For some while I’ve been trying to get a straight answer from Will Quince, Colchester’s Conservative parliamentary candidate, as to whether remarks attributed to him about me in local newspapers last September were accurately reported.
Allegedly, Mr Quince contacted a local reporter (with the intention of damaging my reputation, obviously) and claimed that I was delaying payment of a debt to the council for legal costs, and that I should not be allowed a vote until the debt was paid.
Some three weeks later another article appeared, in which allegedly Mr Quince called for serious sanctions against me. He allegedly claimed I should resign from Colchester Borough Council or be expelled by my group leader.
There was, however, no such debt. This would have been obvious to anyone with legal knowhow who read the court orders properly. (Mr Quince is, as he reminds us in his election publicity, a solicitor.)
On my pointing out to him that there was no such debt and asking him to apologise, Mr Quince instructed solicitors. They, no doubt on instructions, refuse despite repeated requests to either confirm or deny that his remarks were accurately reported by the local newspaper.
If Mr Quince made the remarks attributed to him, he should have done the decent thing by apologising to me as soon as he realised his mistake. If he didn’t make those remarks, he should say so, and clarify what exactly he did say. Or can’t he remember?
If he can’t remember, is his memory up to the demanding job of an MP?
Margaret Thatcher had many faults, but one virtue she had was that if she realised she was wrong about something she admitted it immediately.
Meanwhile, I have lost count of the bits of paper I’ve received from the Conservatives urging me to vote for Mr Quince as my next MP. Even a letter from David Cameron, no less.
Sorry, David. If your party’s candidate hasn’t got the decency to either apologise to me or clarify that he didn’t make the damaging attack on me that was attributed to him, why on earth would I want him as my MP?

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