Four aces, or four jokers?: Croydon’s Liberal Democrat candidates assembled (from left) Bonham, Hussain, Pelling and Howard
Finally, days after the General Election was announced, Croydon’s Liberal Democrats have got around to confirming their four candidates for July 4 – details of which Inside Croydon had reported on weeks ago.
The LibDems, who have had only a single councillor elected to Croydon Town Hall this century, describe their line-up as a “skilled and exciting set of candidates”. Fortunately, none were asked to demonstrate their paddle-boarding skills on South Norwood Lakes…
They include a former MP and councillor – for the Tories and Labour – and repeat candidates in Croydon North (now Streatham and Croydon North) and Croydon South, the constituency where the LibDems are reckoned to have the strongest chance of electoral success in the borough, if only they could put together a campaign worthy of the name.
“I provide the voters of Croydon South a real alternative to Labour, who bankrupted the council, and the Conservatives, who bankrupted the country,” said Major Rick Howard, the Croydon South candidate.
Before retiring from the Army, Howard had had tours of duty defusing bombs in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan – so a hustings defusing Tory Chris Philp should be an easy task.
“Congo” Chris Philp has been MP for Croydon South since 2015. He confirmed over the weekend that he is seeking re-election, one of the few Government rats not jumping from the sinking Tory ship. Although Philp’s early publicity avoids any mention that he is the candidate for the Conservatives.
Apart from Howard, the other LibDem candidates in Croydon are:
Streatham and Croydon North: Councillor Claire Bonham
Croydon East: Andrew Pelling
Croydon West: Jahir Hussain
Conservative free-zone: Chris Philp election material fails to mention that he is a Tory Minister, in the Tory Government… wonder why?
Bonham has been a Croydon councillor (for Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood ward) since 2022, and contested the former Croydon North seat in 2019, when she won 8% of the vote as Labour’s Steve Reed enjoyed a 24,000 majority.
Hussain runs a digital consultancy working with academic, healthcare, and educational institutions in adopting technology, while also chairing a Croydon-based Muslin charity, Alhidaya Croydon. He was fourth in the recent Woodside council by-election held in Croydon West.
And as exclusively revealed by Inside Croydon two months ago, Pelling gets to stand in Croydon East, which comprises much of the old Croydon Central seat that he represented as Conservative MP from 2005 to 2010, before his eight-year spell as a Labour councillor.
Peter Ladanyi, the chair of Croydon LibDems, said: “We are pleased to be able to put forward such a skilled and exciting set of candidates.
“People want rid of this failed Conservative Government and are unimpressed by Labour’s local record of bankrupting Croydon Council and leaving it saddled with £1.5billion of debt.
“Croydon deserves a fresh start and I am confident that Claire, Richard, Andrew and Jahir can offer our local communities exactly that.”
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Best of luck to all 4 of them. They would make excellent Members of Parliament and remember if enough people vote for them, that’s exactly what they would become.
Andrew Pelling does get about eh? He must have espoused every flavour of politics in the last two decades.
Not quite
. . . hence experienced which will count if I may infer.
The charm and grit of Pelling’s pitch is immediately enveloping as he slinks through the guttering utterances of local political sewerage.
After unravelling the tale of infidelity with the most incompetent local representation aka his short lived odyssey midst the crooks of labour comrades, Andrew’s stance was commendable as he deployed ‘objective correlative’ to resonate our collective contempt for the numpties running the show. Andrew is a nameless hero who deserves my vote. What a pedigree as compared to what labour has bestowed upon the people of East Croydon. For those with a semi-delirious and amnesiac wandering, Andrew alone stood up and raised the alarm against the Labour crooks that led to the financial collapse of our ‘Mint’. I hope Andrew finds an end in some predictable and cuddly redemption in the solace of our shared disillusion.