So, who is Stephen Searle, the new UKIP county councillor for Stowmarket South?

So, after a rather exciting morning at Trinity Park, and four recounts, Stephen Searle, the UKIP candidate, was elected as the new county councillor for Stowmarket South by just one vote, defeating the Vice Chair (and Chair designate) of Suffolk County Council in doing so.

I admit that, whilst I didn't have too many regrets about Anne Whybrow's loss (she is a Conservative, and their efforts to contract out key services haven't gone down too well), I do regret that it wasn't our candidate, Keith Scarff, who had the honour of being elected. Having narrowly failed twice before, he got within forty votes this time yet only came third. He'll be back, I suspect...

But having never encountered the new councillor for my neighbouring division before, I thought that I really ought to find out more about him. So, what does Google, and more particularly, Facebook, bring up?

Stephen Searle

He is a former Royal Marines Commando, now apparently working for Namco Funscape in Ipswich as a manager (think of a place to play games, go ten-pin bowling and watch sport on a big screen and you aren't far out). He's been married to Anne for thirty years, and is about sixty years old. He's pretty active, probably has a reptile of some kind, and seems like a perfectly normal human being.

So far, so harmless. If he has done, or said, anything embarrassing, there's no obvious evidence of it. In other words, he looks like just about anyone else who has run for local government in the past. Alright, he has no record, and we have no real idea what he believes in, but that in itself doesn't necessarily matter. After all, I've never been in local government, and I asked the voters of Stowupland to trust me to represent them in 2011. Admittedly, I did tell them what I was in favour of, rather than what I was against.

His only comment, other than an identikit quote to the local press, is on the UKIP Facebook page, where he says;

It superb to be fighting again for my Country, and my People.

Well, Councillor Searle, just a reminder, you're not fighting for your country, you're trying to hold a Conservative administration to account, and represent the people, not your people, whoever they might be. And, if you're up to the task, you might just get re-elected in 2017. If you're not, it won't just be the Conservatives coming to try and take it away from you...

In the meantime, good luck in your new role. Stowmarket deserves proper representation at Endeavour House, rather than someone to quietly wave through whatever the Conservative leadership come up with...