Fareham Conservative councillor convicted of benefit fraud

A Conservative Councillor in Hampshire has been forced to resign after being convicted of benefit fraud.

We reported his first appearance before magistrates last month because the national newspapers "forgot" to splash it all over their front pages like they would if UKIP had been involved.

George Ringrow was a Hampshire County Councillor for Fareham and member of the Portsmouth Diocesan Synod. He has resigned as a councillor but it is not clear whether he has resigned from the Synod.

Ringrow claimed £32k of pension credit that he was not entitled to for over 5 and a half years, failing to notify the DWP that he had found employment at St Johns Ambulance and as a county councillor. He said that he hadn't noticed the money going into his bank account but also claimed to have phoned and written to the DWP to tell them that he had found a job and shouldn't be getting pension credit.

Unsurprisingly the judge was less than convinced and sentenced him to 4 months in prison suspended for 12 months.

School calls police anti-extremist officers in to boy who visited UKIP website

A school in Hampshire has reported a pupil to the police for visiting the UKIP website, claiming that they were concerned that he might be an extremist.

Wildern School called Hampshire Police after checking 15 year old Joe Taylor's browser history and saw that he had visited the UKIP website to research immigration after a discussion in the classroom. The matter was referred to the extremist child grooming unit who had police officers take him out of class to question him, reportedly telling him that it was "not right" to support UKIP.

The school said that it wasn't solely his visit to the UKIP website but he also visited the EDL website last year after watching a documentary about the group. So that's one visit to an extremist anti-Islam website and one to the UK's third largest political party's website and the school and police have him marked down as a suspected future terrorist.

Wildern School and Hampshire Police should hang their heads in shame at what is quite clearly a politically-motivated attack designed to humiliate and intimidate a 15 year old boy. There's a word for that sort of thing: bullying.

Fareham Conservative councillor charged with benefit fraud

A Conservative councillor in Fareham has been charged with benefit fraud.

Hampshire county councillor, George Ringrow, has appeared before magistrates to answer two charges of benefit fraud amounting to £32k.

Cllr Ringrow is county councillor for Fareham Town on Hampshire County Council, sits on a number of committees including (ironically) the council's audit committee and sits on the Portsmouth Diocesan Synod.

Left wing extremists paint swastikas on war veteran's UKIP posters

A veteran of the Allied assault on Monte Cassino during the second world war has been left angry and shaken after left wing extremists daubed a swastika and Hitler moustache on a UKIP poster on his property.

Frank Moody, who has been a parish councillor in Hampshire for 36 years, took part in the assault on the German defences at Monte Cassino when he was just 20 years old. The series of assaults against the Germans cost over 55,000 Allied lives.

Cllr Moody said:

I fought Hitler in the war against the Nazis, so it made me very angry to find swastikas outside my gate. This is supposed to be a democratic country. That’s what I fought for.

The police have been notified but they have proven to be largely impotent and/or disinterested with the other attacks on UKIP and its supporters by left wing extremists.

Lib Dem councillor for Fareham lives in Saudi Arabia

The leader of the Lib Dems in Fareham, Cllr Paul Whittle, has been called on to resign after taking a job in Saudi Arabia a fortnight before the elections in May and failing to turn up for a Local Government Association conference after the council had spent nearly £600 on a ticket for him to attend.

Cllr Whittle has been defended by his fellow Lib Dem councillor, Katrina Trott, who says that it's just the Conservatives trying to cause trouble and Cllr Whittle can still do his £180k a year job whilst living and working in another country 4,000 miles and a 12 hour flight away. Whittle claims to have told the council before he took the job that he wouldn't be able to go to the conference but the council says that's not true.

Back in April last year the newly elected Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh, Mike Thornton, celebrated his narrow victory over UKIP by visiting Fareham to support Cllr Whittle and his Lib Dem colleague, Cllr David Norris, in their campaign to stop Hampshire County Council wasting money. At the time Cllr Whittle told local paper, the News:

In these tough times we know that every penny counts. We don’t need pet projects while our basic services are being lost. Hampshire County Council is out of touch and it is time they started listening to the people of Fareham.

Cllr Whittle doesn't need to count his pennies, the job he took in Saudi Arabia was advertised at £180k a year - considerably more than the £459 per week average wage in Hampshire. He accuses Hampshire County Council of being out of touch but at least they're in the same country, not 4,000 miles away.

UKIP Fareham Borough Councillor and Hampshire County Councillor, Chris Wood, said:

Someone working in Saudi Arabia will find it difficult to hold the Conservative administration to account.

Hampshire UKIP Public Meeting - Winchester

Hampshire-wide public meeting and rally with speakers Nigel Farage, Marta Andreason and Christopher Gill.

Tuesday, 26th May 2009 at 7.30pm

Winchester Guildhall, High Street, Winchester, SO23 9GH - in the Main Conference Chamber.