Mark Jones the Conservative candidate for Aberdeen South has announced his shock resignation.
In today's Press and Journal they cover the story in full, however it has come out of the blue because his campaign manager didn't even know.
Frank Webster, who helped run Mr Jones’s campaign, was surprised when the Press and Journal told him of his decision to stand down.Mark Jones had stood in a variety of places in the past;
A former Tory councillor for Redbridge, he contested Paisley South for the party in the 2003 Scottish Parliament elections, and Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock in 2005, as well as the Highlands and Islands region and Shetland constituency in the 2007 elections for Holyrood.
Despite Conservative claims that Aberdeen South was a two horse race between Labour and themselves, it was reported in the Evening Express "Labour's Aberdeen South MP Anne Begg ... claimed she expected the main challenge to come from the Lib Dems."
And the figures speak for themselves, at the last general election;
Labour - 15,272
Liberal Democrats - 13,924
Conservative 7,134
SNP 4,120
So, with Mark Jones quitting, it really is between the Labour MP and John Sleigh - who is just 1,348 votes behind.
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8 comments:
What a typically nasty, snide LibDem reaction. From what I can make out, the man is caring for his ill mother for Christ's sake. Show a bit of human compassion.
Sick Lib Dem surprise, you are the true nasty party. Thank god you are an irelevance when it comes to the actual GE.
jesus his mothers sick and you winge away
Calm down chaps. I have made no personal attack on Mark and have stuck to the politics of Aberdeen South given the personal reason given for his resignation as I have done for others.
A pity some of your fellow Tory bloggers don't practice what you preach when it comes to similar things with Lib Dems PPCs and MPs!!
I have to admit nationally the Lib/Dems appear to be a fair and likable party but locally they are very nasty and manipulate voters with endless leafleting on how they are best placed to win in the area.
Andrew every poll over the last year or more has shown your party at below 15% in Scotland yet instead of trying to address your collapse in support your party has taken the strange steps of targeting a couple of seats in Scotland, most notably Leith and Aberdeen south, rather than being concerned that 85% of Scots are snubbing you.
Maybe if you channeled some of the thousands of pounds which you spend every month in Leith was spent advertising your polices then your fortunes might start to to go up.
Kind regards, Allan.
Was going to post a comment after reading a truly nasty little bit of opportunism. I looked in vain for even a small mention of Mark Jones reason for standing down, his mother's ill health, but found none.
Iain Dale and Fitaloon say it all really. You do yourself and your party no favours here, but then neither has the local Libdem council done any for the good people of Aberdeen!
Hi Andrew
You really can't win with these Tory chumps, can you?
If you'd gone into the reasons for this candidate standing down they'd have had a go at you for invading his privacy etc.
Instead you wrote a perfectly neutral posting, carefully avoided any hint of criticism of the erstwhile Tory candidate - and still you get it in the neck from Dale and similar morons.
Shows how pathetic the Tories really are. We can expect more of this kind of petulant reaction as the election campaign progresses and they get more & more wound up about the way their assumed landslide victory nationwide has slipped from their grasp.
Oh Mr Dale, come off it. You say and write much worse.
Pots and kettles.
One needn't be a Tory to find your post objectionable. I'm not and I did.
The clear implication was that the Tory candidate was wimping out of fighting an unwinnable seat when he is in fact caring for his sick mother.
Pretty pathetic.
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