Thread by @jonworth

I find reaction to this Jonathon Reed disqualified as candidate for Wiltshire & Swindon PCC thing so very strange

Here's the news of what happened:
bbc.com/news/uk-englan…

There's now a kind of briefing war going on between Reed and Tory HQ as to who knew what. @rupertevelyn from ITV has been following it all: itv.com/news/2021-05-0…

Tory HQ knew for *at least a week*

But that's not the strangest thing... the *reaction* is weird. Because this ought to be simple

There are two issues here, and you have to separate them

The rule is clear: Reed did not comply with the rules, cannot legitimately stand, and was disbarred. Done. Clear cut

Whether the rule is *right* or *adequate* or too harsh or not harsh enough is fair enough to debate - but that is a separate issue

Sure, have that debate, but that will not, cannot, and should not save Reed

It was also... checks notes... the Tory-Lib Dem Government of David Cameron who introduced PCCs and set up the rules for them

For the Tory Party to then have a problem with said rules is some chutzpah

One of the supposed roles of political parties in mature democracies is to be able to do this sort of candidate vetting. It's perhaps symptomatic of how British party politics has fallen that the Tories are incapable even of this

But to conclude, the outcome here is as clear as the light of day: Reed broke the rules, is disbarred. That's done.

/ends