UPDATED: Is Tory Candidate Paul Holmes Really "Local"?

Tory Candidate Paul Holmes Pretending He is Local

UPDATED (14th June 2017): We have passed more information to the Police and are awaiting an update from their investigation.

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No, he isn't. He is pretending.

Paul Holmes got selected for the seat, and is now pretending that he has been here for years.

He hasn't.

We have been speaking of "The Cons" by "The Cons" Party and the terrible Theresa May.

The day before polling day, we now turn our attention to the Tory candidate for Southampton Test, Paul Holmes.

The previous candidate for the past two elections was Jeremy Moulton. He was overlooked in favour of Paul Holmes. Why was this?

Was it because Jeremy Moulton lost twice to Alan Whitehead, in 2010 and by a bigger margin in 2015?

Was it because Jeremy Moulton, also Leader of the Conservative Group on the City Council, failed to lead the Conservatives to control the Council, despite Labour being in disarray?

Perhaps it was.

Or was it because Jeremy Moulton was not enough of a "yes man" for the Conservatives, and that as a political careerist working for the Tory Party Chairman Patrick McLoughlin, Paul Holmes was suitably malleable to be a "yes man" for Theresa May, as shown on the leaflet above.

Perhaps we shall never know for sure, as these are Conservative Party decisions.

A political careerist is someone who has politics as their career, and has never had a job outside politics.

The Labour Party and Conservative Party are full of them.

It appears that Paul Holmes has all the hallmarks of a political careerist. Careerists will do anything for their political career.

For example, they will produce tens of thousands of letters like the one above, desperately trying to persuade local residents that they are local and understand the local issues.

But how can Paul Holmes claim this, when he has been living and working in London?

And what about the attempts by Paul Holmes and the Tory Party to show he is local and to get him elected as Theresa May's man in Southampton?

Is Mr Holmes trying to con the people of Southampton into thinking he lives at the below address in Southampton, and lived there before he was selected as the Tory Candidate?

The address below is taken from the "Statement of Persons Nominated" issued by Southampton City Council.

Southampton Independents understands that Paul Holmes lived and worked in London, for the Conservative Party including the Party Chairman McLoughlin, and not in Southampton.

Mr Holmes did stand for Parliament. But for a London constituency in 2015, not Southampton.

Mr Holmes has taken this opportunity to try to cleanse his image as a Sotonian. Except it doesn't appear that he grew up in Southampton.

Paul Holmes studied at Southampton University and was a councillor for four years, but then left Southampton, to further his political career. That is the decision of a political careerist.

It appears that he hasn't been a Sotonian for many years.

His political opponent Andrew Pope has tried to get him to answer questions, but Mr Holmes has repeatedly evaded answering them.

Is Paul Holmes emulating Paul Nuttall of UKIP in the Stoke Central by-election?

When did he start living at this address?

If you look at the electoral register for Romsey and Southampton North, you can see that he is a late addition to the register.

Whose address is it really?

We have confirmed that it is the address of a former Southampton City Councillor. It must be some kind of favour, to help Mr Holmes cleanse his image and continue the pretense that he had been living in Southampton, prior to his selection as candidate.

Has he lied on his nomination papers?

We will see. That is a matter for the Police.

We have contacted local journalists and we hope they will do their duty in the public interest.

We will be passing information to the Police and asking for them to investigate.

And we ask Southampton residents to ask the same questions, BEFORE they cast their vote on Thursday 8th June, or on their postal ballot papers beforehand.

Do you trust Paul Holmes? Do you trust the Conservatives? Do you trust Labour?

Labour or Tory - it's a choice between potential disaster and proven failure. And Alan Whitehead has been a failure as your MP for 20 years. People know it's time for him to go.

We ask you to consider voting for Andrew Pope Southampton Independents, because he lives in the community, we are genuine and we are about the local area.

Southampton residents say: "This General Election is One Big Tory Con"

Theresa May trying to tell you what the election is about

Andrew Pope, the Southampton Independents Candidate for Southampton Test, says:

Andrew Pope with one of our supporters' boards and posters in Coxford

"Do you share our annoyance at Theresa May trying to tell you 'What This Election is About'?

Do you agree that the people of our City decide what this election is about?

And that it should not be dictated to us by Theresa May from her party-political pulpit in Downing Street?

We think you will agree, because the people of Southampton are smart.

They know the real reasons Theresa May called the 2017 General Election, when she repeatedly said she wouldn't call one.

1. As Home Secretary for SIX YEARS, Theresa May failed to deliver anything but cuts when Home Secretary. For example, to the Police whose numbers were reduced by around 20,000.
2. Theresa May is weak. She is anything but "strong and stable". As one resident said, when challenged Theresa May is "shrill and squeamish." That is why the Tories are spending so much time and money trying to persuade the British people that she is strong. 
3. On the above leaflet, Theresa May claimed "What This Election Is About" is the national interest. It is not, this Election has been called in the party political interest of the Conservative Party, and the personal political career of Theresa May.
4. Theresa May saw an opportunity to get her way with a massive opinion poll lead over Jeremy Corbyn's Labour. But Theresa May cannot control her own MPs or members of her own Cabinet like Boris Johnson who want to see her fail in order to become Prime Minister himself.

Theresa May thought she could deal with those Tory MPs who are out to get her, and who are out to block what she wants to do. She has tried to replace those former MPs and candidates for Parliament with "yes men" (and in the Tory Party, some "yes women").

This includes the Southampton Test Tory Candidate, Paul Holmes, who is a political careerist and is willing to be a puppet for Theresa May. We will be publishing more on him shortly.

All the while, Theresa May has been trying to blame the Opposition. This itself is laughable because Corbyn's Labour is in disarray - just look at Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott's mistakes and Corbyn's failure to convince the British people that he can protect us.

Theresa May has failed as Prime Minister over the last year. She has also squandered a massive 20-point opinion poll lead over Labour. That is a spectacular failure of leadership.

This is why we predict that if she becomes Prime Minister again, Theresa May will fail to get a good Brexit that works for everyone.

And then we could well have another General Election, when the EU Brexit deal doesn't meet what the people of Southampton voted for.

Why vote Labour or Tory, and get the same old story?

This General Election is One Big Tory Con.

Stop wasting your vote on Labour and the Tories, and Vote Southampton Independents!"

Theresa May Has Been Exposed

Reacting to the news that Theresa May has changed the Conservatives' plans for social care, within days of releasing them in their General Election Manifesto, Andrew Pope, our Candidate to be the next MP for Southampton Test, says:

"If you saw how badly Theresa May deals with reasonable questions from journalists on Monday, you can see how weak she is.

You can also see how incompetent she is, by changing a policy that had only just been released.

On their doorsteps and in Southampton's streets, we have asked many Southampton residents whether they can name a single thing Theresa May has achieved in seven years of Government.

Nobody could name a single thing.

That's because she hasn't achieved anything to benefit our Country.

One thing she has done is cut the Police, including the Armed Police that our Country needs to deal with terrorists.

And she has failed to deal with the mass immigration that Labour started.

And she has failed to deal with our country's deficit and the growing levels of Government debt.

Theresa May is not strong and stable.

She cannot handle being held to account. That is why her visit to Southampton was so quick and so carefully managed by the Conservative Party.

But Labour's Jeremy Corbyn is also too weak and incompetent to hold her to account.

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are BOTH weak and wobbly. What a Hobson's Choice!

People know whether it's Labour or Tory, they get the same old story.

They should vote for the person who would best represent them at Westminster.

That is why Southampton Test needs an Independent voice at Westminster, and why I ask them to please vote for me, their Southampton Independents Candidate, at the 8th June General Election."

Theresa May Cannot Be Trusted on Immigration or The Deficit

The Southampton Independents Parliamentary Candidate for MP in Southampton Test, Andrew Pope, says:

"Southampton Independents have already made clear what Southampton people think about Theresa May's repeated failure, over 7 years, to deal with the mass immigration that the last Labour Government started, and the Tory-LibDem Coalition and Tory governments failed to stop.

When we ask residents what Theresa May has achieved in Government over seven years, they normally cannot name a single thing. Sometimes they say that she has delivered Brexit.

Let us not forget, Theresa May campaigned for Remain.

Perhaps it is unsurprising then that it took NINE months for Brexit to be triggered after she and other MPs allowed the Referendum legislation to be deeply flawed.

Southampton has benefited from immigration for centuries.

But Southampton people do not like the SCALE of the immigration, and the SPEED of the immigration that has been unleashed by successive failing governments. And they do not like the IMPACTS that mass immigration has had on Southampton's communities and our public services.

So Theresa May cannot be trusted on immigration.

She cannot be trusted on removing our national deficit either.

Labour delivered the financial crisis in 2008.

The Tories, with May in the Cabinet for seven years, used the financial crisis and the bailout of the banks as an excuse to cut public spending. They wanted to cut spending anyway. Labour's massive errors gave them the opportunity.

But the Tories have broken promises, time and time again, on removing the spending deficit. Both George Osborne and Phillip Hammond, both working with Theresa May, have pushed the target years back and now further back in the Tory Manifesto. And they have racked up more public debt because of this.

So the Tories under Theresa May cannot be trusted on immigration or the deficit."

Please VOTE Andrew Pope Southampton Independents to be your next MP.

Andrew listens to you. Andrew works for you. Andrew stands up for you against Labour AND the Tories.

Soton Indies Official Party Emblem

Nobody Trusts May on Immigration

With the news that the Tories intend to make their twice-broken promise again to get net migration down to the "tens of thousands"*, our Southampton Test Parliamentary Candidate Andrew Pope says:

Andrew Pope

"Nobody believes Theresa May on stopping mass immigration.

She failed to do it when Home Secretary in David Cameron's short-lived Government.

She failed to do it when Home Secretary in the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition Government.

And she will fail to do it as Prime Minister.

Her recent negotiation tactic of saying she can be a "bloody difficult woman" and trying to talk herself up, doesn't match with her record of failure.

Theresa May talks big, but achieves little.

You don't get to carry on as Home Secretary if you challenge the department. The Sir Humphreys will have you out if you do.

May hasn't challenged it at all and she has achieved very little.

May didn't show leadership as Home Secretary.

May showed how to protect herself in her job.

Whenever I ask members of the public what Theresa May has achieved, they cannot name a single thing!

This election is about Brexit. It's about achieving the Brexit that people voted for, not a botched version of Brexit that is becoming more likely every week with May's approach."

Southampton Independents campaigned for Brexit. 

Why? 

Because the people of Southampton asked us to.

People across Southampton said that we need to:

1. stop mass immigration
2. get control back of our borders
3. get our public services properly funded, and 
4. have British laws decided by the British people. 

NOW Southampton Independents WORKS TOGETHER with Southampton residents for a brighter and safer future for EVERYBODY.

Our great nation has always fought for a better future.

Brexit is about fighting for a positive future.

If you want the Brexit you voted for, please Vote for Andrew Pope Southampton Independents in the 8th June General Election for Southampton's voice in Westminster.

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* From the BBC article:

"Net migration is the difference between the numbers of people moving to the UK for more than a year, and the numbers of people leaving the UK to live elsewhere for a year or more. The most recent figure was 273,000 and the last year that it was below 100,000 was 1997."

"EU migrants accounted for about 44% of the 596,000 people who came to the UK in the year to last September,

Of these, an estimated 294,000 came to work, 134,000 were long-term students, 74,000 came to join existing family members while 61,000 came for other reasons - including asylum seekers and those receiving medical treatment."