Henley Greens hi-lite Tory gaffe

Within 24 hours of being selected as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Henley, John Howell showed that he has the potential to be more gaffe-prone than Boris.

The Conservative news sheet "intouch" was distributed across the constituency with the headline 'Conservatives Pick the Only Local Candidate'.


As Mr Howell well knows, the Green Party candidate, Mark Stevenson is every bit as local as he is. Mark lives in the neighbouring village and his selection was announced by the local press the day before Mr Howell was selected.

Indeed, not only did Mr Howell know that Mark Stevenson is the Green candidate, but he knows exactly how local he is. Mark is a parish councillor in Dorchester on Thames where Mr Howell has regularly been quizzed by him at council meetings.

Their paths have also crossed when,in his capacity as a school governor, Mark raised concerns with Mr Howell about the purpose and efficiency of Oxfordshire County Council's Review of Primary Schools.

Mark Stevenson said "It's ridiculous, John knows perfectly well that I am the Green candidate. He also knows that I am an active, effective and vocal parish councillor - only a few weeks ago he heard me giving my chairman's annual report of the work of the Dorchester Carbon Project. It's interesting that the Conservatives should already feel so insecure about their candidate that they appear to have resorted to deliberate lies before the campaign is a day old."

"But we have to be charitable about this", Mark continued, "it could just be a stupid mistake made in a hurry. After all intouch also proudly declared itself to be printed on woodfree pulp sourced from sustainable forests. Just how sustainable are woodfree forests? I wonder."
From: Oxfordshire Greens