Unofficial Liberal Party Forum

[Tom Wilde]

Originally Posted by Dilke

Hi Tom,

I understand he was a Conservative parliamentary candidate! and the last party he was in was the Tories. He stood as a Tory in the seat he had held as a Liberal Dem and came third.

Ah, I see - that explains your otherwise rather odd comment. Sorrimate, I think you are just plain wrong about him having been a Tory parliamentary candidate. However, if you can provide me with a link I'm happy to be corrected. I've just done some Googling, though, and can find no trace of this. I did see that he used to be a LibDem councillor on Salford City Council, and that in May 2007, after joining the Tories, he contested his old council seat as a Conservative. I don't know whether he came third and I haven't bothered to look up the results, but maybe that is what you are thinking of?

Not sure I understand your gripe about him having once been a Pro Euro Conservative Party candidate. Google says that was way back in 1999, and Wikipedia says that the party disbanded in 2001. That was plainly a long time ago, and he has simply changed his mind about some important issues since then. His political past as you outline it shows that he is an independent thinker. If you ask me what I mean by that, I'd say that if I have to define it for you then you probably aren't going to find it a useful concept anyway!

[Dilke]

Here's a linkTom Defection storm over councillor - News - Manchester Evening News suggesting Tim Perkins was a Conservative PPC, it's from the Manchester Evening News, so take with a pinch of salt. “He was formerly chair of the SDP in Wolverhampton . . . then joined the Conservative Party and was selected for a safe seat in Wolverhampton - however, he was de-selected before the election…he has been concealing his political background for a long time”

Local Elections 2007 - Local Elections - News - Manchester Evening NewsTim Perkins comes third as a Conservative in the seat he had previously represented as a Lib Dem.

[Tom Wilde]

Originally Posted by Dilke

Here's a linkTom Defection storm over councillor - News - Manchester Evening News suggesting Tim Perkins was a Conservative PPC, it's from the Manchester Evening News, so take with a pinch of salt.

Originally Posted by Dilke

Local Elections 2007 - Local Elections - News - Manchester Evening NewsTim Perkins comes third as a Conservative in the seat he had previously represented as a Lib Dem.

Thanks for those useful links. So to summarize, way back before he joined the LibDems he was briefly a Tory PPC but didn't eventually stand as a parliamentary candidate. Then after a brief stint in the Pro Euro Conservatives he was in the Liberal Democrats for over 5 years, standing as a parliamentary candidate twice and also being elected as a Salford city councillor and becoming deputy leader of the LibDem group on the council, all of which presumably indicates that your bunch rated him quite highly. Then when he left the LibDems his local colleagues threw a hilarious and deeply unconvincing hissy fit about how shocked they were to find out that he had once been in the SDP! Then he stood as a Tory candidate for the local council.

So to summarize my summary, the only times he has ever actually stood in a parliamentary election so far it has been as a LibDem, so I think the headline on the Liberal Party website was fair enough.

I'm extremely glad that Tim Perkins has now joined the Liberal Party and hope that when he is finally elected to parliament it will be as a Liberal.

[Dilke]

Can someone who has taken holy orders be an MP? I thought practising clergy were disqualified.

[Tom Wilde]

Originally Posted by Dilke

Can someone who has taken holy orders be an MP? I thought practising clergy were disqualified.

No idea - sorry. However, there was a chap called Ian Paisley who was some kinda clergyman, and he was definitely an MP at the same time, so I'm guessing the answer may be that no, there is no ban on practicing clergy also being Members of Parliament. I could have misunderstood the Paisley situation, though. Anyone else know?

Did Tim Perkins take his holy orders before or after the last time he stood as a LibDem parliamentary candidate in 2005?