High Peak Liberal Democrat candidate 'disappointed' over party's move to 'chuck' him

Liberal Democrat candidate Guy Kiddey will not be representing the party in the High Peak in next month's general election, it has been announced.
Guy Kiddey will not be standing as the High Peak Lid Dem candidateGuy Kiddey will not be standing as the High Peak Lid Dem candidate
Guy Kiddey will not be standing as the High Peak Lid Dem candidate

Mr Kiddey was put forward to stand for the Lib Dems in September, but the party has today confirmed that he is not their candidate for the borough's parliamentary seat.

The news comes amid a row elsewhere in the country, after Liberal Democrat candidate for Canterbury Tim Walker announced he was standing down in a bid to boost Labour's chances and avoid a split vote.

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“The Labour Party have failed to oppose Brexit. The Liberal Democrats will not be standing down for any party that is pursuing Brexit. We will be fielding a candidate in High Peak, giving voters the opportunity to stop Brexit and build a brighter future.”

Mr Walker's decision to stand down has been met with a backlash from party officials and he is now facing possible disciplinary action.

In a bid to show support to Tim Walker, Mr Kiddey's election agent has now stepped down, meaning that without a replacement, Guy is not legally able to stand as a candidate in the High Peak in next month's election. In addition, Mr Kiddey has also said that if Mr Walker does not get an apology he would resign, however the decision appears to have been made for him by the party.

Mr Kiddey said: "I've been chucked by the Liberal Democrats and I am extremely disappointed but I will not be bullied or threatened, I will stand up for what I believe is right for the country.

"I have only been campaigning for a short time but I have found that people are sick of political nastiness. I have gained a great following and huge support just by being nice to people and the Liberal Democrats have shown that they are no better than other parties for how they treat people."

Mr Kiddey is now hoping that the actions of himself and Mr Walker will be the start of a political revolution as he will now be voting tactically backing Labour and is encouraging others to do the same.

He said: "I urge anyone who is standing for a seat to really think about how they want this country to be run and if needs be step down to ensure voters make the right choice and a majority is not given to the Tory party because the vote was split.

"I could probably have achieved the party’s best-ever result up here, perhaps increasing the Lib Dem vote share fivefold compared to 2017. A mere happy statistic is a definite second to keeping a Tory party that threatens to be worse than Margaret Thatcher’s out of office."

He said: "I wanted to champion the decency and pragmatism for which we were, until 2016, mostly known.

"The more I go on, the more I see how politically backward this country is. I can’t wait for the end of party politics and the beginning of proportional representation by people assessed according to their professional ability, not their viperous instinct. The sooner the majority of policymaking becomes delegated to citizens’ assemblies, the better."

All parties have until 4pm tomorrow, Thursday November, 14, to put forward a candidate for the election which is being held on December 12.