Party animals

Whenever I tackle one of the members of the Independent Political (sic) Group, they invariably deny ever signing up to join the party.
However, surely even the self-deception merchants who make up the IPG must bow to the hard documentary evidence reproduced below.

 

Some of the signatures are difficult to decipher, so I append a list of names for your convenience.
John Allen-Mirehouse, Peter Stock, Mark Edwards, Martin Davies, Lyn Davies, Rosalie Lilwall, Sian James, Don Evans, Arwyn Williams, Anne Hughes, Rosemary Hayes, Steve Watkins, Robin Evans, Bill Roberts, David Wildman, Alwyn Luke, David Simpson, John George, Mike Evans, David Rees, John Davies, Jamie Adams, David Bryan , Islwyn Howells, David Neale, Bill Davies[decd. replaced by Elwyn Morse], John Murphy, Brian Hall, Leslie Raymond, Robert Lewis, Clive Collins, Henry Jones, Jim Codd, Wyn Evans, John Griffiths, Tom Richards, Bill Hitchings, John Thomas [decd.replaced by Huw George]

As a shining example of being honest with the electorate we need look no further than Cllr Anne Hughes, who told the electorate of Milford Central during the 2004 county council campaign that, if elected, she would be a "true independent".
In fact, so keen is she to get this message across that her election address repeated the words "true independent" no less than four times.
As if to emphasise the point, Cllr Hughes told the voters: "I am standing as a true independent with no political allegiance to any party. I WILL NOT abide or be controlled by party policy." (Cllr Hughes' emphasis throughout).
This resolve lasted precisely the three days between the votes being counted (Friday am 11 June 2004) and the secret meeting of the IPG held in county hall at 11 am on Monday 14 June.

But perhaps the most spectacular example of an Independent Political Group member's eagerness to conceal his true political colours from the electorate is Cllr Jim Codd, who, just before the 2004 election, placed the advert below in the Tenby Observer.

In fact, when he wrote that, Cllr Codd had been a member of the Independent Political Group for almost three years (see below).
And he seems to have been in something of a hurry to join up because the bye-election at which he won his seat was held on 28 June 2001 and he was in county hall the following day to sign on the dotted line.