By Election

Thanks for all the information. It seems the personal problems of a Tory MP is the only news worth reporting now. Really important things are passed over.

There has been very little mention in the media or the press, it’s Wales.

I think it is of much interest , he was found guilty in Crown
Court, there was the recall petition , 19% of constituents signed.

He was sacked then local party members met last night and
have selected him to stand .

This constituency has hopped between Tory snd Libs since the seventies , this time Brexit Party has said they will have a candidate. The constituency voted to leave.

No winterwhite it’s the Conservatives who have reselected him - I think that’s why some of us are a bit surprised.

I missed the beginning of all this, only caught it when the result of the recall petition was announced. Don't quite understand why he is sure of support as an independent when so many signed the recall petition even if is a good constituency MP . There seems something very brazen about standing again and will surely split the tory vote.

This is the third recall petition since the law came in in 2015. The first was Ian Paisley jnr who had been suspended for 30:days from the Commons for not declaring that the Sri Lankan Government had funded trips for him and his family to visit. The recall petition did not reach the threshold of 10% of the electorate. The second was Peterborough where the Labour MP was expelled from the party for her behaviour and so would not have been reselected to stand for them and this is the 3rd one.

It is interesting that I have seen only 1 news report about what actually happened. I suspect local news may have made more of it but perhaps the lack of commentors on here is because of the lack of real coverage. It does seem that what is in fact a constitutional major issue (is this the first time this has happened to an MP?) has been largely ignored. You might think some MPs were scared in case it happened to others?

The Lib Dems are by-election 'specialists'. They will ship in helpers from far and near to canvas and distribute leaflets. If people are unable or unwilling to go 'on the doorstep', they will be asked to do telephone canvassing.
Good luck to them this time.
Done that, been there, bought the teeshirt.

suzie and the only places where one could sign the petition were all council owned properties I assume the local authorities.

I have had several long chats with the Labour candidate, he would make a good MP

Oh anniebach thank you for that - I laughed out loud. Perhaps he should have claimed the fine on expenses

All is well , in his glossy campaign brochure ‘I have paid the fine and the ‘error £’s’ myself . Who the hell would pay them if not him ?

The judge added: “There was no error here. What you did was done quite deliberately and it must have taken some time to create your fake documents.”

Anniebach do you know anything about the cost of implementing the recall petition and then the cost of running the by election or who pays for that? Is it the local authority?

It was a strong Labour constituency for years, boundaries were changed, lost Brynmawr an industrial town . It has been Tory, Lib, Tory,Lib,Tory, since.

No word yet who the Brexit candidate will be. Plaid Cymru and Greens supporting a party standing for remain so this
will be the Libs.

His claim was apparently legitimate but he misunderstood the rules and thought it was not. It was not an "error". He decided to produce false invoices, which was a deliberately dishonest act. The fact that he was entitled to claim the money is irrelevant.

In my view he should not be able to stand at the present time. I'm all for rehabilitation of offenders and people having a second chance but it is too soon after the offence.

I meant re-selected

Maybe more people will join in - I can’t help but think it’s an important issue about being convicted of expenses fraud and being able to continue be an MP ( after recall). I appreciate that I might be biased because I’d hope for a Lib Dem victory too. I like to think I’d feel exactly the same if it were happening to a Lib Dem MP. I suppose what is being said is that if a political party’s accepting of certain criminal behaviour , then the electorate have their say on voting day. I wonder how I’d feel if I were a Conservative supporter who felt that he shouldn’t have been re-elected? Would I vote for him nevertheless? Well I’ll never know I suppose

suzie there is little interest in this thread, could be because
it’s a Welsh constituency.

I think it is important because the area voted to leave and Brexit candidate is going to stand.

The constituency is two counties, Chris Davies seems popular in Radnor and north Breconshire.

I don’t think he should be allowed to stand but he can,

I had hopes the Libs would win the seat back but not so hopeful now.

Anniebach this post is more of a musing than a clear opinion. I didn’t realise that could happen but obviously it can - it’s clearly upto the local party and I suppose their argument could be that if the electorate don’t want him, thy are free to vote for someone else. Also if he is popular locally, it will avoid the vote being split. Should people so recently convicted of offences committed related to their job be able to just step back in? As I say I’m still thinking this through and would be interested in yours and others views.

Chris Davies will stand as the Tory candidate in the Brecon and Radnor by election

His glossy campaign blurb , Chris Davies MP not Conservative MP , you could be right suzie ,

nothing from Brexit party yet

Anniebach I agree - error is an interesting word isn’t it? I tend to use it for a non-deliberate act I think. I can’t understand why he did what he did but he certainly did it on purpose.

Chris Davies has started campaigning, he apologises for his
error ! found guilty in Crown Court , fined £1,500 and sentenced to 50 hours community service for - an error !

A woman was interviewed on BBCWales yesterday, she said
others have done worse. !

What I really don’t understand about this case is that he didn’t benefit at all financially from the false invoices. That might mean that some constituents would carry on supporting him.

The Libs have been very active for weeks