Another Norwich Road

Saturday morning I was pleased to be able to head up to North Norfolk to help my old friend Trevor Ivory in his campaign to oust the LibDems. We went to Ludham and, in some kind of joke I assume, was given the Norwich Road to canvass. It was remarkable - house after house of Conservative voter. Yet this is a LibDem held district ward. Trevor has transformed the way in which the constituency party campaignins and works and it seems to be really paying off. They are pioneering some of the newest techniques and they seem to be working. From my day out in the sun, I have to say that if we give our Conservative voters the drive and enthusiasm to get into the polling station then this consistency may well yet be very close indeed.

Wanted: A Friend for the LibDem Council

Trevor Ivory has a brilliant post on his blog, and news item on his website, regarding the closure of the public toilets in Holt. The results of his survey - in which a third of the town took part - make astonishing reading, particularly the part about the council finding just a single supporter in their handling of the issue. Apparently local LibDem MP Norman Lamb has remained silent on the issue - how very unlike him. Bearing in mind that the survey was returned by more people than normally vote in local elections it certainly has some weight. During the days when local councils are fighting for their existence being this out of touch on a crucial issue like this won't help in the fight against Unitary.

With Holt now sporting the only UKIP Councillor for a long old distance, this move shows the serious fight that we are putting up in areas like this. The Conservatives are campaigning hard and showing themselves to be in touch with local people. I hope Trevor inspires other Conservatives!

The "Facebook Faker" is revealed... as a stupid person

Having been at first quite irritated by this, you may have guessed that I now find this whole thing very very amusing. And just in case my day looked like it may have been dull, what pops into my email box but a message from the "Facebook Faker"! Oh yes - it came from the famous norman_lamb@hotmail.co.uk e-mail address and this is what it said:

Dear Norwich Conservatives,

I'm sorry about the misunderstanding. I am the person who setup a fake Norman Lamb profile on Facebook.

I did send my party (the Liberal Democrats) an e-mail a while ago pointing out that I am a Liberal Democrat activist who made the Norman Lamb profile and group in response to another group about Norman Lamb on Facebook. I felt that by pretending to be Norman Lamb I could get more support for the group. In terms of messages I would pass them onto Norman himself. I was happy to pass the group and profile onto Norman when he was ready. I just felt Norman was taking too long to join Facebook.The only reason I gave a reference to Norman's opponent was to show that Norman was confident about beating him. I was confident we could show off Norman's group had more support than his rival. Also by people seeing his rival's website they would more likely look at Normans and see how much better it is.

In terms of replying to one person saying that the negative stuff posted was true. The reason I did that was because I felt sure there was evidence out there which could be used against Norman if he denied it. Therefore I felt it better off saying it was true and therefore make Norman appear more straight forward.I did post some stuff on Norman's wikipedia. I was giving him credit for some campaigns, but it got taken off apparently because some activists would have been offended. I wasn't sure why, but chose to ask no more questions.Because I have felt that the accusations against your party could damage my party and after having told my party a while ago that I am a Liberal Democrat activist I have with deep regret had to tell you the Conservatives about this so it does not damage Norman in a General Election. By that I mean our two parties can put this to bed quickly. I have sent a similar message to this back to my party. I hope we can get back to positive campaigning which I think is good for politics in general.

Best wishes

Norman Lamb's loyal activist
P.S. I won't tell you or anyone who I am because otherwise it could damage my party. Because David Cameron wants to get rid of your nasty image I think you would rather know no more about me.

So, there we have it, case closed ... a LibDem after all! Or is it...

... the trouble is that whilst this e-mail absolutely comes from the Facebook Faker, something troubles me about their claims to be a LibDems.

I just can't put my finger on it.

Hang on! What's this? The e-mail display name ... it doesn't come from Norman Lamb, it appears to come from NORMAN LAMN.

Oh dear, a suppoter so loyal and so dedicated that they can't even spell their own man's name.

Which leads me to conclude that this isn't a LibDem or a Conservative ... it is just a very, very stupid person with too much time on their hands. And if you are a stupid person who wants to give a few LibDems and the EDP a thrill every now and again - try getting the spelling right.

Case closed.

The Net Closes In

I notice from every LibDem blog in the world that the net is closing in on the "Facebook Faker" and a jolly good job too. Trouble is (well, for the LibDems) the only person looking more innocent than they are is Trevor Ivory, on whom all the blame was heaped at the beginning. This is almost certainly now not a LibDem, but I am now pretty much as certain it has nothing to do with Ivory either.

I genuinely hope whoever did it is caught, but I hope those who flung mud in the wrong direction apologise when they are.

Could a LibDem be the "Facebook Faker"?

The controversy over a faked Facebook page in the name of LibDem MP Norman Lamb seems to have the EDP and the blogosphere in a frenzy to discover whodunnit. Several bizarre claims have been made - not least that it was a UKIP plot - but most of the LibDem accusations seem to have been directed towards Tory candidate Trevor Ivory who made a strong denial of being involved or even knowing who did it.

As always in these cases, the LibDems drop big hints without actually pointing the finger (due to, well, no evidence) and the EDP leaves the reader with that no-smoke-without-fire feeling towards Mr Ivory because whoever did do it put a link to Trevor's blog on it.

So, all-in-all, Norman Lamb looks like the innocent hard-working MP and the Tory candidate looks a bit shifty.

And that's what started me thinking. A faked Facebook page attacking Norman Lamb attracts a small readership of Facebook diehards. If they'd left this alone, very few people would ever have cared. But an EDP article suggesting Tory involvment in a smear plot attracts a large readership of floating voters in North Norfolk and from around the county.

Could it be that this albeit rather time-consuming stunt was not designed to besmirch the good name of Norman Lamb MP (as claimed) but to give plenty of sleaze ammunition against the Tory candidate?

After all, who would be stupid enough to leave their own blog details on a site like this which was bound to cause trouble? It just doesn't add up, and with the LibDems being the only winners you have to ask if somebody with a lot of time on their hands and a devious mind could just have dunnit...

Well Done Trevor

I am thrilled to say that the latest Tory PPC to be selected in Norfolk & Suffolk is our local association Chairman Trevor Ivory, who will stand for the party in North Norfolk. I attended the Open Primary in Northrepps last Friday and what a good meeting it was. Trevor and Alan Lockwood, the defeated candidate, performed very well but it was so clear that Trevor wanted the seat badly.

Trevor and I are honest friends - I think that is a really difficult seat and he has one hell of a fight ahead of him. Trevor needs to work 24/7 on this one, but I have total confidence in him to really take the fight to Lamb. Trevor has been very brave taking a seat like this on, after all he follows the class political act of Iain Dale, and I am sure that local people will warm to him. Trevor and Lisa are now planning their move 20 miles North!

Trevor is a great champion of the Conservative cause ... North Norfolk should be proud to have him!