Del Boy is looking for a comeback

I had to chuckle that Derek Giles is going to stand as an Independent at the elections on 3rd May 2012. In an article in the News and Crier announcing this the following was said:

After having two years out of politics I feel the time is now right to stand as an Independent candidate. 

Hold on where are the 2 years? Derek didn't re-stand in 2011 for the Town Council. He even attended a meeting of the Town Council less than a year ago.

In his time as Leader of St Neots Town Council, Derek Giles took the Town Council to the brink. This was a headline when the Town Council was under Derek Giles leadership.

I have a piece on why I thought Derek Giles should have resigned.

Derek goes on:

Leaving the Lib Dems will be hard, but I have become less and less enamoured over the last two years and I feel I can best service my community by not being attached to a political party. 

20 years as a Liberal Democrat Councillor and now he decides party politics is wrong?

Derek moans on:
Councillors should also live in the ward they represent. 

Gordon Thorpe who was Town Mayor and Deputy Leader of the Town Council when Derek was Leader. Gordon Thorpe was was also a Councillor for Eaton Socon although he lived in Eaton Ford. If Derek believes councillor should live in the ward they represent then he shouldn't have had anything to do with Gordon.

And the electorate are idiots:

Half of our elected councillors in Eaton Socon do not actually live in our village.

That is true. But they were elected with this knowledge by the electorate. Also Derek seems happy that Gordon Thorpe was elected although he didn't live in the ward.

Derek on his personal beliefs:
I believe that voting for the person not the party at a local level is the best way forward. 

Why 20 years in the Liberal Democrats? Is this change anything to do with Derek having left the Liberal Democrats?

What are Derek's chances?

The recent electoral history:
2004
St Neots Eaton Socon (2 seats)

Derek Giles  LD  680
Gordon Thorpe  LD  650
Rodney Farrer  C  608
Elaine Kadic  C  514
Douglas Brown  Lab  128

2007
St Neots Eaton Socon
Gordon Thorpe LD  671 47.5%
Mandy Thomas C 659 46.7%
Graham Hitchings Lab 82 5.8%

2008

2011

The highest vote Derek Giles has got is 680. But that was under the Liberal Democrat banner. The Conservatives scored a 911 vote. Even if Derek takes all the Liberal Democrat and Labour votes, he still needs more to get a majority.

There is enough out there for Derek's opponents to make hay on whatever Derek Giles says in his election literature. With the electoral history of Eaton Socon, even if Derek works full time on his election, knocking on every door and getting many leaflets out to the electorate he doesn't stand much of a chance.