Another Tory MP’s campaign goes out in the wrong seat

Last month we reported how Tory MP David Burrowes had gone out doorknocking in the wrong constituency – and ended up at a Labour MP’s house.

Now it’s been discovered that another Tory MP has a little trouble working out who he is supposed to be representing. Voters in Hammersmith recently contacted their MP, Labour’s Andy Slaughter, when they received campaign leaflets from Chelsea & Fulham MP Greg Hands.

Slaughter promptly sent a letter to Hands, asking him to investigate the matter, and give assurances that the practice would not continue.

Hapless Hands, the Tories’ Deputy Chief Whip, wrote up a bizarre response that compared his election literature to a “Christmas round robin” and likened Slaughter’s attitude to the redrawing of constituency boundaries to the Israel/Palestine conflict.

He suggested that some of his constituents must have taken it upon themselves to pass on leaflets to those whose properties no longer fall within his seat’s boundaries, so that people could see how Hands was getting on:

“As I am sure you know I had the honour to represent constituents in that street before 2010. And since  2010 a number of my former constituents have been kind enough to say to friends  in parts of the borough I still represent that they rather miss me and wanted to know how I was getting on. 

“I suspect that those friends very kindly forwarded the leaflets to my ex constituents to keep them up to date with my news – rather in the manner of a Christmas round robin.”

Hands’ bizarre letter then went on to accuse Slaughter of opposing the “fostering of free thought” and said that the Labour MP’s concern about the debacle was akin to claiming Israel does not exist:

“Perhaps – like schoolbooks in the Palestinian authority which do not allow the state of Israel to feature on maps – you would like to ensure nothing of Fulham is allowed to be seen in your constituency?”

It’s not the first time Greg Hands hasn’t been sure where his voters are.