HARLOW CONSERVATIVES - where are they going?

But then things started to go wrong.  After scandals over Passmores House and criticism by a High Court judge over Planning, the Conservatives were out of power - and have had little influence on the council ever since.

So where did it all go wrong, and why?  How did the Conservatives, the largest party on the Council, lose any real influence in how the town is run?  We think we should be told.

We've read stories in the press, or heard rumours, which suggest the Conservatives have only themselves to blame.  So here are some questions we would like to see answered.

1. Why were Conservative offices at the Latton Bush Centre recently suspended by Conservative Central Office in London, according to the Harlow Star?  Was it really a "computer glitch" that lasted 3 months? Or was it something more serious?
2. Why have some Harlow Conservative candidates for the council elections in May 2006 been given a centrally-imposed national agent?  Is this a vote of (lack of) confidence in their long-standing agent Councillor Simon Carter?
3. What are the facts behind the council tax debt run up by their (now resigned) deputy leader Councillor John Goddard?
4. Is there any truth in the recent statement by Harlow Labour leader Councillor Kevin Brooks that the local Conservatives were unable to elect a full set of officers at their last AGM?
5. Why is Councillor Jane Steer so embarrassed about putting the name of her party on her election leaflets in her doomed attempts to hang on to her seat in Mark Hall? And why are they green, not Conservative blue?  Does she hope that by giving her leaflets a similar title to the Liberal Democrats' FOCUS newsletter she will confuse residents into voting Conservative by mistake?
6. Where does their General Election candidate Robert Halfon now stand on proposals for house-building around Harlow, after his pronouncements against the plans were totally undermined by statements from his own party leader and a visiting Conservative front-bench spokesman?
7. How did Harlow Conservatives manage to put together an 'alternative' budget for Harlow Council that was so incompetent that it would have resulted in over £170,000 of cuts to council services in 2007 to make ends meet?
8. Will last year's attempted coup against Harlow Conservative council leader Councillor Andrew Johnson be repeated this year - and will it be more successful this time?  How much longer will Harlow Conservatives be prepared to tolerate his lacklustre performance in this role?
9. Is it true that the failure of several former Conservative candidates to put their names forward for the council elections in May 2006, and the lack of any visible campaigning by several others, is the result of open warfare in Harlow's local Conservative party?
10. Why are Harlow Conservatives still publishing harlow-conservatives.com as their web address when they gave up the rights to it a year ago?

Vote Conservative?  On the whole, we think not.