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08
Jun 2024
Editor's Election Diary: Arrests in Harrogate, a last minute candidate and male dominance
Love him or loathe him, it’s hard to ignore Keith Tordoff, the Pateley Bridge man and former Ripper squad detective who put free chickens on the agenda in the recent mayoral campaign.
Mr Tordoff announced yesterday (June 7) he would stand as an independent in Skipton and Ripon on July 4.
The Stray Ferret received an intriguing email last Sunday night from a different man announcing he planned to stand in Harrogate and Knaresborough. “I am already building a team and gaining support,” he said. Less than 24 hours later he said he’d changed his mind. We won’t mention his name.
The deadline for candidates was 4pm yesterday (June 7). Expect plenty of testosterone to fly around in the weeks ahead. The three constituencies that include the former Harrogate district — Harrogate and Knaresborough, Skipton and Ripon and Wetherby and Easingwold — have 19 candidates, 18 of whom are men.
A mixed week for the Liberal Democrats. They opened a new campaign office on Westmoreland Street in Harrogate and a YouGov poll put them 16 points ahead of the Conservatives in Harrogate and Knaresborough. The same poll, however, projected Tories Julian Smith and Sir Alec Shelbrooke to win in Skipton and Ripon and Wetherby and Easingwold respectively.
The new Liberal Democrats' new Harrogate headquarters.
Then came the news that police had arrested two Liberal Democrats from Harrogate and Knaresborough as part of an ongoing local election-related investigation. It occurred after a Lib Dem leaflet in March falsely claimed the Greens weren’t standing in the Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone by-election, which the Lib Dems went on to win.
A gamechanger? “I don’t think it will make much difference, a lot of people just want a change,” said one senior local Conservative when asked about it.
We’ve featured articles every day this week asking local people and businesses what matters to them in the election. Reporters have been to Boroughbridge, Ripon, Pateley Bridge, Knaresborough and Harrogate.
Next week we will be announcing hustings events in Harrogate and Ripon. Stay tuned as the election campaign enters its last 26 days.
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