Organisers of the campaign to save a local hospital in Henley say they have not heard of Conservative by-election candidate John Howell, despite his claims to have supported their campaign.

The information came to light after John Howell claimed to have supported the campaign to save Townlands Hospital in Henley in his election literature.

Commenting, Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats, Lord Rennard said:

“Mr Howell claims to have supported a campaign to save a local hospital. But the chair of the hospital campaign says that they hadn’t heard of him and is unaware of any contribution that he has made to the campaign.

“This is further evidence that the Conservatives have blundered over their choice of candidate.

“People want an MP that they can trust.”


Notes:
In response to the question ‘what help has John Howell ever given your campaign to save Townlands Hospital?’, local campaigner Ian Reissman who chairs Townlands Steering Group which campaigned to save the hospital said: “The Townlands Campaign has always been a community based campaign lead by local people. The first time I was ever aware of John Howell was after he was selected as a candidate in the bye-election. No one I have spoken to on the Townlands Steering Group is aware of any contribution he has made to the campaign to save Townlands hospital.”

Councilor Barry Wood who is the former chair of Townlands Steering Group said, “John Howard has never been heard of until this election started. The local Conservative Party has watched from the sidelines whilst HRG has inspired the Town Council to fund the Support Townlands campaign to the tune of £30k.”

For more details see the Henley Liberal Democrats website.