Tuesday 26 December 2023

There should be universal condemnation of the arson attack on Mike Freer's office

 This morning, I woke to hear Finchley MP Mike Freer on the radio. He was speaking about the arson attack on his office on Xmas eve. I was horrified to here of this. Let me be honest, I personally cannot stand Mike Freer. I consider him to be duplicitous, dishonest and divisive. He is also rather abusive. In a press interview, as leader of Barnet Council, he called me a "One Handed Blogger", clarifiying that I write with one hand, as I masterbate with the other. In a column for the Barnet Times, he stated that I was an armchair critic, living on my inheritance. He published this a couple of days after my mother passed away, in a clear attack when I was grieving. I reported both to Barnet Council standards committee, Freer lied and stated that he wasn't referring to anyone in particular and it was a general comment on critics.

To some extent, his mate Brian Coleman exposed the lie on the one handed blogger claim, when he emailed me (and the rest of the councillors in the Borough of Barnet) to say Freer was right and added abuse of his own. As he'd copied the rest of the council, using his council email, I took him to the Standards committee and won, making Coleman the only standing Mayor to be found guilty of abuse by The Standards Committee. Freer got away scot free. Amusingly enough, his claim about me living on my inheritence was rather wide of the mark. My mum left her estate to Charity, and a significant chunk went to the Mayor of Barnet (Tony Finn) Charity, the Noah's Ark Childrens Hospice. Unlike Freer and Coleman, I got on rather well with Tony. But I digress.

Violence and attacking people's property is always wrong. Much as I personally dislike Freer, he was democratically elected by the people of Golders Green. He can only be got rid of by them. The Conservative party has every right to have an office and the people of his constituency have the right to see their MP, so he needs an office. Anyone who firebombs an MP's office is by definition not a democrat and they force me to stand with a man I can't stand. 

I've had the misfortune to have to spend time in Freer's company on many occasions. I am always polite to him. He has not always returned the compliment, but that's his business. I believe that honesty, hard work and reasoned arguments always win in the long run. Violence always fails. My argument with Mike Freer was not personal (until he embarked on a string of personal insults), it was a determined attempt to prevent him damaging the Borough of Barnet with his bonkers One Barnet outsourcing scheme. I have been 100% vindicated as the scheme fell apart costing tens, if not hundreds of millions. Freer, long since abandoned any links to the failed scheme. As an MP, he has kept a Trappist vow of silence on the matter. The electorate will have their say on this weak and rather unpleasant man next year. That is how it should be done. If you know who took part in the attack, please report them to the police. My Grandfather was killed in a fire, so our family knows that fire is dangerous and indiscriminate. If you believe in the democratic process, that means standing up for it, even when it means defending people you can't stand. So lay of Mike Freer except for exposing his failures, bad policies and ineptitude. 




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