Ian Oakley Resigns As Watford PPC
Ian was arrested in connection with a hate campaign conducted against Watford Lib Dem councillors, and has now resigned as Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Watford. No charges have yet been brought against Ian, just accusations. As such, Ian has resigned to enable the local party to move on, not because he is guilty.
Personally, I do not believe that Ian has done this. I don’t think that he is so stupid as to conduct such a campaign. However, if he is convicted of this in a court of law, then I will stand corrected. And if he is cleared, then I shall expect acknowledgement of his innocence from all accusers.
This sort hate campaign is unacceptable, and whoever has been carrying it out - Ian or anyone else - should be brought to justice. Politics must be conducted through reasoned debate, not by the use of intimidation.
I certainly do not believe that “Tory hope for Watford fades“. Watford is still winnable for us, we just need to ensure that we select the right candidate and work even harder than before. And I will most certainly be playing my part.
PS. I thought long and hard before writing this post, but since some ‘hilarious’ commenters [who I presume are Lib Dems] started making comments like this:
Will you be visiting Ian in jail? You Tories are hilarious, it’s true
and this:
That would be the fantastic, hilarious and arrestable ex-Conservative PPC Ian Oakley…
on my blog, and I thought I’d make my position clear. I will also be closely monitoring comments on this post.
Please note: This entire blog, and this post in specific, are written purely on a personal basis.
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I will be watching this story closely. If Mr Oakley is found guilty, he will hear a lot more from me, as I intend to bring a class action in the civil courts for damages to recover my loses.
My property was damaged several times, and I am out of pocket. My wife was shaken up badly by our experiences, and as you can see, I do not intend to let the matter rest.
If anyone else is interested in bringing a class action against Mr Oakley (if he is found guilty in the criminal court), I will start a Yahoo Groups forum so that we can all stay in touch.
I see you have already decided the outcome Henry - despite your automatic disclaimer “If he’s found guilty”.
So, having told us exactly what you intend to do when he is found guilty, (oh sorry - if he is found guilty) and are canvassing other people to join you in this ‘class action’ - what are you going to do if he is found ‘not guilty’ in a court of law - because I don’t think an apology will cut it - and you might be facing legal action yourself.
You expect acknowledgement of his innocence if not charged? Not bloody likely there are numerous examples of criminals walking free because the stupid CPS prosecutioin criteria haven’t been met.
In anyevent my standard assumption is that all politicians are guilty, it’s just that they are too bloody slippery to make proving their guilt easy.
Hertfordshire Police have been investigating these crimes seriously for some time under the Operation Tuition Taskforce. They are well aware of the sensitivities involved.
It is highly unlikely that they would arrest anyone without good reason.
Saying that, your posting is fair in that you say you will accept the result of any prosecution.
From my own experience I would just say that it usually comes as a surprise to find out that someone you know has been involved in any sort of bizarre activity like this.
Sorry, but this is just far too common within Tory ranks. Not a week seemingly goes by without some gaffe. Cameron make have changed, and he may have fooled the population that his party has changed, but the evidence is still there
Oakley – Oh dear.
Ray Lewis – Dodgy
James McGrath – Racist remark
Mercer – Black Bastards
Conways – On the fiddle
Hastilow – Racist Remarks
Cllr Ellenor Bland – Racist Peom
Ann Winterton – Banana Repudlic
Alun Cairns – Inappropriate comments
Giles Chichester – Nice little earner
I haven’t even mentioned Bozzer yet !!!!!
I could go on and on, still NASTY, and , still SLEAZY
Dragon on the 10 OCT
Today I have been leafleting in Watford - my first time! I was leafleting to help the fantastic [and hilarious] Conservative PPC Ian Oakley take the seat away from the failing and useless Claire Ward.
IM STILL LAUGHING !!!!!!!
Henry, so which of the following counties, which have class action legislation will you bring your in and what case precedent will you use to faciliatet transfer to that jurisdiction…
1.1 Austria
1.2 France
1.3 Germany
1.4 Italy
1.5 The Netherlands
1.6 Spain
1.7 Switzerland
1.8 United States
1.8.1 Federal class actions
1.8.2 State class actions
Who do you think is responsible? Tories? And if so is Ian Oakley not culpable for NOT STOPPING such nonsense?
Any chance of scanning and posting official leaflets from all three parties and also the unofficial stuff??
I don’t know who is responsible. Only they do. I don’t believe that Ian would have allowed such things to continue had he known.
The Times says it’s been going on for 6 years, ie since 2002. Ian has been PPC since 2006. He may have been questioned, but the people behind it are yet to be caught - although this suggests they may be in the local Conservative party.
It has been going on for around three years.
According to the Watford Observer Ian Oakley has now been charged with five counts of criminal damage and two of harassment.
He is due to appear at St Albans court in early August.
It remains unreasonable to assume guilt until due process has been carried out.
One assumes, however, that the Police would be unlike to charge him without some evidence.
He has now been charged with several offences
One thing to bear in mind is that for a number of the victims of this campaign, their only ‘crime’ was to allow a Lib Dem poster board to be put up in their garden in the run up to local elections. These folks are not Lib Dem members or what could be described as ‘activists’.
There is a lot of support locally for the Lib Dems as proven by their overwhelming representation on the borough council. This may well not be a healthy state of affairs but it represents the electoral will of the people of Watford.
However, when it comes to a national election, the Conservatists need to persuade a lot of these people that a Lib Dem vote is a wasted vote and they need to vote Conservative to oust the encumbent Labour MP. A political party can be ‘forgiven’ for the actions of a lone, rogue individual but a knee-jerk resort to the language of blaming the victims for exaggerating the issue or having “paper-thin egos” will play very badly with those whom the Conservatives need to win over.
Oh dear, he’s admitted it hahahahaha
well your judgement seems somewhat flawed:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7542549.stm
what a disgrace - the tories need to look at thier selection process more closely
What an utter nutter!!
Found Guilty !!!!
He has pleaded guilty.
Another nasty fuckwit tory jail bound
Obviously your faith in Mr Oakley has been rewarded, he’s pleaded guilty!
I do hope your beloved Party leader doesn’t let you down as well.
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As a long-standing Lib-Dem, I am not surprised, although I am saddened, by this case. The invective aginst the Lib-Dems is quite diffrent from that levelled at the other main parties in England - it tends to be more scornful - and from the other two parties there is a common feeling that Lib-Dems should just get out of the way to let the Big Boys play. So it is interesting that this campaign was directed solely at Lib-Dems, including; shamefully, poster displayers.
David Cameron has slipped a little in recent months in his ‘End to Punch and Judy Politics’ persona and perhaps this is a good time to revisit this popular position. He really MUST distance himself from Ian Oakley as this item has been on the main bulletins all day. Not just to protect the Tories - that’s not my problem, as I say - but because the voters look at this and they see a political class totally unworthy of office.
Sometimes I will, of course, just respond to a story by muttering ‘Bloody Tories’ and thinking ill thoughts. but we all know who are the nastier people in politics and who, like the original poster here, exhibit a belief in people and essential decency. So, we must not let the rhetoric slide too far…the papers love it and encourage it, but it helps run the country not one jot.
And as to Mr Oakley, I’m afraid he should go to jail. This was not a one off, it was three years of intimidation to ruin peoples’ lives - and accusing someone of paedophilia is as low as it gets; easy mud to throw, with devastating results.
So, David Cameron; if you aspire to lead the country, let’s hear from you please.
And before anyone gets in first - I offer unequivocal apology for the appalling punctuation at the end of the first paragraph
I trust we can now have the apology that TD was so quick in demanding from those of us who said that this guy was complete and utter scum?
You don’t know me but…. I’ve been conducting a gratuitous, self-appointed rear-guard action regarding the Ian Oakley affair over on the relevant string of the Liberal Democrat Voice:
http://www.libdemvoice.org/conservative-watford-candidate-admist-to-75-offences-3118.html
I’m not sure I will have made any friends among Watford Conservatives but I have given people a little time to recover their equanimity, equilibrium and sense of reality, while getting at least a few answers to the questions that jumped into my head when I read about Oakley’s admission of guilt. I have used my thirty odd years experience in the Conservative Party to rebut some of the more outrageous allegations while engaging in a semi-civil debate with some of the key players on the Liberal Democrat side.
Currently they are in a froth of self-righteous outrage. They want to see heads roll and grovelling apologies made. I’m sure Conservatives in Watford would prefer the whole thing to be a bad dream. It’s an issue that won’t be going away, at least until all the facts are out in the open. If by some chance CCO or the area organisation doesn’t launch an enquiry it will be up to people like TD to call for a full internal one.
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