Who'd be a Barnet Tory

Yesterday we saw one of the most bizarre pieces of exhibitionist willy waving by an ex member of the Barnet Tories seen in a long time. As this was clearly being done for attention, the Barnet Eye has chosen not to explore the matter further. It does ask the question, why on earth would anyone want to be a Barnet Conservative? I know quite a few of their councillors. Most of them I get on reasonably well with on a personal level. Most of them are not horrible people. This year I supported the Mayor of Barnet's appeal as best I could. We arranged a fundraising event at our studios and I attended one of the events organised by Brian Schama, having a good meal and listening to an excellent talk by Martin Bell.

I often see John Hart in Mill Hill and will always pass the time of day with him. He generally tells me a highly inappropriate joke or two and we have a bit of banter. Lisa Rutter and her husband Mark visited the studios during her reign as Mayor and were highly supportive of a youth project we were running. I introduced Dan Thomas to the TS Broadsword Sea Cadets and he has been doing what he can to help them. Joan Scannell is on the Mill Hill Music festival organising committee. Richard Cornelius and Melvin Cohen attended the festival and I sincerely hope they had a great evening, we certainly had a pleasant chat. I have a rule that if I meet anyone from the Council in a social setting, I don't talk politics and I don't pick fights. It is called good manners. I don't dish the dirt on people when they have confided things or let things slip. It is called trust.

This morning many of the Barnet Tories will presumably be feeling a bit upset and let down. I strongly urge all of them from the temptation to respond in kind. It may seem strange for me, as a blogger who has spent the last few years criticising Tories to say this. The point is that I have never criticised any of them for anything outside their role as a councillor. I have not dished the dirt on peoples private lives, even though I know plenty of "dirty secrets". I have been very harsh in regards to their dodgy policies, but this is a different thing completely. It does no one any favours and is completely irrelevant. I don't want to see a situation where people refuse to get involved in local politics because they are scared that their linen will be washed in public.

Much as I disagree with many Tory policies, I would hate to see good people on all sides scared off by such obnoxious behaviour. I urge all of the Councillors who have been besmirched to rise above it. The cold shoulder should be retaliation enogh. Machiavelli stated that "revenge is a dish best served cold". In this case, I suspect that revenge will be handed out by the electorate in May next year.