Tories’ Cheshire Wannabe On The Fiddle

Despite all the pressures, scrutiny and general public disdain on national politicians, there is still a ready supply of wannabes ready and willing to step up to the plate. And here in the North West, there is nobody more wannabe than the bombastic bullshitter that is Michael Jones, Tory leader of Cheshire East Council (CEC), whom the better class of people would rather not have bothered in the first place.

Jones was quite happy to be snapped at Crewe station, despite his support for the Network Rail (NR) boondoggle, otherwise known as ripping that station out of Crewe and dumping it three miles out of town at Basford. Typically, Jones hasn’t bothered with such inconvenient niceties as asking the town’s businesses, the University and College sites, many of whose students arrive by train, or even, perish the thought, residents about this.

Nor has he bothered to canvass those who actually use the station - commuters, many of whom live in the town - about his support. In any case, Michael Jones is rumoured to have his eyes on a bigger prize, a seat in the Commons. The problem here is that no Tory MP in the area would even consider standing down in his favour. And now, Jones has come unstuck in a serious way over misuse of council resources.

Michael Jones pretends he supports Crewe station

Using CEC resources for anything that falls outside the rules is a hot topic right now, not least because Jones went in with both feet on former Crewe and Nantwich council leader Brian Silvester last year, after the former local Prince of Darkness, now running a solo UKIP end of the pier show after his recent conviction over those bedsits in Shavington, after Silvester had used the CEC email system to promote his own business.

Jones, as a result, needed to avoid any kind of similar charge. He failed spectacularly when he was caught using CEC’s media team, which should maintain political neutrality, to compose and post Tweets on his account, and which were blatantly political in nature. On being caught, he declared that his opponents were using this as a “political football”. Yeah, right - just like Jones did with Brian Silvester.

Michael Jones donates to the Labour Party!

Then came the bombast and bullshit, as Jones waffled “I think I'm good enough and strong enough to attack my political opponents”. Don’t bother to answer the question, then. He was later challenged by BBC North West political editor Arif Ansari, an encounter in which he once again attempted to bullshit his way through, but clearly without success. “I’ve got my own situation” he blustered. Yes, a situation in which he’s in deep schtuck.

What may also be less than helpful to Jones’ political career is all those assets that he’s sent offshore, and another most inconvenient morsel, that Sanderson Knight Properties, his UK company, as recently as 2001 donated £1,500 to the North Shropshire constituency branch of, er, the Labour Party. And he won’t be explaining to the town of Crewe any time soon why he wants to screw its residents and businesses over.

The age of bombastic bullshitter Michael Jones was for a time, but not for all time.