Party's leader accuses Tory defector of being 'semi-detached'
THE Tory leader of Derbyshire County Council has questioned the work ethic of one of his own councillors, who announced on Friday that she was joining the UK Independence Party.
Councillor Juliette Stevens said she was quitting the Tory group ahead of an upcoming election as it had "failed to represent" the views of her constituents.
Andrew Lewer – whose Tory administration came to power in 2009 – said it was Ms Stevens who had let people down. Speaking to the Derby Telegraph, he accused her of a lack of commitment to Derbyshire and her Heage ward over the past four years.
Mr Lewer said: "Juliette's decision is unfortunate but she was standing down as a Conservative candidate on May 2 anyway.
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"For some time, she has been a semi-detached group member, both in terms of attendance and input."
Ms Stevens, nee Blake, was elected to represent Heage in 2009 – gaining the seat for the Tories as they won the county from Labour after 28 years.
In a statement on Friday, she said she had decided to join UKIP in the hope of giving voters "a fourth option" at the forthcoming elections.
Ms Stevens – who has previously been leader of Ripley Town Council and sat on Amber Valley Borough Council – said: "I have long felt that the Conservative Party, both locally and nationally, is losing touch with the electorate.
"While the Conservatives are a far better option than Labour or the Liberal Democrats, I am convinced the people of Derbyshire deserve more."
Elections will take place in May and Ms Stevens said she had waited as long as she could before making the move.
She said: "My intention is to help UKIP, which is fresh, energetic and optimistic, to help fight for seats.
"I'd encourage anybody who has been turned off voting by three tired old parties, to look at what UKIP can offer – a chance to bring real democracy back to local politics in Derbyshire."
2 Comments
by Hotlush
Monday, March 11 2013, 10:18AM
“@janine2011; "will vote accordingly regardless of the party she now represents"
Doubtful, most people vote for parties not personalities.
Which begs the question; if she got voted in as a Tory and is now UKIP is she still representing those who voted for her? There's only a month or so until the public get to vote to keep/kick her but what if she'd changed parties a month after the election?”
by janine2011
Monday, March 11 2013, 9:04AM
“Andrew Lewer – whose Tory administration came to power in 2009 – said it was Ms Stevens who had let people down. Speaking to the Derby Telegraph, he accused her of a lack of commitment to Derbyshire and her Heage ward over the past four years.
Mr Lewer said: "Juliette's decision is unfortunate but she was standing down as a Conservative candidate on May 2 anyway.
For some time, she has been a semi-detached group member, both in terms of attendance and input."
If that is the case why didn't Mr Lewer pull her up on it at the time? However the people in that area will know whether she helped them or not and will vote accordingly regardless of the party she now represents.”