A ‘spoilt child’ or ready for election? - Tory parliamentary candidate Joanne Cash denies clashing with Conservative party members over her ‘coal-face’ work

Published: 19 February 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM

JOANNE Cash has denied clashing with grassroots Tory campaigners over her attitude to “coal-face” work in her constituency.

Parliamentary candidate Ms Cash, who is set to challenge Karen Buck for the marginal Westminster North seat, said newspaper reports last week following a Westminster North Conservative Association meeting at a pub in Westbourne Park should be taken “with a big pinch of salt”.

And she played down the damage critics say the situation is causing within the association. Speculation suggested members accused her of failing to get out knocking on doors to win over voters.

It is the first time the 40-year-old barrister has spoken since the furore erupted, when she briefly resigned her candidacy before making a dramatic U-turn. The Association’s chairman Amanda Sayers resigned after the emergency meeting in a pub in Westbourne Park.

Last week her rival Ms Buck said the crushing Tory defeat in December’s Queen’s Park by-election may have upset many Conservative officials who were expecting a better showing.

Ms Cash emphasised that she was happy to take up issues on behalf of Westminster residents, and claimed a series of local victories including saving GP surgeries, ­closing “crack dens” and setting up a mentoring programme for teenagers in her three years as a candidate.

She said: “As a libel barrister I know only too well that you can’t believe everything you read in the papers, but I think most other people take what they read with a pinch of salt too.

“Locally I have been campaigning for the past three years to reduce crime, safeguard local health services, protect post offices and improve the educational performance of our young people. I have run a successful crime campaign and helped save the Garway Road GP surgery.

“I am supporting a parenting skills programme and Step Up, a mentoring scheme for disadvantaged young people helping them apply for jobs and university. Whatever the result of the election I wanted to leave a positive and lasting impact on Westminster North.”

Ms Cash also settled the debate over the  “dinosaur” reference that she made on her Twitter page. Some commentators claimed Ms Cash was attacking the Tory old guard, setting herself up as a moderniser. She said: “The dinosaur reference has been on my Twitter page for many months and refers to the expenses scandal and old-style Westminster politics which needs to be changed forever. This is something I am extremely committed to.”

This week, Westminster Labour leader Paul Dimoldenberg demanded Ms Cash come clean on the unanswered questions surrounding the incident. 

He said he wants to know how she can get on with voters, after her “spoilt child” behaviour.

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