In 2013, the Liberal Democrat-held County division of Hadleigh was lost. Our long time County Councillor, David Grutchfield, had retired, and a replacement candidate wasn't really selected early enough to establish themselves in time. Combined with our general unpopularity at the time, it was always possible that the seat would be lost and, sure enough, it was.
The new councillor was Brian Riley, a Conservative who'd been around for a while. He'd fought the seat in 2009, and lost by less than 100 votes. And, for a while, it went as you might expect. Until, that is, he decided that he was going to emigrate to North Carolina.
Fair enough, you might think. He moves, stands down from the Council, and a by-election takes place. Oh no, not Cllr Riley. He decided that he could continue his duties, corresponding with residents by e-mail and coming back to Ipswich for just enough meetings to avoid disqualification.
It was, as you might expect, the cause of some outrage. The Conservatives came under pressure to do something about him and, eventually, he was expelled from the Conservative Group. It didn't deter him though. He carried on, collecting his allowances, seemingly oblivious to local opinion. The ruling Conservative Group could still count on his support, so both sides were content enough.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Group was increasingly splintered, with two factions emerging, one around then Leader Mark Bee, the other around Colin Noble, who went on to seize control. And, having only won in 2013 with a majority of three, the loss of Haverhill Cangle to UKIP in May this year meant that their working majority relied to an unhealthy extent on Brian Riley.
And now he's gone, resigning just before he would be disqualified for failure to attend meetings, and causing a by-election just eight months before the scheduled County Council elections next year. In his passing, he has added to the money wasted on his allowances.
This time, we have an established candidate, current Mayor of Hadleigh, Trevor Sheldrick, and a bit of momentum with our newly-increased membership. We'll be giving it our best shot, and if the good voters of Hadleigh can be persuaded, the Conservative notional loss of their majority will become a real one. We're the most likely contender to gain the seat, we have a record of delivery.
So, fingers crossed, eh?
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