Enfant terrible - Liam Billington
NORTHERN Voices congratulates Liam Billington, the Conservative Party candidate who yesterday won the Stalybridge-South ward with 1233 votes, in the Tameside 2018 May local elections. Katy Flanagan, the Labour candidate, came second with 834 votes.
As the former editor of the scurrilous blog 'Tameside Eye', young Billington, once disclosed that Tameside Council had spent over £30,000 on a variety of futile events - 'the diversity breakfast', 'lifestyle clinics', 'urban walks', all organised by sixteen 'well-being champions'.
In November 2014, he criticised a charity (Tameside 4 Good), for making a donation of £1000 to Tameside and Oldham Gay Society which they hailed as a success story. He described 'Tameside Pride' as "a bunch of puffs mincing across Ashton", and suggested that the money would have been better spent on food-banks or care for the elderly, the people who need it most. Asked whether he regretted his choice of language, he declared, "I'm gay myself and I use the word all the time."
As the Tameside Eye blogger, Billington was arrested in 2008 on an allegation of harassment relating to three doctored images that appeared on his blog. The complaints were made by Labour councillor's John Taylor - who Billington dubbed 'councillor fuckwit' - and Sean Parker-Perry. Aged 19, Billington was held in custody for seven hours at Ashton police station, where he was photographed, finger-printed, and a sample of his DNA was taken. His two computers were removed from his home and seized as evidence. After being charged with one count of harassment and two counts of racially aggravated harassment, he was eventually released on police bail. After considering the evidence against him, Manchester Crown Prosecution Service, decided not to prosecute.
As the Conservative Party candidate for Stalybridge South, Billington recently launched a petition to bring back a market in what is now the Stalybridge Civic Hall. He believes that reviving the market will be a key component to the regeneration of Stalybridge. He is, however, no defender of public libraries and will find himself, well at home, among the many semi-literate councillors who make up Tameside Council, who have also closed many libraries throughout Tameside. The young whizz-kid, once said, "Who needs public libraries when you've got Amazon and a laptop." Needless to say, not everyone has a laptop or can afford to buy books online. But this doesn't seem to worry Billington. I suppose that's what makes him a Tory - I'm all right Jack, fuck you!
No doubt, this young controversial 'enfant terrible', will bring some much needed opposition in the one-party state that's called Tameside Council and will enliven the debates in the council chamber. A future Tory leader in the making on Tameside Council? Watch your back John Bell!
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