John Ward has resigned from Medway Council
John Ward, former Conservative Councillor for Rochester South & Horsted Ward on Medway Council, has resigned following controversial comments on his personal weblog.
Although it was not his original intention, John Ward has said that “in today’s Soviet-style Britain, with all the pressures coming down upon us from on high and with yet more to come … all the indicators are that recent events have, funnily enough, afforded me an opportunity to ‘get out from under’ before even more bureaucracy hits local Councillors”.
John was a fantastic Councillor and still is (and always will be) a good man. He worked hard for the people he represented and his input will, I’m sure, be sorely missed in the local political scene by members of all parties, even those who called for his resignation this weekend.
I continue to maintain that John, like everyone else, has a right to his own opinions, and a right to share his opinions in any medium he chooses. We do, after all, live in a free democracy. However, it would be wrong of me not to point out at this juncture that, in this case, I do not agree with what was said on his blog about people claiming benefits, regardless of whether they were his words or merely reproduced from another source.
I would like to take this opportunity, however, to wish the former Councillor the best of luck in his life beyond public service, as he “look[s] forward to the next adventure in [his] life, wherever that should turn out to be”.
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11 Comments
I fully agree with and should repeat the last two paragraphs of this posting. (I won’t as itll just be repitition).
With John gone, who will I be able to have much banter with?!
seems a little harsh but there should be a limit to the amount of money they receive from the government, afterall a boss doesn’t keep increasing your pay every time you get pregnant.Perhaps that would be a deterrent.Let them manage on less!
John Ward is absolutely right in what he says. The Conservative Party do not understand the views of hard working people in this country who are fed up to the back teeth with the sponging section of society. I am a letting agent and see this sort of thing day after day. Many of the people I deal with on benefit have far better lifestyles than I do and I run my own business.
You do not seem to realise that there is no voice for people such as myself as the Conservative Party seem to have lost the plot as to who they represent. This man’s resignation is a loss to the local community and the Conservative Party.
I would think long and hard about your strategy if you want to build support for the next election.
Mike Kimmins
Invicta House
Iris Avenue
Bexley
Kent DA5 1HH
i am sad that John Ward has BEEN PUSHED TO RESIGN. Wwhilst waht he said may be upsetting to some people, his comment did have and element of truth.
in the working world we dont get a pay rise on the birth of a child, so why oh why do we give an increase in benefits for every child. i would have loved a large family but becuase i was wroking i had to stop at two as i couldnt afford more children.
i feel all political parties should examine the benefit system,
we should be a nation that is proud to work and not proud to scrounge.
i know not all on benefits are scroungers, this dig isnt aimed at you….IT IS AIMED AT THE GROWING POPULATION THAT FEELS ITS THEIR RIGHT TO STAY AT HOME AND HAVE LOADS OF KIDS FOR OTHERS TO PAY FOR
Again i wish John Ward all the best
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Alan, Rob (yes, you as well, my young friend!) and all the others who have commented on this whole issue, here and in so many other places.
As has now come out, the article that got posted was incomplete, and at that stage was only quotes from elsewhere. My aim had been to get a debate started on finding a kinder solution to a social issue before it became too serious for dithering Gordon Brown to ignore and he panicked and introduced draconian legislation. That is his way, as we know.
I prefer “carrots” to “sticks” and wished to brainstorm the nation to find a carrot-style approach that could work, and (with luck!) to generate such a groundswell of public opinion that it was effectively irresistible. Much better than the rather extreme ideas I found already “out there” months and months ago…
Of course, as it turned out, this debate is now happening up and down the country, in a far larger way than I would have achieved if I hadn’t been interrupted while composing the article in the first place.
That, I am convinced, was a divine hand at work — and my former (i.e. retired) church minister had already realised the same when he rang me. Sharp fellow!
Anyway, I am now completely convinced that it is God’s will that we deal with this issue in a way that is consistent with His teachings.
Tensions are building within communities, the economic crunch will back the Prime Minister into a corner, and we need to have this debate (and probably a number of others) in order to come out the other side in a much healthier and fairer state.
That’s the bottom line of my agenda!
Thanks John! Haha.
I guess you just have to be careful what you say, hopefully Alan won’t post a half finishied artcle (“Red tape kills 10year old boy” springs to mind
).
Any idea what you’re going to do now? All the ebst for it, anyway!
Thanks, Rob.
As yet, I do not know what I shall be doing. If I can find myself a form of regular income, I can stay here. Otherwise I shall probably need to move to a cheaper area of the country — or possibly even go abroad. As I have a knack for languages, that wouldn’t be likely to be a difficult route to take.
Meanwhile, once this has all died down (and it is now very much quieter — the Media Circus has moved on) I shall no doubt continue with my part-finished illustrated novel, and of course job-seeking. I suppose I shall also have to sign-on…
If John Ward had stood by his opinions rather than denying them and coming up with a thinly veiled excuse, then people might have respected him more. The media are an easy target to blame – why not just have the courage of your convictions and say “yes I said this and I defend my opinion?”
In any event, sterilization is a very harsh way to deal with things. How would it work in reality and what would happen if people “reformed” their ways and got a job and wanted children – there would be no incentive to do so. I’m assuming we would just be sterilizing the women as the “single mothers” are always the easy target. No one likes spongers but the solution is financial, not medical.
John, if i were you guys id remove references to God as being a rationale [however inferred] for why members of the public feel that state-led sterilisation is anyway an acceptable ‘carrot’ or ‘kinder solution’ to social problems facing the country today.
The reason why it has received attention is not in anyway ‘divine.’ Its because the suggestion is so off the scale of reasoned acceptability for an elected mainstream politician, in a country where people have died to defend liberal and democratic values twice in the last century.
John; You are not a martyr.
Okay, well good luck with that John.
Phil, I was under the impression that people died to defend the right to say and think what we like.
While I disagree with steralisation (and am also not Christian, so I’m not sure who Phil is referring to with his “you guys”), John has the right to say whatever he likes, even if he is a politician.
And Hannah, I agree that the solution is financial rather than medical or final. I think, however that there will always be people who “sponge” off the state and seem reckles with their birth.
In my view, the extra Child benefit given for each extra child should decrease for each one you have (so say you got £10 for Child 1, you’d only get £8 for Child 2 [simplified example, I know]).
On the subject of steralisation, I don’t think it would work in a country like the UK, although China have implemeted a similar system with an extremely tough government.
I wonder if Phil really failed to understand what I meant by kinder than sterilisation, or is this deliberate trolling?
It is interesting to note the slants taken by both Phil and Hannah (if those are their real names — they are effectively anonymous) which seem to be at odds with just about everyone else who has commented on this whole business throughout the nation (there are now thousands of such comments altogether).
It has become quite clear during this past week that there are essentially two categories of commenters: those for whom the present set-up affords personal or political benefit, and the rest of society.
I have bucketloads of messages that have come to me personally, quite apart from those that have appeared online and printed in the paper-based media, both local and national. They also are nearly all in agreement that this whole business needs looking at, and they applaud my efforts (however flawed!) to bring this to public debate.
Remember: no-one had been debating this openly until this week. That is the “bottom line”.