The true cost of the Conservatives problems in South West Norfolk may not be known for some time yet

The local news today has been full of the smiling face of Liz Truss in the wake of the confirmation of her selection as Tory candidate for South West Norfolk. Congratulations to her. However, depite the seemingly "resounding" victory she achieved, it seems there was a price in terms of how many people in South West Norfolk Conservatives feel further alienated from David Cameron and Mrs Truss, and also in financial terms.

It appears, from reading e-mails sent to me and from comments to my blog, that Mrs Truss appears to have won her victory very much on the back of a concerted campaign from Conservative Central Office. People have commented on being phoned several times from a phone bank (presumably in London), and a massive "Get Out The Vote" campaign also being run from CCO. This, of course, does not come without its costs. But what is the cost to Mrs Truss locally ?

If comments I have received are anything to go by, there a a good number of Tories in South West Norfolk who feel absolutely disgusted by the methods and tactics of the Tory party in London who have in effect forced an A lister with no local roots on to them, in great part by intimidating locals by saying that they would in effect impose another candidate on South West Norfolk if they dared deselect Mrs Truss.

One wonders what a good candidate with strong local credentials might be able to achieve in South West Norfolk if they chose to stand as an independent if Mrs Truss's party fail to back her with the delivering and canvassing required at the next general election. The so called "Neanderthals" and "turnip Taliban" might just choose to send the Tory party a message in response to the barbs the Conseravatives have thrown at the good people of Norfolk.

Liz Truss selection confirmed

Liz Truss has won her selection confirmation in South West Norfolk.

As for the Tories, their attacks on Norfolk people as "Turnip Taliban", and worse, I predict will come back to haunt them in Norfolk in future years.

Whilst the wind is with Cameron, he might get away with it, but in the long term, we Norfolk people will not let the Tories forget that using stereotypical attacks against people from Norfolk like some poor comic will not win us round at the ballot box.

What is the Tories obsession with sex ?

The furore over the possible deselection of South West Norfolk Tory PPC Liz Truss is ongoing, with various newspapers now covering the story in some detail. The problem is, whenever they need a comment on the issue, they turn to the usual suspects in the Tory blogosphere, Iain Dale, and ConHome . And sadly every single time they seem to turn the issue to one of sex rather than one of trust. It seems the Tory blogosphere is obsessed with talking about sex.

The one thing they have missed is that South West Norfolk Tories are not going on about sex at all, and it seems odd for me, a Lib Dem who has campaigned in South West Norfolk against the Tories there to be defending them whilst the Metropolitan Tory blogs sling mud and barbs at Norfolk using the sort of stereotypical rubbish that anyone who really knew the county would know to avoid. Indeed some of the insults might easily be used by other political parties to highlight just what the Tories really think of Norfolk people.

The Telegraph did a piece on the Liz Truss story which went under the headline "Having an is no barrier to being an MP", says Shadow Womens minister. I agree, and I am sure that South West Norfolk Tories would agree also. The fact is though that it is an issue of trust because she did not share this information with the local Tory Party at the meeting.

It seems clear from virtually everything I have read that locals in South Norfolk are not talking about "the sex" or "the marital affair", but are instead deeply upset that they were treated like fools who could not be trusted to make sensible judgement based on being given the full facts. It might have been any issue, one not involving sex, it might have been a failed business, a scurrilous comment or a failed marriage, quite frankly it did not matter what the issue was. It was the fact that nobody bothered to tell the members first. If the local members are not told who the candidates are in advance (which I gather they were not), they couldn't look people up on Google. But should they be expected to ? Should you have to believe that candidates might keep potentially embarrassing information from you just because you don't have the ability to come already briefed to the selection meeting ?

So I would stress to those metropolitan Tories from outside of Norfolk. Get over the affair and start dealing with the issue of trust, and whilst you are at it, stop labelling and attacking people in Norfolk. If that's what you think of us all, you certainly don't deserve our votes.

Update : Ironically, I was also phoned today about whether I was interested in being the Lib Dem candidate in South West Norfolk. Sadly, I am too busy, but it appears that my views are closer to a lot of those in the Tory Party in SW Norfolk than many would have thought.

Liz Truss - Can the Tory blogging mafia spin their way through this one ?

As one commenter to my blog wrote

"Yesterday's headlines were "Liz Truss Comes out Fighting" (Iain Dale) and "Liz Truss Wins Over local paper" (Con Home).

They should have waited a day for Saturday's EDP !

I think this finally does for Liz. Even Iain Dale cannot spin this one."

What the Tory spinners failed to notice (from only looking at the online editions of the EDP) was that there was also a column in yesterdays EDP which absolutely castigated Liz Truss and those who from on high in the Tory Party, and outside of Norfolk, were dictating what they should and should not think. This article was totally overlooked by Iain Dale and Con Home.

The inconsistencies too in Liz Truss' story about when she became a Tory (at university she claimed) when everywhere else it says she was a Lib Dem at university and that she left the Lib Dems after leaving University did not add up.

Then we turn to today's EDP front page which leads on the headline that Elizabeth Truss is accused of "more hypocrisy and deceit as new revelations emerge".

Now come on Iain and Con Home. Spin your way through this.

The fact is that Iain and Con Home still don't get it. Whilst for many people the issue might be the affair she had, the truth is for the majority of people it is an issue of trust. And what is clear is that in the current political climate, being able to trust your candidate and MP is vital. Clearly people in SW Norfolk Tories have lost trust in Lizz Truss.

UPDATE - For those incapable of reading, can I refer them to the final paragraph and get over the issue of her marital infidelity. That, in itself, is not the issue. The issue is clearly one of trust and honesty, and this is where Mrs Truss appears to have her problems.

What are you saying Mr Dale ?

Iain Dale has printed his Eastern Daily Press column today on his blog and makes a rather astonishing parallel between the Liz Truss situation in South West Norfolk and that of a gay man.

Quoting Iain directly he says

" I wrote on my blog that the social outlook of those Tories who sought to deselect Liz Truss over her past affair with an MP was ‘neanderthal’. It’s the same social outlook which caused a few – and I emphasise, a few – North Norfolk Tories to swallow hard when I, a gay man, was selected as the candidate there in 2003."

Now I find this analogy rather odd and also rather disrespectful.

What Iain is saying is that there is a direct link, an equation, which puts as equal the peoples perceptions of gay people with person who breaks their marriage vows and has a long term affair with another married person. Am I the only person who finds this odd ?

My own views on gay people is not any different from my opinions towards heterosexual people. I have many gay friends, indeed my very best friend has recently announced his intention to marry (and I mean marry because they are going to Canada to do it) his male partner next year. Yet Iain Dale seems to be saying that the social outlook that people have towards a person who cares not one jot about her marriage vows, her promise to her partner and the vows her lover made to his wife is equal to the social values of someone who dislikes gay people. I disagree.

I am not a great fan of those people who think that marriage vows are something that can be ignored. It is a solemn promise to act in a way that is wholly loyal to your partner. It is not to be taken lightly. People are perfectly entitled to view people who break these vows with suspicion, as someone who may not keep to their word, and as someone who puts themselves selfishly above others. However, if you view someone who is gay with the same suspicion simply because they are gay, then this is wholly wrong.

For Iain Dale to equate the two is absolutely wrong. He may feel as a gay man he can get away with it. But I know many people who feel that the equation between a gay man and a marriage cheat is unfair.

Someone being gay is not an issue and should never be. Someone who breaks vows and solemn promises is, for many a real and justified position to take. When the issue of trsut is so important at the moment when talking about politicians, anything that causes people to lose trust is a justified position.

Latest - Elizabeth Truss forced to explain herself to South West Norfolk Conservative members

Following on from the story yesterday about Elizabeth Truss, the newly selected Tory candidate for South West Norfolk, the BBC are reporting the the executive committee of South West Norfolk Conservative association have met tonight and asked her to return to speak to all party members at a special AGM to be held at the weekend.

The executive could have rubber stamped her appointment but have chosen not to do so.

Newly selected Tory candidate might be deselected within days

The EDP reports that Elizabeth Truss, the Tory A lister selected for the safe Tory seat of South West Norfolk might be deselected within days of being selected after revelations of her affair with a Tory MP were published by a national newspaper.

I thought it odd that South West Norfolk again did not choose a local person for the area after the clear success of having local woman Gillian Shephard as their MP for so many years. Still, it after the awful Christopher Fraser, the invisible man of Norfolk politics, surely anyone would be an improvement.

Christopher Fraser ? Who ? I've never heard of you !

I wrote some months ago about the invisible man of Norfolk politics, Christopher Fraser, MP for South West Norfolk.

This man lost his previous seat to the Lib Dems in Poole back in 2001, but despite this, South West Norfolk Tories chose him ahead of an array of better qualified and often local people with an armful of credentials to be a decent local MP. Having been selected as the Tory candidate, he then refused to take part in public meetings during the election and is notable for his unwillingness to be contacted. The Eastern Daily Press have reported on an almost daily basis how he refuses to return calls.

Now, in the wake of allegations that the taxpayer was forced to pay out for shrubbery to go around his garden in South West Norfolk. The EDP reported today that locals in the village in which he owns a house were largely unaware that he lived there, indeed the paper also reported that many people believe he spends me time in his Dorset home than he does in Norfolk. Quite how his home in Norfolk qualified as a second home when it appears actually to be his third time is something of a mystery.

Well now it does not matter because he has gone. He will not stand again. Will the people of South West Norfolk be pleased ? Will they know ? After all, he was only notable by his complete invisibility as a local MP. To be honest in the rock solid Tory seat where a dog with a blue rosette on could get itself elected, a dog with a blue rosette on might be better known and could, in my opinion, do a better job !