While Change UK’s former MPs have reformed to write a book, another familiar defecting face is also on a comeback mission: Dr Phillip Lee. The one-time wannabe leader of the Conservative Party stood against, and lost to, John Redwood in 2019. Lee is now putting himself forward to be the LibDem’s candidate in the forthcoming Chesham and Amersham by-election.
His election document claims he’s “someone with a political reputation for integrity, ready to take on the incompetent and corrupt current Tory government”. Try reading that with a serious face…
Given HS2 will undoubtedly be a major issue in the by-election, Lee vaguely claims he has “long criticised HS2”, failing to specify to the local party membership that as an MP he voted for, or abstained on, a majority of the train line’s legislation, in stark contrast to Cheryl Gillan’s sustained opposition. Guido’s still not sure Lee’s got the hang of being a LibDem yet, given he claims “winning means talking about the value of competence and integrity in government”…
Read his leaflet in full below:
As Britain heads for a December Election, Christmas has come early for self-styled ‘Great British Hero’ Phillip Lee. According to his register of interests, he has received a whopping £70,000 to support his new candidature in John Redwood’s seat of Wokingham. The lucky Lib Dem’s donations total 437% of the legal £16,000 constituency spending limit individual candidates are permitted during an election. Guido thought a doctor could have spotted this problem before accepting the donations…
In the last few days, Lee recorded three donations under his Members’ Financial Interests: one of £50,000 from M7 Real Estate Limited; £15,000 from Ceawlin Thynn, and £5,000 from 12 Property Fe Ltd.
Candidates can spend just £16,000 in the 25 days leading up to an election, whilst their parties are limited to £30,000 per constituency on top of that. Even taking both these sums together, Lee’s £70,000 donations smash through the combined £46,000 limit…
The regulated spending period kicked in yesterday, meaning Lee could have cynically dumped £54,000 on his new seat in the last couple of days and fall within the rules. Guido can imagine how much codswallop certain journalists would spew if the Tories did something similar…
Lib Dem leaflets famously always stretch the truth as far as they can. However this year’s cohort of letterbox literature includes a whole new level of post-truth statements. Makes tuition fees pale into insignificance…
Despite only just defecting from the Tories, Phillip Lee’s leaflets have performed a Stalinist erasure of his recent right-wing past. The leaflet implies the election is a close choice between the Tories and the LibDems, despite the LibDems coming 24,000 votes behind John Redwood in 2017, and 6,000 behind Labour.
Moving over to Streatham, the Lib Dems hilariously try and explain that their current “popular local Lib Dem MP” – yes, that is Chuka Umunna they’re referring to – is “moving on at the next election”. 
They fail to mention he’s carpetbagging over to the seat of Westminster because he doesn’t stand a chance of winning in his current seat when voters finally get their say…
The chair of the Liberal Democrat LGBT wing has resigned from the party following Phillip Lee’s defection to them. “I thought we had a soul and principles.”
Read her full statement here:
“I’m feeling devastated.
The powers that be have let Philip Lee in.
A homophobe, a xenophobe, and someone who thinks people should be barred from the country if they are ill.
F*ck this.
F*ck this so hard.I thought the Lib Dems were not a single issue party.
I thought we had a soul and principles.
But apparently as long as you are on the right side on Brexit we’ll take you.Well, I’m sorry, but no.
It doesn’t matter if we already have others as bad. You don’t make bad things better by adding more bad things. It doesn’t matter that he will increase our numbers in parliament by ONE. He thinks me and people like me are a lower class of human. I will not share a party with him.
I know you only get to do this once. I know I am ripping up almost my entire social life here. I know I am causing a lot of people a lot of organisational difficulties. And I’m sorry for all that. But there are some principles I will not compromise.
Sorry.”
Despite his local Executive overwhelmingly passing a motion against him last week, it turns out that Phillip Lee isn’t compleetely friendless in his local Association. Local Lee-nthusiasts took to the private Bracknell Conservatives Facebook group to complain that the story had made its way to Guido. Guido has bad news for them. Their complaints have too…
Looks like Lee actually had at least three votes in his favour rather than just two, Guido is happy to correct the record. Only 31 votes against him now!
The Association Chairman then intervened as well. Looks like he’s better at respecting the outcomes of votes than his MP…
Phillip Lee’s strategy of treating his local party members with contempt is not paying dividends. Last month he tried to brush off his local Association’s vote of no confidence in him as an “orchestrated, destructive campaign from outside the Party” and refused to even turn up to the meeting. Now his Executive Council have overwhelmingly passed a motion for Lee to seek reselection.
Lee can hardly accuse the Executive of being ‘entryists’, not that there is any evidence for it anyway, these are long-standing local members. They voted roughly 31-3 in favour of a motion for him to seek re-adoption. At which point he can be formally replaced as the Tories’ candidate for the next general election…
Due to the ambiguities of the Conservative Party constitution there is no time limit for Lee to do so until the next election is called, Guido understands that he has made it clear to local members that he will delay as long as possible. Given the numbers it looks like he’s just delaying the inevitable, if he hasn’t defected to the Lib Dems already by then…
