The Conservatives have been accused of pulling the wool over voter’s eyes in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
With three challenging by-elections on the cards, it looks like Rishi Sunak’s party is pulling out all the tricks to prevent what – even by his own admission – looks like three likely losses.
Speaking to ITV on Monday, the prime minister appeared to acknowledge that voters will have frustrations, as he said that all mid-term by-elections are “difficult” for governments.
Their local candidate, Steve Tuckwell, is hoping that Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ scheme can save his bacon – even though the outgoing member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip previously backed it as mayor.
And in signs that the Tories are out to deceive voters in more ways than one, a Byline Times investigation has revealed that a ‘local English teacher’ used on pamphlets to heap praise onto Tuckwell is actually a Conservative councillor and chair of the education committee on the Tory-run council!
Councillor Heena Makwana, who was a keen supporter of Boris Johnson, features on the leaflet handed out to Uxbridge residents.
In her quote, she claims local candidate for the MP seat Steve Tuckwell “chose to start his family here. And that’s because he knows how special our local area is. He will fight for our community because he’s part of our community.”
Byline Times ran the image on the leaflet through two facial comparison websites which found the ‘English teacher’ was a certain match with the local Hillingdon frontbencher.
Commenting on the revelations, a source close to the Labour campaign said: “Oh dear. It’s a sorry state of affairs for the local Tories when they have to pass off their own councillors as endorsers because they can’t find anyone else.”
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