'Skulduggery' allegation after voters fail to turn out for by-election

A FORMER Minehead town councillor who unsuccessfully tried to reclaim his seat in a by-election which attracted possibly the country’s lowest-ever turnout, is calling on the Electoral Commission to lobby for a change in the law.
Tony Berry is a past-chairman of Minehead Conservative Association and also formerly the finance chairman of Minehead Town Council.
His defeat in a town council by-election in October has exposed a loophole in English electoral law which he claimed allowed for the result of a local election to be manipulated to the disadvantage of candidates who were not rich.
Mr Berry stood as an Independent candidate in the by-election, which was won by a 19-vote majority by a Conservative candidate in a poll which attracted just 233 votes out of 3,165 eligible voters - a meagre turnout of only seven per cent.
He blamed town council ‘skulduggery’ for the poor voter turnout, as the council failed to issue polling notices, failed to publish notices of election in the ward, failed to advertise the election in local newspapers, and failed to use its website to advertise the by-election.
Mr Berry said the decision not to issue polling cards was taken by the town council clerk - whose husband was agent for the Conservative candidate - and who failed even to notify him of the decision.
The result was that many voters either did not know the by-election was taking place, or thought they could not vote without a polling card and stayed at home.
Now, Mr Berry has been horrified to discover that there is no statutory public organisation which can investigate and ensure local elections are run fairly.
Local electoral procedures can only be challenged by those rich enough to be able to go to court and use the judicial processes.
Mr Berry has raised his concerns about the conduct of the by-election with both the Electoral Commission and the Audit Commission, and he has received confirmation that the town council breached Electoral Commission guidance in several respects in its conduct of the October by-election.
He is now calling on the Electoral Commission to lobby for it to be given statutory powers to investigate electoral skulduggery and to be able to re-run elections where wrongdoing is proven.
Mr Berry said: “I am not casting any aspersions on the successful candidate in this by-election, but I have no doubt the result would have been greatly different had more people come out to vote.
“I only found out by accident two days before the by-election that polling cards had not been sent out, despite it being normal practice to do so, which did not leave me much time to get around 3,000 people to tell them they could still vote and where to vote.
“I do not want the by-election re-run. What has happened is history now. But I do want to see fairness in local elections and it should not matter whether you are rich or poor, if something underhand goes on then there should be an authority which can put matters right.
“I think most people would have believed, like me, that the Electoral Commission was created to ensure that all elections are carried out fairly, so I was extremely surprised to find it is a watchdog without any teeth at all and they can only offer ‘advice and guidance’ on local elections.”
Mr Berry has also written to Minehead’s mayor, Councillor Simon Stokes, asking him as a matter of urgency to ensure the council adopts a formal set of procedures for running elections to include all the guidance points issued by the Electoral Commission.

• Our photograph shows Tony Berry studying some of the correspondence from the Electoral Commission. Photo submitted.

'Tories in turmoil' claim by ex-chairman

ALLEGATIONS of turmoil within the ranks of Minehead Conservatives have surfaced in the wake of last year’s co-option to the town council of Mandy Chilcott.
Former town councillor Tony Berry (pictured, right), an ex-chairman of the Minehead branch, said the organisation was in disarray, with the past four chairmen all resigning because of lack of support.
As well as himself, the other chairmen to have departed were Phil Cross, Terry Venner, and Phil Greatorex.
Mr Berry told The Post: “They are all hard working people but they have all left because of the in-fighting and due to certain individuals.”
Speaking for himself, Mr Berry said matters came to a head after he was put forward as the Conservatives’ preferred candidate to fill a town council vacancy in Alcombe East ward.
Mr Berry, who was previously chairman of the council’s finance committee, said the names of two other unofficial candidates were subsequently put forward, whom he believed were encouraged by the Bridgwater constituency association.
They were Norman Hercock, who was already a district councillor, and Mandy Chilcott.
Town councillors then voted to co-opt Mrs Chilcott, with at least two Conservatives councillors supporting her.
Mr Berry told The Post: “I was let down by my colleagues after the branch had decided I would be the candidate.
“I was upset and disappointed. I do not like to talk about it because it is a smack against the Conservatives, but I feel it is the only way to make people realise what is going on.”
Mr Berry said he had not received any reply from the association when he queried what had gone on, and he believed two other people had also written to the association without a response.
“I have been waiting three months for Bridgwater to reply to correspondence about it,” he said.
“The Minehead branch has been in limbo. Nothing has been going on, no fund-raising or anything.
“I spent ages getting it going again when I was chairman, and now I have been kicked in the teeth by my colleagues.
“As soon as another vacancy comes along, I shall stand. I shall probably stand as an Independent, but I shall always have leanings towards the Conservatives.
“If I could move to a different branch of the Conservatives, like Watchet, I would probably do that.”
The Bridgwater constituency agent, John Cole, was asked by The Post if he wanted to respond to Mr Berry’s comments but had not done so by the time the newspaper went to press.
The Minehead branch was reconstituted at a meeting last week, when former Minehead Deputy Mayor, Stephen Dear, was appointed chairman, and former mayor and district council chairman Ann Foxhuntley became vice-chairman.
The Post understands that the branch has also reinstated renegade Conservative John Malin as a member.
Dr Malin caused fury within the party at the last Somerset County Council elections in 2005 when he quit the party and stood as an Independent in Minehead against sitting Conservative councillor Colin Hill.
Consequently the vote was split, causing Mr Hill to lose his seat, which then gave the Liberal Democrats a one seat majority over the Conservatives at County Hall.
His reinstatement now is seen as an attempt to lobby for the official Conservative nomination for next year’s county council elections.