With the election of Bob Neill to Parliament, London Assembly Tories will tomorrow lunchtime be electing a new Leader of the Assembly Tory Group. Much touted in the media, West Central AM Angie Bray is thought to be leading the pack though she appears to be tripping at the late hurdles.
She was reported to be “incandescent” when the Evening Standard last week repeated her nickname - “The Member for West Gloucester” - over her habit of arriving in London on Tuesdays and departing back to the county on Thursdays, and telephoned the paper to harangue reporter Ross Lydall.
Sadly, she didn’t realise that her number appeared on the Evening Standard telephone display and that Lydall could see that she had called him - from Gloucester.
Bray’s behaviour also raised a few eyebrows last week when she missed a meeting with Mayor Ken Livingstone and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell in order to take advantage of free tickets to Wimbledon in the Royal enclosure.
Angie is the lead Tory spokesperson on the Olympics on the GLA.
editor[at]recessmonkey.com
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Actually Angie should really be in the Labour party, much more her true home, after all a love of being in the Country, doing little work that anyone can see and power for its own sake has served Johnny Prescott pretty well so far. In fact perhaps she would make an ideal new Deputy Prime Minister since that job is apparently also about to become vacant.
matt said this on July 10th, 2006 at 6:51 pm
Equally, whilst I realise that no-one from the Westminster village has much real knowledge of UK geography beyond zone 1 on the tube, Gloucester, the quite industrial, Labour MP electing, city does not = Gloucestershire, the Tory controlled county, including the really rather prety Cotswolds, where Angie actually lives…
prentiz said this on July 10th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
…your point being, prentiz?
RM
Recess Monkey said this on July 10th, 2006 at 11:57 pm
West Gloucester is as irritating to Gloucestershire ears as the sterotypical american who thinks London is all of England - point of pedantry only…
prentiz said this on July 11th, 2006 at 12:45 am
This is patently not true. Members of parliament represent all regions of the country not just London as do there staff. I for one feel unappreciated for eight years of cugging up-and-down the A303 to put up with crap comments like this. Quote below
“whilst I realise that no-one from the Westminster village has much real knowledge of UK geography beyond zone 1 on the tube”
Howler monkey said this on July 11th, 2006 at 8:03 am
Howler - I entirely concur with you. I live in Zone 2, and there is still life there. Beyond that however, I must admit I’m sceptical…
Seriously though, if you’ve been commuting up and down the A303, then I pity you. The long one-lane stretches through Devon are a nightmare.
Red Tamarin said this on July 11th, 2006 at 8:27 am
Surely if commuters are being affected by the policies of the London Assembly then it’s a good thing for them to have some form of representation? So we have a commuting, teleworking politician, and frankly the more people who aren’t trying to come into London on a work day when they don’t really need to be there the better. The fact that she noticed the report and called to complain about it while in Gloucestershire arguably shows that she clearly *is* doing some work while at home.
Dr Maybe said this on July 11th, 2006 at 10:14 am
“The fact that she noticed the report and called to complain about it while in Gloucestershire arguably shows that she clearly *is* doing some work while at home.”
Doing work = reading the Standard?
And are you really suggesting that phoning up journalists to criticise otherwise truthful pieces is “teleworking” and is what politicians are paid to do?
pete said this on July 11th, 2006 at 5:29 pm