Labour's Weoley Subterfuge

After being wiped out at the ballot box by the voters of Weoley, the Labour Party have decided that the best way to rebuild their base in the ward is to do so under a cloak of secrecy.  

I have discovered that former defeated Labour Party candidate for Sutton New Hall and Erdington, Chris Hillcox (Pictured), has surfaced in Weoley Ward.

Using the same misleading tactics that saw him make no inroads into Erdington, Hillcox has set up a front organisation called Community Action Northfield (CAN) and has launched a blog called Pride In Weoley, which must be annoying the City Council's Northfield Constituency office as their excellent and informative "Pride In Northfield" website has been up and running for some time.

Erdington residents may recall his "Erdington Echo" venture which purported to be apolitical, yet only ever contained far-fetched criticisms of Erdington Conservative councillors.  As late as last November, "The Echo" had been distributed as a leaflet (printed by the Labour Party).

However, now it seems that both Labour and Hillcox have decided that Erdington is like flogging a dead horse and that his "talents" are best deployed south of the city.

With the aid of Google Maps, I was able to discover that the distance from Hillcox's house to Weoley's Castle Square is over 15 miles and the journey to his new political home takes around three quarters of an hour... and that's on a good day.

It is not clear if and when Hillcox will actually come clean with the people of Weoley and make public his political affliation.  Nevertheless, what he and the Labour Party are doing is highly dishonest, and they should be condemned for this dishonesty.

Like the party nationally, the Birmingham Labour Party are experiencing public anger and ridicule.  The last thing voters who are losing their homes and jobs wish to see are Labour Party activists telling them just how well Gordon Brown is running the country.

Now that I have "outed" Mr Hillcox, both he and the Labour Party should campaign as socialists and not in the shifty dishonest guise of Labour front organisations.

My thanks to Weoley resident GN, for alerting me to this deception.