An expelled councillor: is this the best the Sheffield Tories can do?

By Jack Scott / @Jack_Scott

On Saturday, the Sheffield Conservatives picked their candidates for the General Election (from 5 men and one woman). The results show just how much further the Conservatives have got to go.

Sheffield is the fifth largest City in England. Like Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle it has not a single Conservative councillor. Frankly, it doesn’t need any, given the economic lasisez-faire attitude of the Sheffield Lib Dems, epitomised by MP for Sheffield Hallam Nick Clegg, who has never shown the slightest bit of interest in Sheffield. Proof for this comes from his own website: it has only one entry concerning Sheffield, from July this year.

But before 1997, Sheffield Hallam had only ever been Conservative; it is the second most affluent constituency outside of London. A higher proportion of Sheffield Hallam’s young people go on to University than anywhere else in Britain. Coupled with some of the highest property prices in Britain, the lack of Tory councillors raises important questions for Project Dave and its inability, even now, to generate any affection.

Unsurprisingly, the Tories want to start making progress here. Indeed, they have to: according to UK Polling Report, Sheffield Hallam is Tory target 157. This means that if the Tories are to have an overall majority of above about 30 or more, they need to win Sheffield Hallam and finish off Nick Clegg. Electoral Calculus also has the seat down as non-safe.

You would think that this scenario – a vulnerable party leader, ripe for decapitation and the need to regain a traditionally safe Tory seat – would mean Sheffield Hallam attracted an ‘A -list’ candidate or equivalent.

Not so. Sheffield Conservatives have decided that residents of Sheffield Hallam are to be offered the chance to send Daniel Gage to Parliament. Mr Gage was previously a member of Dronfield Town Council, but has now been automatically expelled for non-attendance. Mr Gage is said to be “heartbroken” that he has been ejected from his seat. He doesn’t have anything to say to the residents he failed during his six months of non-attendance or hint at any contrition for the fact that he didn’t turn up: he calls this an “administrative error”, but gives no indication as to what the error actually is.

According to the minutes, the last council meeting Gage attended was 5th May. It is not yet clear whether he has claimed any allowances or expenses since then. Mr. Gage gave his apologies for one meeting, but failed to do so for five others. This begs the question: Why did Mr. Gage not check the minutes of the meetings he hadn’t attended? Did he not think it was important to see what had happened at those Council meetings? If he had checked them, he would have been able to correct his own “administrative errors”.

There is a broader point to be made here: What confidence can people in Sheffield Hallam have that someone who can’t even check these details will be able to effectively scrutinise legislation? Does David Cameron really want to have an MP who can’t follow a very simple rule and who appears to think that turning up for meetings and votes is unworthy of him? Nick Clegg has been AWOL in Sheffield Hallam since he got elected in 2005. The last thing we need is another person who thinks the hard slog of a diligent constituency MP is beneath him.

This coming election presents the clearest choice in a generation: Labour or Tory, with radically different perspectives, diagnoses and prescriptions. The people of Sheffield Hallam deserve a half-decent Tory candidate who can articulate those differences, not someone who appears to have fallen foul of the simplest and easiest requirements of being a Councillor: turn up once every six months. They are entitled to ask if this is the best David Cameron and his Conservatives can do.