Needham Market - an unlikely home for a conspiracy theorist?

There was, I admit, more than a little disappointment when the Conservatives gained Bosmere from the Liberal Democrats in 2017. After all, it had been Ros’s seat from 1993 to 2005, and whilst it had been defended successfully in 2013 - as much thanks to a UKIP intervention as anything else - the margins had become ever more dependent on piling up votes in Needham Market and hoping that the losses in Barking and Somersham and Ringshall weren’t too much against us.

But, with a new candidate, selected rather too late in the day to establish a track record outside the town, the seat was narrowly lost to Anne Whybrow, the former Conservative county councillor for Stowmarket South who herself had lost in 2013 by one vote to a UKIP candidate now serving a fourteen year sentence for murdering his wife.

It turned out that she wasn’t well, and perhaps hadn’t been expected to win, and her sad death just fifteen months later led to a by-election which... we didn’t win... by 19 votes.

Her replacement, Kay Oakes, had political form in Needham Market, and thus was probably a good choice. It turns out though, that she might not have necessarily been that good a choice.

This week, she was exposed on social media for retweeting comments supportive of the Washington rioters and, as it turns out, being an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump. Indeed, she retweeted conspiracy theories suggesting that the invasion of the Capitol was an antifa act.

What I found most intriguing, however, was her defence;

I would like to apologise for ‘liking’ a small number of posts on Twitter which suggested, inaccurately, that those other than the obvious perpetrators were behind the events at the US Congress. 

It can sometimes be too easy to be taken in by conspiracy theories on social media and my judgement on this occasion was wrong. 

I hope that all those who know me realise how hard I work on behalf of our community and how dear to me our part of Suffolk is.

I suppose that we are being asked to accept that despite her apparent gullibility, and the ease with which she can be persuaded to endorse and promote conspiracy theories, she can be trusted to take decisions on education and social care on the basis of fact rather than fiction.

And if you’re willing to accept that, I’ve got a nice bridge in Brooklyn that you might be interested in purchasing...

Bosmere Liberal Democrats - thinking about what matters to us

It is odd, is it not, that I've been a member of a political party for more than thirty years, and yet in all of that time, the number of organised political discussions I've taken part in at Local Party level can be counted on the fingers of one hand. There might almost be a sense that policy is for conferences, specific setpiece affairs with a structure and a process, much of which excludes most activists.

And yet, we now have thousands of new members who have joined because they believe in something, in the idea of liberalism and its relevance in our communities. It might not be clear to them why they should be limited in such a way.

When word reached me that the neighbouring branch to ours, Bosmere (which covers Needham Market and the villages to the west and southwest), was having a meeting solely to discuss policy ideas, I was keen to join in.

And so, yesterday evening, Ros and I arrived at the Limes Hotel in Needham Market to see what would happen. One of our newer members, Stephen Andrews, had organised a room, come up with a list of topics, and dinner had been organised (fish and chips).

Over dinner, Ros and I (particularly Ros, it must be said) chatted to some of the newer members, before Stephen took the floor. His idea was to open on a particular topic, the EU Referendum, or education, and get people to express their views as to what we should be saying or doing. It was quite lively, with some decidedly interesting views expressed about sovereignty and free trade during the EU debate, for example.

It will be interesting to see what Stephen's notes look like afterwards, but given that our membership in Mid Suffolk has gone up from 77 to 120 since polling day, we've got a whole bunch of people whose enthusiasm can be tapped, and a whole bunch of ideas to espouse. It is, perhaps, time to start taking our message to the people...