Let us stretch your mind back to the Election in 2007. You may remember that the Tories promised that if they won they would get the Council to pay for the cost of the the RAWS (Residents against the Waste Site) appeal against the  planning permission. In the end it turned out that the Council  was not able to do this but fortunately an anonymous donor came forward paid the £40000 and so the appeal went forward to its inevitable refusal. In the meantime many voters were persuaded to vote Tory and we have a Council made up of 45 Tories ;8 Labour; 1 Lib Dem and 1 Idle Toad.

Margaret Smith the Tory Leader has always denied knowledge of the Benefactor.

There the matter seemed to end but in their October last publication “Conservatives talking sense” the Tories thanked Lorraine Fulbrook for saving the Council and Taxpayers having to pay the £40000. Now Lorraine is the rather wealthy Lady who wants to be South Ribble’s new MP. Your Focus Team asked Margaret Smith in Council if she now accepted that Lorraine was the Benefactor. Despite a ruling by South Ribbles Mayor that the question was not a proper one ( we know not why) Margaret repeated the anonaminity of the Benefactor!! Puzzled your Focus Team wrote privately to Margaret for an explanation. She in turn referred us to Lorraine who we duly asked. To date there has been no reply. So the mystery remains.

One further factor of interest is that our local and rather shy Millionaire  Trevor Hemmings has been revealed as a major Tory donor and indeed has been pictured with David Cameron. Was he the Benefactor? Probably we shall never know but certainly this use of money to buy elections has proved its worth and will be wheeled out again at the next election; unless of course by then the Bankers; Hedge Fund managers and off shore business men, who usually provide generous financial support to the Tories find themselves a bit short of a buck!!

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