David Walter, the election Agent for former Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Andrew Turner, has made a formal complaint to the Isle of Wight council about Cllr Ian Ward.
Defamation claims
Cllr Ian Ward is both Chairman of the Isle of Wight council and Chairman of the Isle of Wight Conservatives.
In an email sent this morning (Friday) by Mr Walter to leader of the council and others, he claims that Cllr Ian Ward has made a “untrue and defamatory statement to the press” and also lied to him.
He says,
“Would you please take the appropriate action given that it is contrary to the standards required of a Councillor, laid down in the Constitution? These are not the standards one expects from anyone in public life, particularly a former Commissioned Officer of the British Army.”
Claims experienced agent called in
The furore follows an article published on page 65 in the County Press today.
The CP report claims that Andrew Turner’s campaign team had called in help from an experienced Agent, Hilary Flynn – who works for the Conservative candidate in Bognor Regis – to assist David Walter.
Cllr Ian Ward is reported to have told the CP,
“David has never done this before. He is very much feeling his way and it was felt he would benefit from some professional advice.”
David Walter told the CP,
“Ian can say what he wants, but that’s not my understanding.”
No comment
OnTheWight made many attempts to contact David for a comment, but at time of publishing he hadn’t replied.
We also made several attempts to contact Cllr Ward, but at time of publishing had not heard back from him either.
With less than two weeks until the 2015 election, Andrew Turner’s election campaign has been dogged with problems.
