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Two jump ship to Tories
5:44pm Thursday 17th May 2007
Comments (37)Oxford City Council is set to have its first Conservative councillors since 2002.
Paul Sargent and Tia MacGregor are tomorrow set to complete their move from the Liberal Democrats - via the Independent group - to the Conservative Party.
Witney MP and party leader David Cameron was scheduled to appear at a press conference at Oxford Town Hall to announce the switch.
The Tories have had no representation in the city for several years, but the true test will come next year when the pair are up for election in their respective Quarry & Risinghurst and Carfax seats.
Until then they are the smallest group on the council.
In a move plotted since the New Year, the duo said they hoped to kick-start a Tory revival in Oxford, but now face the prospect of a backlash from some of their constituents who voted for them when they represented the Liberal Democrats.
The pair said they did not quit the council and call a by-election because of the cost to the taxpayer.
When Dr MacGregor, 39, quit the Lib Dems earlier this year she said the party "was no longer working for her".
She went to join Mr Sargent, who quit the party in May 2006 after he failed to get a seat on the authority's decision-making executive, as an independent When he quit the party he said "I still share many of the principles and policies of the Liberal Democrats, but sometimes you have to go in a different direction."
It is unclear whether the pair would vote with the Liberal Democrat group.
Last night Dr MacGregor said: "It is something I have been thinking about for some time.
"I am impressed with their policies and on a personal level their views on the NHS.
"Becoming an independent was bad enough in some people's eyes.
"So far no one has said anything negative, but I am sure there will be people who are not happy with my decision to join the Conservatives when they voted for a Liberal Democrat."
The Tories wanted to capitalise on the double defection by announcing it at the time of this month's local elections, but were told to hold off.
Rumours of a switch first surfaced after Dr MacGregor and Mr Sargent were spotted touring the city council with Tory county council leader Keith Mitchell earlier this year.
Mr Sargent said: "I thought about it carefully and decided I needed to be part of a larger political party."
The switch makes hardly any difference to the political make-up of the city council, which has 48 members.
Labour is still the largest group with 18 councillors, the ruling Liberal Democrat group has 16, the Green group has eight and the Independent Working Class Association has four.
Defections are nothing new at the Town Hall.
Sarah Margetts left Labour to become an independent in January, 2002; Mick McAndrews switched from Lib Dem to Labour in May, 2000; and Bob Hoyle left Labour to join the Lib Dems in April the same year.
And nationally, former Witney MP Shaun Woodward quit the Tories to join Labour, while Robert Jackson, Ed Vaizey's predecessor in Wantage, went the other way.
Your Say Yourthisisoxfordshire
Snake, says...
10:33pm Thu 17 May 07
JC, Oxford says...
11:10pm Thu 17 May 07
Party leader David Cameron has said the prime minister's successor would have no mandate to lead the country.
Ho, ho, ho Dave! What's good for the goose eh? At least Labour did win a majority of seats in parliament and Gordon Brown was duly elected as a Labour MP. I don't like the system either, but it is worse when people who were elected as representatives of one party beat hands down the party they've gone to join and they don't or won't ask their constituents.
Ed, Oxford says...
11:31pm Thu 17 May 07
Oxford was Tory but Paul is just jumping on the latest trendy bandwagon because the Lib Dems are having a hard time.
ak, oxford says...
11:38pm Thu 17 May 07
if pepole of oxford wanted tory they would have voted for them.these people have no credibility.
as
Eddie, Oxford says...
8:25am Fri 18 May 07
Sargent is well travelled. He claims to have been a Labour member; he left the Lib Dems in a fit of pique when they didn't give him a cabinet position, and now he's a Tory.
Apart from being a notoriously hopeless ward councillor, Tia has, until now, had a habit of ranting about the role of the private sector in the NHS, so presumably she will enjoy discussing this with Howard Flight, Brian Mawhinney and the like.
One other little rumour doing the rounds is that Tia is looking to become an A-list parliamentary candidate. Frankly, she'd make a pretty indifferent D-list celebrity, but we'll have to see.
Neil, Oxford says...
9:01am Fri 18 May 07
And 'do-nothing' MacGregor - who spent much of her time in the party whinging that the Lib Dems weren't leftwing enough - has joined him.
What a poor excuse for councillors these two are.
Mind - it does provide the opportunity for two more gains from the Tories next year!
David, Abingdon says...
9:42am Fri 18 May 07
Rick, says...
9:50am Fri 18 May 07
Sue, St.Catherines College says...
9:50am Fri 18 May 07
Peter, Oxford says...
10:00am Fri 18 May 07
I can just about accept a defection to become independent or even Labour, but a move to the Conservatives must really stick in the throats of the Lib Dem party workers who worked so hard to get them to the Council.
Gordon, Oxford says...
10:21am Fri 18 May 07
JC, Oxford says...
10:52am Fri 18 May 07
Do we know what it is the Greens stand for? Are they transparent about it? It's a lot more than fluffy environmentalism, wanting to destroy the capitalist, consumerist society we all live in.
They may feel that is necessary and they may believe the intellectual case for it, but they do not put it across much from what I can see.
Andrew, Torquay says...
11:41am Fri 18 May 07
They are elected to do the best for their electorate, and if they think that joining the Conservatives will help their electorate then that is their decision.
Personally I don't think there should be an election, and I think that some of the comments made here are more than a little unfair.
This can't have been an easy decision for them, and they must have anticipated a bit of flak, but calling them 'scum' is really out of order.
I wish them both well in their new party.
Richard, Manchester outcast says...
11:42am Fri 18 May 07
OLLIE, ABINGDON says...
11:43am Fri 18 May 07
RB, Oxford says...
12:02pm Fri 18 May 07
Richard wrote:Such a nobody party that they are in administration in 2 districts, one constituency has a Lib Dem MP and in another constituency the Lib Dem candidate came within 1000 votes of winning?
As somebody who has close ties to Oxfordshire, I say good luck to the two Lib Dem defectors. They've obviously seen sense and realised what a nobody party the Lib Dems are.
Richard, Manchester outcast says...
12:34pm Fri 18 May 07
RB wrote:Losing by 1,000 votes is nothing to write home about. My point is simple, the Lib Dems will never be anything more than a third rate force in British politics, and their control of any local authority merely temporary, with them doing anything to gain and keep control. Across the country there isn't a single coherent, consistent Lib Dem policy. In my book the Lib Dems policy of being "all things to all people" is two-faced.
Richard wrote: As somebody who has close ties to Oxfordshire, I say good luck to the two Lib Dem defectors. They\\\'ve obviously seen sense and realised what a nobody party the Lib Dems are.Such a nobody party that they are in administration in 2 districts, one constituency has a Lib Dem MP and in another constituency the Lib Dem candidate came within 1000 votes of winning?
Gareth Jennings, Kennington says...
1:23pm Fri 18 May 07
Angry, Oxford says...
1:34pm Fri 18 May 07
ian, says...
1:48pm Fri 18 May 07
Gareth Jennings, Kennington says...
1:58pm Fri 18 May 07
Emma Liston, Witney says...
2:14pm Fri 18 May 07
Basil, Oxford says...
2:55pm Fri 18 May 07
Simon Hodge, oxford says...
2:57pm Fri 18 May 07
Patrick, Oxford says...
3:05pm Fri 18 May 07
melinda, Kingston Bagpuize says...
3:18pm Fri 18 May 07
Terry, Goosey says...
3:28pm Fri 18 May 07
Joanne, Oxford says...
4:03pm Fri 18 May 07
If the Lib Dems in Oxford are as nasty and bitchy as these blogs suggest then I'm not at all surprised Tia and Paul left them to become Independents. No-one called for them to stand down then so why should they now? As has been pointed out in the Oxford Times, plenty of elected representatives have switched parties over the years and there is no justification for calling for Tia and Paul to be the first to stand down.
They are both exellent councillors who were voted in not just because of which party they represent but who they are. Both are clearly sure that the Conservative Party is the only one that really represents their views and is serious about the issues that are their top priorities - the NHS and the environment.
This is a courageous action and I admire anyone who has the courage to stand by their convictions and do what they believe is best for the people of Oxford.
John, London says...
4:04pm Fri 18 May 07
What an absurd thing to say in response to this story. People who voted Lib Dem got Tory Councillors, not Labour ones!
josh, Oxford says...
4:35pm Fri 18 May 07
It is my understanding, according to the entries here that no-one is allowed to think and must follow blindly in all things politic, once a party has been chosen. Almost every single party at every level in politics has benefitted from 'defections' since Parliament became a reality and **** few, if any at all resigned and went for a by-election. Good examples of that include Churchill who changed parties at a whim on several occasions. Labour has benefitted, the Lib Dems have benefitted and even the Greens have benefitted from defections. They are a political fact and will continue beyond my life expectancy.
Why the vitriol you might ask? Is it because they recognise that one or both represent a serious threat to the cosy ineptitude of a labour party that mismanged the council for two decades and a Lib Dem party that appears to be gullible when it comes to paying out for consultants?
Is the pointed comment about Parliamentary Candidacy a fear reflex of a supporter of the fairly average MP or the party in disarray that lost not only Paul Sargent and Tia MacGregor, but Sajjad Malik to Labour, scores of members, and nationally the support of a great number of floating voters (most of whom were sick of the lack of leadership and abadonment of key policies simply for political expediency)?
Perhaps all those who wrote in with such 'forthright' views should consider this very simple and oft quoted phrase; 'People who inhabit glass houses should not throw stones' .
At the moment I hear the noise of a great number of windows shattering as stones come flying out of several glass houses, like toys thrown out of great big cots by the petulant children inhabiting them.
Andy, Oxford says...
4:59pm Fri 18 May 07
I love the comment above about glass houses. Particularly in light of Ricks diatribe. Does he realise that Blair and his ilk have not only abandoned the Labour movement, but in the process kicked the Labour Party to death? At present, the Labour Party is destroying the NHS in favour of privatisation, is privatising the education system, is responsible for over 3 million pensioners living in poverty (Unison figures), still has 1 in 3 children living in poverty, has put the country into unsustainable debt and broken its own measures on the economy by hiding expensive PFI and PPP schemes off the auditted accounts? Does he also realise that FAR from supporting the forces engaged on insane foriegn adventures, (which were based on lies and deceit and for which Andrew Smith was a whole hearted supporter), the Labour Govt is mugging them for their benefits, cutting vital budgets which will cost lives and failing to provide them with adequate equipment. You will find out very soon how deeply unpopular Gordon Brown is with the Armed Services even compared to the chief liar Tony Blair. Then of course there is the fiasco with Doctors, Nurses, Teachers and the list goes on. Even the fixation with the culture of the great Ally accross the ocean which Blair has promoted, has brought increased crime. And lastly, Blairs ineptitude on the international stage, where he turned Britain from a respected first world power to a joke, despised and ridiculed in equal measure in great swathes of the world.
Hang on - you can't just ignore the voting system that we *have* in favour of the voting system that you *want*. These people were elected under First-Past-The-Post as Lib Dems, and now they are Tories. Unless their supporters are saying that there isn't much difference (this might well be true of course, but if thats the case why bother to defect) then surely there should be a by-election!
Why all of a sudden the concern? Are you a member or voter for any of the major political parties and if you are, why the sudden concern?
RB wrote:
Richard wrote: As somebody who has close ties to Oxfordshire, I say good luck to the two Lib Dem defectors. They've obviously seen sense and realised what a nobody party the Lib Dems are.
Such a nobody party that they are in administration in 2 districts, one constituency has a Lib Dem MP and in another constituency the Lib Dem candidate came within 1000 votes of winning?
Losing by 1,000 votes is nothing to write home about. My point is simple, the Lib Dems will never be anything more than a third rate force in British politics, and their control of any local authority merely temporary, with them doing anything to gain and keep control. Across the country there isn't a single coherent, consistent Lib Dem policy. In my book the Lib Dems policy of being "all things to all people" is two-faced.
Good point. Lets also remember that due to a little subterfuge many votes went to a protest candidate through either confusion or humour. It could well have been double the margin. That said if the LibDems were serious about winning they would have fought an inclusive campaign rather than through the unimaginative cabal that they stuck with. I like Mr Goddard as he is intelligent, hard working and earnest. That said if you cannot beat Andrew Smith with all the goodwill available over the Iraq War and other issues, then your best hope has gone. Besides which it obvious that the country is confused by the LIbDem move to occupy the central ground by abandoning some of its key policies.
It will be interesting to see if Labour continue with their smear campaigns next year and if the other parties follow suit, don't you think?
To Neil, Oxford says...
5:30pm Fri 18 May 07
It presents the new Tory councillors with the perfect platform to campaign on - namely that they will be focussed on providing for the people of Oxford and not engaging in embittered pettiness.
Sarah, Oxford says...
12:06pm Sat 19 May 07
In local politics the people are more important than their parties. Local Politicians have to work together, make concessions and be in touch with their communities. Both Tia and Paul work hard for their constituents. Hopefully, we will find that the voters have known this all along and that their loyalty is to the people who work for them and not for a colour or creed.
Jo, Oxfordshire says...
8:26pm Sun 20 May 07
Mike, Oxford says...
5:00pm Wed 23 May 07
Councillors should indeed stand up for their principles, even against their parties. Labour councillors in Oxford have opposed the Iraq war and a recent Tory candidate opposed the Tory County Council on parking charges, for instance. But joining another party with a completely different set of policies is something else. Councillors should remember that they represent the people and not just their own whims, and if they feel they must abandon the platform they stood on, they should have enough respect for the people who voted for them to resign.
Mike Turvey, says...
1:25pm Sat 30 Jun 07
This the party that left millions on the scrap heap of unemployment
Errr.. yes, because unemployment was really low and we weren't the poor man of Europe before Thatcher came to power! Does "Labour isn't working" ring any bells?
Paul Sargent
Tia McGregor
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Paul, says...
9:24pm Thu 17 May 07
If Oxford voters had wanted Tory coucillors they'd have voted for them.