David Cameron is in Ealing Southall as I post this blog welcoming FIVE Labour councillors into the Tory fold. This is not only a massive boost to Tony Lit's by-election campaign it is also a serious blow to Gordon Brown.
This is the statement from the five defecting councillors:
"It has become increasingly obvious as this by-election campaign has progressed, that the Conservative candidate Tony Lit is the best person to represent Ealing Southall as our next MP. He's energetic, dynamic and displays the kind of qualities that would make him ideally suited to represent the people of Ealing Southall. We wanted to provide him with our backing and joining the Conservative Party sends the clearest possible message.
"Locally since Conservatives took control of Ealing Council in May 2006 we have noticed that they have been making great strides towards trying to improve the quality of life for all our residents. We've finally reached the stage where it has become blatantly obvious that we would be doing own voters a great disservice if we continue to dogmatically stick with a disorganised and divided Labour Party. Our goal is to see genuine improvements for our residents. We believe that the Conservative Party now provides our community with greater opportunities and is genuinely interested in improving services for all.
"At a national level we are extremely impressed by David Cameron's modern Conservatives and, with the changes that he has now made, we feel that the Conservative Party now best represents our views. In a sense we believe the Conservatives have become our natural home and we are very excited about the opportunity to play a full part in a Party which we believe is destined to form the next government."
The five new Tory councillors are: Gurcharan Singh, Manjit Singh, Maninder Kaur Keith, Jarnail Singh Jandu and Jagdish Gupta. Also, local Sikh Dr Gulbash Singh was going to stand as an independent but has now backed Tony Lit.
Grant Shapps MP deserves a lot of credit for engineering these defections. By all accounts he is running a superb campaign in Ealing. Many congratulations to him and his team.
NOW OVER TO YOU! Click here to register to help Tony Lit in Ealing and Graham Robb in Sedgefield.
4pm update: A video of Cameron meeting and greeting in Ealing with the defectors has been posted on Webcameron...
Yes it is true and great to have a Labour Muslim on board. A commenter on Iain Dale suggests more ES cllrs to come yet.
Posted by: Tory T | July 10, 2007 at 12:10
can't believe this story has generated so many comments. This is typical of many areas where there are Asian Cllrs. Very few of them get involved for the right reasons. They are happy to swap sides whenever they see fit. All these men are looking for their 5 minutes and thi is it for them. I have seen this all over the place in Manchester, Birmingham, London etc. So before we get all carried aay, lets not forget that many say one thing and it has been known that they have tactically allowed many a candidate to succeed in such areas and inevitably all for Labour's benefit. Very rarely have Tories even gained from such moves. I cannot see any different here.
Posted by: rajesh dost | July 10, 2007 at 19:22