First to explain I am a Labour party member and thus I am not independent on these comments.
MP
Pheasey is part of the Walsall South constituency which Bruce George (Labour) has held for 36 years until he stepped down recently. The seat is solid labour thanks to the great work Bruce has took part in and the nature of the seat. It is strange though that both Walsall seats are solid labour but the council has been Tory for many years.
2009 Results
Despite a strong swing from Tory to Labour Valerie Vaz held onto Walsall South with a reduced majority to become Walsall’s first women MP
Valerie Vaz 16,211
Labour
Richard Hunt 14,456
Conservative
Murli Sinha 5,880
Liberal Democrat
Derek Bennett 3,449
UK Independence Party
Gulzaman Khan 482
Christian Party
Mohammed Mulia 404
Independent
Majority 1,755
Turnout 40,882 63.1%
Councillors
Some History – Pheasey has always been considered a swing ward, in my lifetime it was rare for any party to hold all three seats. However in 2004 the wards had to be withdrawn primary Pheasey was too small and we gained what is known as the Daisy Bank area, which is solid Tory. We then went from a swing seat to Tory majorities of 1000
Current councillors are
Mike Bird – Conservative – Current Walsall Leader
Adrian Andrew – Conservative – Deputy Leader
Chris Towe – Conservative
It is worth noting none of these live on Pheasey and the case of Mike Bird is interesting. He was de-selected from neighbouring safe Tory seat of Streetly. During this time I mentioned there was review of the boundary wards and recommended part of the Hundred Acre Estate in Streetly should become part of Pheasey Ward. Mike was less then complementary about Pheasey but once we were made safe Tory, guess what he turned up, make up your own minds on that.
Ian good to find your blog and will be putting right a few inaccuracies on you blog.
You are clearly not that informed about the whole area as the part that was joined to Pheasey Ward, the original ward that I and Cllr Towe were elected to, is called Orchard Hills. Daisy Bank is a very small are of it and considering the UKIP candidate lives there, Bruce George lives there and a previous labour election agent lives there (and from canvass returns) I would hardly call it solid Tory and I have to inform you that you are under the same misconception as some of our own colleagues that Orchard Hills is solid Tory – it is not. From canvassing and also the correlation between the reduced turnout in the ward and the reduced vote for Labour, Lib Dem and UKIP demonstrates that the area is not solid Tory.
Your comments that we do not live in the ward – many councillors of ALL parties do NOT live in the ward they represent and it is disingenuous to criticise us when the Labour Candidate in the last 3 local elections has been from Darlaston – slightly further away than where I originally lived, incidentally I now live within approximately a mile of the ward boundary. The last Labour Councillor to defend (lose) her seat in Pheasey did not live in the ward either.
Labour came 3rd in the last local election which is unheard of yet still two thirds of the ward is the original Pheasey Ward – can you explain how the boundary change contributed to that?
I hope this clarifies some of the inaccuracies in your reporting – I look forward to some accurate debating with you.
Adrian
Sorry PS. It was not Cllr Bird that was critical of Pheasey it was Councillor Douglas-maul (a former pheasey councillor) who was expressing a personal view many years ago
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for the reply
there are a number of issues there to be addressed.
1) Labour voting, you are fully aware that before the boundary review, Pheasey was a fully self contained ward which was a marginal and now solid Tory. Are you saying within the nominal boundaries of Pheasey something changed ?
Also you will be aware of let’s say the ‘Newman factor’ which I believe has affected our vote greatly
2) It is worth noting the last time the Tories put up a local candidate, Barbara lost. Maybe you are right local candidates do not matter, maybe the brutal fact is that there are not enough memebers of either party based locally who could/want to stand. However I am consisent on this how can a councillor represent an area he/she does not live in or experience of apart from making an effort to drive in ?
3) Would you not agree that all of us in Pheasey consider ourselves Brummies ? The vast majority of our lesiure and work activites for most take place in Birmingham and should you not as a local representative be looking at the next boundary review to move Pheasey into Birmingham ? I feel sorry for the residents of Orchard Fields, your last leaflet was all about Pheasey itself, little mention of OH and lets face it neither residents on either side really mix in terms of social activities or even shared amenties.
Ian the turnout in the Orchard Hills is in 2008 went down substantially yet I still won with an increased majority and I recognise only a slightly increased vote. I maintain with you, and to be fair some of my own Tory colleagues, that it is not Orchard Hills that has made the ward ‘safe’ Tory. From my experience it is not a safe Tory seat. Certainly not in the traditional sense of Streetly or Paddock. I am proud to say that I was elected to the ‘self contained’ Pheasey Ward and yes I think something has changed over the last 10 years something much deeper than can be discussed over a blog – more a pint!
The Newman factor was a big issue in 2002 and certainly 2003. In 2002 it cost us the seat and 2003 it cost you the seat. Bill, bless him, would have done more damage to both parties as straight Ind rather than joining UKIP (sorry Steve but it is true). Bill was a great advocate for Pheasey Park Farm.
I think Ian that many of your own Councillors do not represent the area they live in and Harrower (from PPF) has tried to get elected in Pelsall and in Rushall over the last 2 years and your candidate in this year was from The Butts. Am I to understand that you voted for Steve as he was the only candidate from PPF?
Ian if we are to have a sensible political discussion on this blog silly snide comments about my ‘effort’ to drive into the area are not well placed if you really think that is the only connection I have had with PPF over the last 11 years you are not as well informed as I thought. I was trying to illustrate that PPF is part of my life other than being a Local Councillor; perhaps I need to be more explicit in future.
Ian in terms of leaflets we do sometimes ensure that news that is more relevant to Orchard Hills is reported to them and news more PPF based is reported in the area. We understand that the new boundaries imposed by your govt 6 years ago are not great and we have to deal with different areas in similar but not the same ways.
I would add Adrian that it does you guys down not to have an internet presence, in today’s social world something like this takes minutes to set up and is a very useful tool to communicate with as we are so distant from the centre.
How come I know more about Birmingham council issues than Walsall, though catching up fast.
Adrian, one final thing !!
Even though it is obvious about my political bias I am quite happy for you to have a regular blog piece on here, totally unedited, adds to the flavour !
I might take you up on that offer – it would be good to have the debate
I would like that Adrian, debate is not to be afraid of an I believe for too many years Pheasey has been left aside by being too far from the centre. Now I know Darlaston feel the same and maybe Aldridge as well, in many Ways Walsall is a funny old place.
If you have news you wish to publicise let me know, I will be putting out Valerie’s surgery times for example, happy to extend that to you guys.
I also hold the same to Steve as well
Hi Ian/Adrian,
Walsall South is no longer a solid Euro-Labour seat Ian. Following the General Election result two weeks ago it is now a Euro-Labour marginal Constituency.
I agree with Adrian with regard to voting trends and canvass returns in Orchard Hills. It was the only part of Pheasey/Park Farm where i saw Euro-Labour posters in windows during the recent elections; and i’d say that without Labour votes in Orchard Hills and Nether Hall Park, Euro-Labour would have finished in fourth place in the local election behind the Lib-Dems.
Because Euro-Labour havn’t had a REAL local candidate in Pheasey/Park Farm since John Prescott signed his name to the documentation to allow Bovis to dump hundreds of homes in OUR green belt Great Barr Park – because Euro-Labour havn’t campaigned overly hard in the ward from that date – and because the last two Euro-Labour candidates, nor any Euro-Labour counting agents have bothered to turn up at the last two ward counts; local party activists, such as yourself, seem to have only a patchy idea at best about voter trends and canvass returns in/for the area.
Many residents in Park Farm and Pheasey (still) feel as though they were stabbed in the back by Euro-Labour and Prescott over what happened in Great Barr Park.
Your party locally had fair warning about what would happen politically if the Bovis overspill scheme were ever approved. Bill Newman and Darren Porter for example, both former Labour Party members, repeatedly spoke out on this incendiary subject on many occasions – as did many other local residents.
But Euro-Labour and Prescott didn’t listen; and so we all got the overspill – and Euro-Labour in turn received the Royal order of the boot!
Now run this one past me again! – Dead Milliband, the ‘current’ leader of Euro-Labour, the party that introduced student tuition fees, indicated a couple of days ago he was considering joining students out on the streets protesting against student tuition fees!!!!!!!!! – So bizarre you just couldn’t make it up!!!!!!!!!
If ‘Dead’ had gone out on the streets with ‘the kids’, i wonder how far along the protest route the plonker would have got before a good number of the students and their supporters turned on him and started to tear him apart.
So, the Tories that bought in student tuition fees (the Euro-Labour Tories) voted against an increase in fees for the punitive measure that they put on to the statute book; And another bunch of Tories (the Lib-Dems) voted in favour for a massive price rise on a measure that they had promised to abolish in their last General Election manifesto.
Meanwhile, the Tory Tories (David Cameron’s Blue Labour) were also breaking a General Election pledge to jail anyone carrying a knife, at the same time as rubber stamping a European Union Directive making it illegal for anyone resident in the United Kingdom under the age of 16 to buy Christmas party crackers!!!!!!!
Welcome to the lunatic ward of 2010 LibLabCon British party politics!! I can’t wait to see what these idiots have in store for us in 2011 (not!!!!).
What irony!!!!!
Local Independent anti-EU MEP Nikki Sinclaire, together with a number of (real) Labour, Ulster Unionist, Conservative MP’s and UKIP MEP’s, delivered Tory toff Euro-Labour leader Ed Miliband’s only chance at ever seriously hurting David Cameron to the front door of 10, Downing Street, in the form of a 100,000 + signed petition calling for a national Referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the completely undemocratic, rotton and corrupt European Union recently.
I’d guess that many real Labour members and supporters would expect no nonsense, tough political fighters such as Keir Hardie, Herbert Morrison and Clement Attlee to have made sure that all rabidly pro-EU Euro-Labour MP’s were absent from the House Of Commons for a debate and vote on Europe, such as that set now for October 24th; And would quietly but firmly advise the larger number of Labour MP’s to ambush Cameron and vote to defeat the current coalition Government by voting for a democratic Referendum on the question of the UK’s membership of the EU.
It seems however, that spoilt, posh, Tory toff Euro-Labour leader Ed Miliband is going to deny the British people a long overdue democratic vote on this issue, by voting no to the petition together with his posh Tory toff pals David Cameron and Nick Clegg. Real Labour members and supporters would surely be best served from now until the 24th, urging their MP’s and their hapless, hopeless, Tory Leader ,Miliband, to ‘knife’ quisling Cameron and to vote YES to a Referendum.
I see that the Trade Union movement and UKIP are seriously concerned about the European Union’s growing pressure on the quisling FibLabCon parties to introduce ‘Mode 4′ for all UK trade and services agreements.
‘Mode 4′ allows multinational companies to bring foreign workers into the United Kingdom for ‘special tasks’, even if the necessary skilled staff are already available within the borders of the UK; ‘Mode 4′ also allows companies to pay wage rates set at the levels of ‘imported workers’ countries of origin; wage rates that in many countries are lower than those of the UK, thereby encouraging the undercutting and laying off of workers here at home.
There has been no public discussion regarding the EU’s ‘silent’ push for the FibLabCon to forcibly introduce ‘Mode 4′; And it seems likely that the Fib-Dem Tories, the Conservative Tories and posh Tory Euro-Labour MP’s such as largely privately and Oxbridge educated, multi-home owning toffs like Ed Balls, Harriet Harman, Ed and David Miliband, Fiona Mactaggart, Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper etc, will quietly ‘agree’ to do the bidding of their EU masters and ‘lobby’ to introduce ‘Mode 4′.
PROTECT BRITISH WORKERS JOBS AND THEIR RIGHT TO WORK. SAY NO TO THE EU, SAY NO TO ‘MODE 4′.
Is it not great democracy,no one is allowed to have a referendum on anything EU,we have 3 main political parties populated by massive wealth,Bankers(Maude,Green)big accountants supplying free labour for MPs,Big business putting money,meals(tax Office Boss)conferences into the parties, bankers & politicians in Iceland have been jailed for dishonesty,here they are in the cabinet,WHO DO YOU VOTE FOR?
Hi DJ,
I agree with you absolutely; Only about 111 of our 650 MP’s recently either voted for the citizens of the United Kingdom to be given a referendum with regard to our future either to remain a member of or to leave the European Union or abstained. The bulk of the quisling SNP, Welsh Nats, SDLP, Alliance, Conservatives, Euro-Labour and Fib-Dem MP’s voted to deny us a democratic vote on this issue, against the wishes of a majority of the British people. I see that a number of Euro-Labour councillors have been recently arrested on fraud and corruption charges in Stoke; Euro-Labour’s Lord Paul and Baroness Uddin are both under investigation with regard to possible expenses fraud to the sum of approx £200,000; and Euro-Labour’s Jack Dromey, Harriet Harman’s wife and the MP
For Kingstanding, North Birmingham, North Warwickshire, is currently under investigation for failing to declare the sum of £27,867 when required to do so. The sum in question has now i believe been belatedly submitted and published in the Parliamentary Register Of Members Financial Interests.
DJ, you have asked what i assume to be a general question ‘WHO DO YOU VOTE FOR? – My answer to your question is UKIP.
Oooops; That should have read ‘Harriet Harman’s husband’.
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Dear Steve just as a thought for you, the press who like the status quo(,buddies with politicians and tax dodging amongst the owners),seem to have it in for UKIP and the public seem to follow like sheep as usual,even in some 6 th.form colleges you lot are known as Dilute Fascists,You need to get at the youth,there is great scope for mobilisation amongst a lot of disinchanted kids. DJ.
Hi DJ, i’d say that on the whole UKIP’s press coverage has improved greatly over recent years; Mike Nattrass our local UKIP MEP and Derek Bennett, Chairman of UKIP’s Walsall branch party have attended a number of debates at school/college 6th forms since 2009 and have always enjoyed a positive response from the students, who generally have a greater awareness of how completely undemocratic and corrupt the European Union is than many other 16 to 18 year olds.
Where UKIP does need to improve dramatically is in convincing ‘tribal voters’ of all ages in Metropolitan areas such as Walsall, who are telling us on the doorstep in ever increasing numbers, that they want the UK to leave the EU, to break lifelong habits and make the jump from voting for the quisling anti-British, pro-EU FibLabCon and to start voting UKIP.
According to earlier reports, Euro-Labour MP Jack Dromey failed to declare payments totalling £27,867 to the relevant Parliamentary body. In actual fact it now transpires that Dromey failed to declare payments totalling almost £60,000. An oversight that no doubt many other people make all the time. (not!!!!)
Picture the scene if you will at chateau Dromey/Harman; a large, well appointed house set in the leafy Home Counties. Dromey lets the cat out, picks up the milk, mail and morning newspapers; scans the latter quickly, puts on the kettle and begins cooking breakfast; goes upstairs and takes out a dress suit and white tie and shirt for dinner at Lady Longford’s (Harriet Harman’s aunt) country home that coming evening; forgets to register nearly £60,000 in the Parliamentary Register, goes back into the kitchen, turns the bacon on the grill, pours hot water into cups and lets the cat back in.
I see that Real Labour MP’s Dennis Skinner and Kate Hoey attacked Tory Prime Minister Cameron in the House Of Commons yesterday over his EU Veto climbdown in Brussels on Monday. Dennis Skinner rightly compared ‘traitor’ Cameron’s actions to Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930′s. Kate Hoey reminded the House that some of the EU ‘leaders’ attending the summit were unelected apparatchicks of Brussels. Disgracefully, many of the spoilt, posh, anti-British, pro-EU Tory toffs that have taken over the Labour Party, heckled Mr Skinner and Miss Hoey for making their heartfelt remarks regarding the corrupt, fascist, European Union.
So ‘Windy Miller’, crazed useless windmill zealot and Anti-British, pro-EU high priest of Fib Demmery, Chris Huhne is to face criminal charges in the High Court; and about time too. Now let’s see Euro-Labour expenses fiddlers Baroness Uddin, Jack Dromey and Lord Paul arrested and charged with (between the three of them) failing to correctly register with the relevant Parliamentary authorities/or incorrectly claiming the sum of (it’s believed) over a quarter of a million pounds. Dromey, while picking up his MP’s salary of around £65,000 per annum, was also apparently billing the Trade Union Unite up to £200 per hour for work conducted for the organisation over a period of several months. What on earth was he doing on behalf of the union to be able to charge them up to £200 an hour for his services, turning lead into gold? How many of his legitimately employed con
services, turning lead into gold? How many of his constituants
stituents earn anything like £200 an hour? I wonder How many North Birmingham Euro-Labour activists and voters, who would probably have preferred to see a local candidate chosen to contest Dromey’s seat, instead of a parasitic, money-grubbing, Southern Tory, are regretting not fighting harder to have ensured that a more honest party member with real roots in the constituency was selected to represent them?
I see that Southern Tory Euro-Labour MP for Erdington, Birmingham, North Warwickshire, Jack Dromey, was out and about in North Birmingham with spoilt, posh Tory toff Ed Miliband and spoilt, posh, privately educated, Tory toff Ed Balls this week. The only place Dromey, Harriet Harman’s husband, should be, is behind bars, for failing to correctly declare almost sixty thousand pounds of expenses to Parliament recently. Instead of prison food though, he’s no doubt been enjoying the odd cup of tea or two and cucumber sandwiches at Harriet Harman’s aunts Lady Longford’s swanky gaff.
Another Euro-Labour crook who by rights should be languishing in the chokey is expenses fraudster Baroness Uddin who attempted to diddle us all out of a whopping £125,000!!!!!!! – She had been claiming that she couldn’t afford to and wouldn’t be paying back any of the cash she scammed, but hey presto, the money has now been handed over; Now let’s see the authorities in Wapping, East London seize the keys to the subsidised Housing Association property she’s been living in and hand them over to a more deserving case. Her crookedness could always go and live in the valuable flat she owns in Maidstone, Kent.
P.S, I wonder if she’ll be disclosing the details of where that £125,000 she’s handed over came from? – She’s allowed back into the House Of Lords next week and will again be eligible to claim £300 a day in expenses. What a rotter!!!!!!
Did i forget to mention Baroness Uddin’s overseas ‘palatial’ third home? Tut, tut, tut; how remiss of me. Her crookedness has yet to disclose where the £125,000 she’s been forced to repay has come from, but she will have to disclose that fact to Parliamentary authorities fairly shortly.
Incidently, Uddin was plucked from a relatively obscure position as a Euro-Labour Councillor in London’s East End and elevated to the House Of Lords by spoilt, posh, privately and Oxbridge educated war criminal and former Euro-Labour Leader, Tory B’Liar.
Apparently, multi-home owning and multi-millionaire B’Liar is looking to make a return to front line British politics (it has been noticed that he was never as eager to volunteer for front line duty with British forces in all of the wars he helped start) – and no doubt ‘current’ Euro-Labour party leader ‘Dead’ Miliband is absolutely delighted at the prospect of having Tory B breathing down his neck!!!!
Obviously, having between 20 million to 60 million pounds (depending on which accounts of his and his wife’s joint fortune you believe) in various bank accounts (mostly in accounts situated in overseas tax haven’s i’d imagine) – and owning 8 expensive homes, is not enough; and B’Liar clearly is of the opinion that more of the folding stuff will come in very handy from getting his grasping hands on another safe Euro-Labour Parliamentary seat. I wonder which Euro-Labour MP is shortly going to get sandbagged, sorry, i mean volunteer to ‘retire early’, to make way for the blood soaked and fabulously wealthy ‘Mr B’Liar?????
I see that spoilt, posh, Oxbridge educated Tory, Euro-Labour leader Dead Miliband is to share a stage with a blood soaked war criminal at a swanky dinner next week, multi-millionaire Tory B’Liar. B’Liar, who ‘earned’ 20 million pounds last year, said in an interview last week that he’d like to be U.K. Prime Minister again (God forbid!!!) at some point in the future.
Another spoilt, posh, privately and Oxbridge educated Tory, champagne socialist, David Cameron, leader of Blue Labour, has by any standards had a, mostly self-inflicted disastrous last six months. One policy and budget statement u-turn after another, a mostly pretty useless and ineffective front bench in the House Of Commons and a poor showing in May’s Local Elections, has Cameron on the ropes and you’d think a lame sitting duck for a strong opposition Leader.
But no; You’d expect any opposition leader worth his salt to attack Cameron now; and where he is weakest; And Cameron’s weakest spot is undoubtedly over Europe and the strident calls for a UK referendum over our membership (or Not) of the European Union. Miliband however, rather than attacking Cameron with all guns blazing by announcing a Labour pledge to call an in out EU referendum directly following the next General Election and severely damaging Cameron below the waterline, does nothing.
I’m awaiting the publication of a cartoon somewhere depicting goalkeeper David Cameron caught outside his box, floored, floundering in the mud, his face a picture of despair; And there is Dead Miliband, with the ball marked ‘General Election Winner’ at his feet, in front of the open goal net marked UK, EU Referendum. But rather than kicking that ball into the waiting goal, Miliband is saying ‘Yah, okay, right then chaps, remind me what do i do with this round thing again’; And the crowd of Labour supporters are screaming at the idiot, ‘Kick the ball into the net you stupid spoilt posh Tory halfwit!!!!!!!!!!!’
Why do you not join the Tory party,then you vent your one sided bile and may get somewhere,because you come over as a Tory apologist,I agree neither party is worth a vote but get real they are both as bad on Europe and Tories even worse on screwing us normal folk on THEIR FRIENDS and BIG BUSINESS TAX AVOIDANCE (Vodafone,P.Green Hedge funds,Godman sachs ,Price waterhouse etc.etc) to the tune of many Billions!
DJ.
Hi DJ,
My comments above those of your’s attack two out of the three Tory FibLabCon parties i.e. Tory Conservatives and Tory Labour; so how, pray tell, can that be one-sided bile ????????????????????
As a former member of the Labour Party and a member of UKIP for over 11 years i’ve never been noted by anyone other than yourself as a Tory apologist???????????????
Why on earth would i want to join them, when as you correctly point out, the Tory Tories are as bad on Europe as the Euro-Labour Tories? I also agree with you that the Tory Conservatives and Tory Euro-Labour Party have done virtually nothing other than screw us normal working class folk to the tune of billions of pounds over decades; and neither party is, as you say, worth voting for. Stuff both of ‘em!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the Fib-Dems too!!