A letter leaked to OnTheWight lays bare that the alleged attempt to de-select Andrew Turner as the candidate at the 2015 general election appears to be an open secret within parts of the Isle of Wight Conservative Association (IWCA). This conflicts strongly with quotes by David Pugh and Alan Wells printed in a recent County Press report.
Wells to CP: “no discussion about removing him”
The week following OnTheWight breaking the story two weeks ago of the attempt to de-select Andrew Turner, the County Press ran an article which included quotes from IWCA Chair Alan Wells saying, “Andrew is the MP and there has been no discussion about removing him. All this nonsense about a cabal is, to my knowledge, completely untrue,” David Pugh was quoted as saying, “I simply cannot understand where this has all come from”.
(Neither David Pugh and Alan Wells chose to respond to OnTheWight’s request for comment to the original story)
Letter: ‘Appalled’ Wells refuted the truth
On Alan’s denials, the author of the letter – a previous officer of the IWCA, who was not the source of the leak – writes, “I am appalled that you have used your position to publicly refute something that you know is true. In fact, you have been part of, and are still in close contact with a group within the Conservative party on the Island that is actively seeking to de-select Andrew Turner.”
The letter continues, alleging that Alan Wells stated shortly after being elected as IWCA Chair that, “the only reason [he] had taken the post of Chairman was to get rid of Andrew.”
The letter also asserts that ex-IW Council leader David Pugh referred to Andrew Turner as, “a disgrace and needed to go”.
Letter from 12 ex-councillors/candidates about Turner
Around the time of the Local elections, the leaked letter claims that Alan Wells had received a letter from “a group of 12 ex-councillors and candidates that stated that conduct of Andrew Turner and his office raised grave doubts about his future willingness to fulfil our association’s united purpose to secure the election of Conservative candidates.” It later states that David Pugh was one of the signatories of that letter.
OnTheWight contacted Alan Wells and David Pugh a short while before publishing. Neither of them have responded. If they do, we’ll add their comment to the story.
The leaked letter
Embedded below is the letter, anonymised, that OnTheWight received.
Previous response from Andrew Turner
At the time the original OnTheWight article was published, it’s understood that Andrew Turner was out of the county, on a continental ferry and unreachable for his reaction.
The next day, after his return, OnTheWight received the following, previously unpublished by OnTheWight, we place it below in full,
Previously, I have made it clear that I intend to stand again in the 2015 General Election and quite properly I have been asked to write formally to the Chairman of the Isle of Wight Conservative Association to confirm that. I shall be writing to him this week. The Association can then start the normal process for re-adoption.
I would like to thank all the members of my party and other supporters who have already contacted me to confirm their support since the story about my candidacy first appeared in the media yesterday. I have been very touched by their kind words.
In the meantime I will be getting on with helping my constituents and representing the largest constituency in the UK – the Isle of Wight – a place I love and am proud to represent. Beyond this statement I will not be making any further public comment at all on this internal process of the Conservative Association or on any of the personalities mentioned in this story.
