history will not be kind to her in this regard.)
The decision was made by representatives from (a) the Conservative party board, (b) the 1922 Committee of backbench MP's, and (c) the national convention. You will no doubt, remember that the 1922 Committee (the '22) was the sh*tshow which did such a magnificent job in the election of Liz Truss as Party Leader, and clearly can't organise a p*ss-up in a brewery.
Sandwell Tory sources say that two fellow MP's on the '22, Gary Sambrook (Birmingham Northfield) and Bob Blackman (Harrow East) strongly lobbied on behalf of Richards. There is no public record of any of this deliberation, and I sent press enquiries to the Conservative Party and to Mr Sambrook over 24 hours ago but have yet to receive a response.
It would be curious if Gary Sambrook was involved since he is a relatively local MP. He must surely have realised the political damage that would be done to the Party by Richards running away? No doubt he will explain all in due course.
As far as Blackman is concerned we also cannot say anymore although note that he IS a member, with Richards, of the Conservative Friends of Israel - as is one other member of the '22 who may or may not have been involved in the extraordinary decision.
But whoever WAS involved, the Tory "high command" decided to f*ck over the residents of the Sh*thole Seven wards BEFORE the Boundary Commission had even completed their final deliberation. Why? And why bend over backwards for an MP perceived locally to have a very poor record? Strangely, Tory sources say that one consideration was the toxic relationship between Richards and Shaun Bailey. If this is true - and Solihull Tories please note - this could be understood to mean either that Richards has behaved wholly appropriately and needs to be moved away from a toxic Bailey, or that they are both appalling and the Party couldn't bring them to heel. What it surely can't mean is that the Party thought Richards's behaviour to be so bad they needed to dump her somewhere else!
And remember that all this happened a year ago and before the Tories were in ever-accelerating freefall.
I have said before that there are rumours that Andy Street, the braggart Tory Mayor (at least until this weekend), was involved in all this but he has neither confirmed nor denied this via social media enquiries. What is certainly true is that Street is positively venerated by Solihull Tories.
Read about Street: Ozymandias: Birmingham's Bullsh*tting Mayor via our associated blog:
But soft! What is this? The Boundary Commission published its recommendations in July, 2023 AFTER Richards already won her "displacement". West Brom East constituency becomes "West Bromwich" Constituency. Of the Sh*thole Seven wards, Friar Park and Hateley (aka Hateful) Heath are moved elsewhere but Rowley, Oldbury and Tividale are moved into the new seat. Thus none of the rock-solid Labour wards around Smethwick have been included and, furthermore, since 2019 the Tories have WON Council seats in both Rowley and Tividale wards. The reshuffle should NOT have been a disaster for the incumbent, but for the appalling failures of the Conservatives nationally, and Street locally, which will bring disaster to the Party - starting on Thursday.
No-one in their right mind will vote Conservative in any of the Wards mentioned above (particularly noting the performance of the likes of Fisher, Chapman and Abrahams et al). Meanwhile Richards has tried to bag the supposedly ultra safe seat of Solihull. At least if she does get it AND wins there may not be many - or any- Tory neighbour MP's to fall out with!
In an earlier post the Guido Fawkes website kindly gave me permission to feature their post showing how the Tories are also trying to rig the Solihull selection so that the disastrous Richards does get the gig. Here is the piece again:
For a while there have been widespread rumours that Richards has not only been promised the Solihull gig in a rigged contest, but has actually moved there. And today, Guido Fawkes has published just that:
(Guido might have this very slightly wrong as there was POSSIBLY as many as a pathetic 13 members turned up for this important meeting - out of over 200!)
Local Sandwell Tory sources also tell me that not only was/is Richards wholly ineffective, but she brought no new donors into the local set-up. This is, apparently, something Tory MP's generally do. In fact, sources say she received nearly £50k from local Party funds to boost her own profile before sh*tting on local members and voters. Once again Solihull - you ought to be looking into all this!
I should say that communication with Richards is very difficult. We have tried to confirm the allegations that she received nearly £50k without bringing anything in, and that she has moved to Solihull, via social media but she has not responded.
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