Two Conservative Party Leaflets and One Cunning Plan

The two leaflets are intouch with you and News from Shaun Bailey. Conservatives in Havering were obliterated in the 2019 Euro elections and this is their attempt at retrieving the situation.¹

Hornchurch’s leaflet leads with a banner front page More Bobbies on the Beat. This refers to five police officers Havering is sponsoring for £900,000 over the next three years.

The leaflet refers to Viddy Persaud’s Rent-A-Cop scheme. Her proposition is:

1. Five additional police officers will patrol Havering, which has

2. 18 wards including Romford, Hornchurch, Collier Row, Harold Hill and Rainham, which has

3. 250,000 people, who

4. will feel safe and grateful to the Conservative party.

Leaflets like this heighten expectations but make unachievable promises. Worse, voters might feel £900,000 could be better spent elsewhere.

Shaun Bailey sent me News from Shaun Bailey. He’s the Conservative Mayoral candidate. Shaun isn’t delusional in the same way as Viddy. His proposition is:

1. 1800 additional Met police officers, which means

2. Havering gets 56 more police officers, which means

3. 18 wards will get three additional police officers each, which means

4. 250,000 people will feel safe and grateful to the Conservative party.

Shaun’s delusion emerges when he says, “I’ll cut waste at City Hall,” to pay for these police officers.² Even the Conservative GLA candidate, Keith Prince, disagrees with him because he’s only got finance for 1400 additional police officers from the same ‘City Hall waste’.

Neither candidate comments on the billion pounds the Conservative government have taken from the Met’s budget, which is why the Met is understaffed in the first place. The Conservative austerity programme has left Havering without sufficient police to fight crime.

Conservatives face oblivion in the GLA elections. The Rent-A-Cop scheme is meant to bolster Conservative credentials for that election. Baldrick’s cunning plans usually ended in disastrous failure perhaps Viddy’s Conservatives will go the same way?

1 Both were delivered week beginning 10^th June 2019.

2 Shaun is committed to about £18 million once all the costs are included like: senior officers, cars, administration staff and buildings.