John Roberts / Lib Dems answer their detractors

Yesterday, I mentioned that there had been some possible slurs on the Lib Dem candidate for Princes Ward, John Roberts, left by an anonymous commentator on this post.

This morning, I've been left lots of comments by people assuring readers that John does not live in Whitstable, that he is resident on the Ethelred Estate and has been for 15 years, but that he does have family in Whitstable. Also, in the unlikely event that you believed that he was kicked off the Metropolitan Police Authority by Boris, the commentator notes that this was not the case. He resigned from local committees, apparently because he needed a rest after 20 years. Sounds fair to me.

In addition, other commentators have suggested that the negative slurs in fact originate from the Labour party. I'm not sure that there's really enough information to say one way or another because all commentators have made anonymous comments or posted with their first name only. Since this is a non-partisan blog, I will report on comments as I see fit, but I don't really want to see any more unsubstantiated criticisms of opposition parties for the sake of it (it's tedious for the rest of us!).

However, since there is currently a dearth of policy information for Princes Ward by both Lib Dem and Conservative candidates, it seems worth posting three more charitable comments left by readers over the past few weeks about both John Roberts and Mark Harrison:

1. One commentator (Zara) says of John Roberts, "I first met john when he was volunteering at kennington park estate community centre (in 1989) my son went to the youth club and john raised money to open the centre more nights. He then became chair of vauxhall City farm. He personally raised 20k to keep the farm open a few years back. i dont think its all about going to commitee meetings, but actually doing the work. you talk to anyone that is involved in the farm and you will know that a lot of his work is not known about. He was also chair of the vauxhall ridding for the disabled and raised enough money to buy a few horses through sponsorship schemes. (do people know that??) I bumped into him at christmas at the farm where he had been organising the christmas festival in lambeth as a volunteer. (and still living on the Ethelred) He said that his dad died which is why he was taking some "time out".Then i meet him again at the local KA bazzer this year making tea in the kitchen, for people. Some of us might not like his politics, but you cant knock him for not giving a huge amount back to the local community."

2. One commentator (Nicky Johnson) says of Mark Harrison: "I really hope Mark Harrison is the Labour candidate - he is very active around SE11, and has been for several years.". Another commentator (Rita Pobson) says of Mark Harrison: "I guess it was to be expected given how much he's been doing locally, but it's good news all the same. Mark is a really genuine guy, even though he does look about twelve..."

Somebody must have something positive to say about what Michael Poole-Wilson has achieved in the local area! I've been receiving much higher than expected queries for his name in my Google analytics (considering that the area is a Labour/Lib Dem strong hold) so we're in for a very interesting election indeed.

By the way candidates/political parties, I want your intended positive policy intentions for Princes Ward, which I will then comment on as I see fit (see yesterday's post). I'm not interested in reporting information that just slags off the other party because it's far too easy to conduct local politics in such an uncharitable manner and it does a disservice to local residents. I sent out emails to candidates direct (or a representative from your party), and I've not had any response to the questions asked yet.