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| Tory Candidate Paul Holmes Pretending He is Local |
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No, he isn't. He is pretending.
Paul Holmes got selected for the seat, and is now pretending that he has been here for years.
He hasn't.
We have been speaking of "The Cons" by "The Cons" Party and the terrible Theresa May.
The day before polling day, we now turn our attention to the Tory candidate for Southampton Test, Paul Holmes.
The previous candidate for the past two elections was Jeremy Moulton. He was overlooked in favour of Paul Holmes. Why was this?
Was it because Jeremy Moulton lost twice to Alan Whitehead, in 2010 and by a bigger margin in 2015?
Was it because Jeremy Moulton, also Leader of the Conservative Group on the City Council, failed to lead the Conservatives to control the Council, despite Labour being in disarray?
Perhaps it was.
Or was it because Jeremy Moulton was not enough of a "yes man" for the Conservatives, and that as a political careerist working for the Tory Party Chairman Patrick McLoughlin, Paul Holmes was suitably malleable to be a "yes man" for Theresa May, as shown on the leaflet above.
Perhaps we shall never know for sure, as these are Conservative Party decisions.
A political careerist is someone who has politics as their career, and has never had a job outside politics.
The Labour Party and Conservative Party are full of them.
It appears that Paul Holmes has all the hallmarks of a political careerist. Careerists will do anything for their political career.
For example, they will produce tens of thousands of letters like the one above, desperately trying to persuade local residents that they are local and understand the local issues.
But how can Paul Holmes claim this, when he has been living and working in London?
And what about the attempts by Paul Holmes and the Tory Party to show he is local and to get him elected as Theresa May's man in Southampton?
Is Mr Holmes trying to con the people of Southampton into thinking he lives at the below address in Southampton, and lived there before he was selected as the Tory Candidate?
The address below is taken from the "Statement of Persons Nominated" issued by Southampton City Council.
Southampton Independents understands that Paul Holmes lived and worked in London, for the Conservative Party including the Party Chairman McLoughlin, and not in Southampton.
Mr Holmes did stand for Parliament. But for a London constituency in 2015, not Southampton.
Mr Holmes has taken this opportunity to try to cleanse his image as a Sotonian. Except it doesn't appear that he grew up in Southampton.
Paul Holmes studied at Southampton University and was a councillor for four years, but then left Southampton, to further his political career. That is the decision of a political careerist.
It appears that he hasn't been a Sotonian for many years.
His political opponent Andrew Pope has tried to get him to answer questions, but Mr Holmes has repeatedly evaded answering them.
Is Paul Holmes emulating Paul Nuttall of UKIP in the Stoke Central by-election?
When did he start living at this address?
If you look at the electoral register for Romsey and Southampton North, you can see that he is a late addition to the register.
Whose address is it really?
We have confirmed that it is the address of a former Southampton City Councillor. It must be some kind of favour, to help Mr Holmes cleanse his image and continue the pretense that he had been living in Southampton, prior to his selection as candidate.
Has he lied on his nomination papers?
We will see. That is a matter for the Police.
We have contacted local journalists and we hope they will do their duty in the public interest.
We will be passing information to the Police and asking for them to investigate.
And we ask Southampton residents to ask the same questions, BEFORE they cast their vote on Thursday 8th June, or on their postal ballot papers beforehand.
Do you trust Paul Holmes? Do you trust the Conservatives? Do you trust Labour?
Labour or Tory - it's a choice between potential disaster and proven failure. And Alan Whitehead has been a failure as your MP for 20 years. People know it's time for him to go.
We ask you to consider voting for Andrew Pope Southampton Independents, because he lives in the community, we are genuine and we are about the local area.
