This is the part of my 'Live from th...' posting that has sent ripples through the Labour group.....
Derique, it was alledged, had received some last-minute but intensive, and very selective, door knocking help from a group of enthusiastic young labour voting asians.
If the rumour is true, it seems a sad indictment of todays politics that hearts, and hard work can be so easily mown down by a busload of mobile activists".
So, as Caz has focused upon individual words and added an interpretation of her own to them, I'll need to deal with them in point order before moving on to the origin of the rumour....and that's the bit that every is waiting for, allegedly.
I have to say I was one of the volunteers helping Derique Montaut that night canvassing and I can categorically state there were no such people in the team
Actually, I'm of the impression that the verbal statement made at the count was referring to either the morning or afternoon of polling day. This might be sloppy use of language on my part, for which I apologise.....I'm not a paid hack afterall :-[
As many rumours contain just a seed of truth, perhaps Caz could tell us whether her
'No such people in the team' statement holds true for the entirety of polling day?. Not that
I think there's anything wrong with having
'such people' canvassing a ward with such a diverse mix of ethnicity.
Unfortunately, Derique did not have any young, enthusastic, Labour voting Asians in the group
Shame really, it would have perfect sense and would have been be quite normal to do so, but why reinforce the
'no such people' statement?.
None of the group were "selected" by Derique to canvas on his behalf.
I don't believe either the rumour, or my reporting of it here deliberately suggested that he had. Let's look at the exact sentence I used.
had received some last-minute but intensive, and very selective, door knocking help
Maybe it's ambiguous....maybe not, I'm prepared to accept literary criticism of it, (I'm not a journo remember), but my understanding of the verbal statement was that
doors were being
selectively knocked upon, i.e those householders that could almost be relied upon to vote Labour, just as long as they could be encouraged along to the polling station.
As far as I am aware we all volunteered. Most of the electorate I met that day also fully supported Derique and Labour, and this attitutude was reflected in the voting.
My added bold emphasis. Earlier you said
"that night", so does your statement hold true for
both day
and night?
May I suggest the one responsible for this rumour see an optician not least because the children are both white and British.
Steady, you'll have the BNP quoting you somewhere or other ;)
Do you know where this rumour started?
Yes, I do. 
But before we get to that, the following statements made by Caz need correcting:
Someone is telling you all porkies and you have all been duped. I do not believe this kind of rumour is of any help in raising Karen Leakey's profile or in highlighting her efforts. Is is more of a sad indictment of her supporters and the party she represents.
This is indicative of the circular and self perpepuating belief amongst the Labour group that anything, and anybody criticising a Labour politician, or Labour activity must be, by default, a Tory plot.
Labours 'antibody reaction' to uncomfortable comment is to smear whover made the comment.....but
not to
properly examine the circumstances of how it was made....
...and the Labour group
especially don't like it when they are the ones being scrutinised, for the rumour mongering they instigated in Moredon, Walcot, Parks and Toothill recently.If anyone from the Labour group present at the Oasis count would care to respond to my earlier invitation to send me photos, particularly of the Central counting table, I might be able to point the finger with considerable accuracy, but they haven't, and I don't in all honesty expect them to.
Let's not forget that there were members of two
other political parties at the count that night, the Liberal Democrats and the party that Labour-dare-not-speak-it's-name. It's possible, indeed plausible, that it suits the local Labour group to seek to deliberately lay blame at the Torys door, smear me on the way past and knife Talkswindons' tyres into the bargain, let's face it, recently Geoff Reid, Talkswindon and the local Conservative group have been shining the bright light of scrutiny onto the labour group, and they simply don't like it.
So lets see the Labour groups photos eh?.
Now we get to the part that causes me a wry smile......
Perhaps the Tory propoganda team should get their facts right before making such allegations. Maybe it is hard for them to move away from writing pure fiction.
The inference here is clear. Caz would have any
casual reader believe that I am authoring
pure fiction on behalf of the Tory Propaganda machine, if such a thing even exists.
A casual observer could easily conclude that I must be pro-tory because I spend a fair amount of time scrutinising, and commenting on the Labour groups recent activities.....but a more serious reader of Talkswindon would probably reach a far different conclusion and a drive-by smearing by a Labour volunteer probably won't change that opinion, because they will see it for what it is.
But, just for the record and to eliminate any doubt about this, I am not, nor have I ever been a member of the Conservative party.
I have never been to a Conservative rally, even though one was held just yards from my home two weeks ago, yet I have been to several Labour meetings.
I have never met a Conservative MP, yet I recently attended David Millibands event at New College Swindon. David, as I'm sure TS readers will know, is a Labour minister.
I paid into the political levy of my trade union when I was still a member.
I have voted Labour twice in the last three general elections, (care to guess which one I didn't vote Labour in?).
Yes. The truth is awful really.....I am a recovering Labour voter, one of a growing number of ex-labour voters who is sick of spin, sick of smear and sick of rotten government, whether it be nationally or local.
Swindon used to be Labour to the core..... but now has only a dozen councillors. Go figure.....
The Labour party has been struck with political leprosy...and with every new crisis it created for itself its body suffered a fresh spasm. Each spasm causes bits to fly off.....thankfully I was thrown clear in the early days.
'Bits' have been recently thrown clear in Swindon too.
Andy Harrison, John Taylor, David Wren, Sinead Darker, Peter Mallinson, Mavis Childs and now David Glaholm.... 7 councillors....either resigned or joined the Conservative party.
Do the labour group regard them as turncoats?, or people of good heart, sound conscience and solid principles who were also sick of spin, sycophancy and terrified by Labours shift away from democracy and social justice and sprinting headlong towards elected dictatorships and State control......once again, go figure
So there we are. I'm not a Tory and Talkswindon isn't a Tory forum either, if you want to visit a forum owned and run by a Tory visit Justin Tomlinsons
www.swindontalk.com Labour readers will be surprised, the Swindontalk forum isn't rabidly pro-tory either, even though it's owned by one, and populated by several more.....'Labour owned' means 'Labour managed content' in Labour-land, but forums just don't survive like that in the real world. Try visiting a Labour forum and see if there's much genuine discussion going on..... or whether the stench of censorship is prevalent ;) I'd give you the urls, but I deleted them in disgust when I realised how closely monitored, moderated and censored they are.
Ever wondered why there's no moderators here, and no censorship?......again, go figure.
....but this forum, the forum you're reading is a .org and it doesn't censor, moderate or otherwise alter it's content to suit any political party, person or commercial advertiser and doesn't have to sensationalise anything to sell copy like a newspaper. It's content is provided purely by the membership, although it's pleasing to be able to report that it is now a hugely well-read forum whose readers far, far outnumber its membership.
This is because it's a bloody good forum and the members should be quite proud of themselves.
I'm glad you're here Caz, I really am, because it's about time the Labour group started answering questions about it's recent behaviour, and arguing their own case if and when they've been wronged. This Derique Montaut business will resolve itself one way or the other. If what you say is correct. I'm sure Deriques election expenses will be squeaky clean and there won't be any receipts for minibus hire in Reading or Southampton, and I'm sure no witnesses will step forwards to say they saw non existant minibuses disgorging non existant volunteers onto the streets of central...... time will tell.
Incidentally, you'd be surprised how many of the Labour group send me messages telling me how much they enjoy reading Talkswindon, but worry about being bollocked by their own group if they contribute here. They want to, but daren't, and that's sad.
I'm hoping your presence will encourage others to join in too, so thank you
And finally.....
The rumour, if it was a rumour, was stated quite openly, and quite loudly very close to the central counting table just a few seconds after the paper count result was released.
If members would like to send me any photos you have of the count, I'd be pleased to look through them and see if I can't identify our rumour monger.
