Caroline Righton, is one of only 7 candidates across the whole south west not to respond to a BBC request to give her view on the issue of fox hunting and has pulled out of the first local radio debate of the campaign.

The BBC’s Politics Show asked the 110 candidates in the south west what they would do if given a free vote on fox-hunting. St Austell & Newquay’s Conservative candidate did not respond despite being “contacted repeatedly” by the BBC.

The Conservative candidate has also pulled out of a radio debate with the other candidates on Radio St Austell Bay that will see questions taken live from listeners.

Steve Gilbert said:

“I’ve been very clear that if elected I would not vote to repeal the ban on fox hunting and I am more than happy to be quizzed on the radio with the other candidates.

“What is astonishing is that in the midst of a general election campaign the Conservative candidate here thinks it’s acceptable to not even give us her view on fox hunting or take part in a debate with the other candidates.

“With an election just three weeks away it seems the Conservative candidate has gone to ground. People have a right to know what they are voting for on polling day.”

CONSERVATIVE high command make no secret of the importance of the Westcountry to their hopes of winning the general election, but there seems to be growing unease in the region about the impact (negative or non-existent) their leader is having on voters…

Speaking to MPs and PPCs from Devon, Cornwall and Somerset there is a distinct lack of confidence, even in private.

They talk about “hanging on” to seats, “picking up one or two” others. Don’t forget the Tories need to win an extra 10 seats in the three counties, all but one from the Lib-Dems, to secure a majority of just one.

This mirrors a previous report in The Times that:

[Conservative] Party strategists privately admit that some incumbent MPs, particularly Lib Dems, are putting up fiercer-than-expected resistance.

Not helping the Conservatives in the South West have been events such as the complaints from a Cornwall choir that it had been duped into doing fund raising for the Conservative Party and the allegations that their Parliamentary candidate Caroline Righton faked a message about Lib Dem Stephen Gilbert in a botched smear attempt.

Hat-tip: Jonathan Calder

The story has also been taken up on quite a few other Lib Dem blogs so, bearing in mind that our readers often ask for more links through to stories on other Lib Dem blogs, here is a selection of the most recent posts:

• Matt Davies, who was quick out of the blocks with a comprehensive piece
• Alex Folkes, who rightly highlights that even if Caroline Righton did not personally author the message in question her failure to apologise or explain certainly is her direct responsibility
• Andrew Reeves, whose post has a comment containing the most curious piece of information that has come to light so far
• Chris Lovell, who highlights the silence from Tories about the affair
• Jeremy Rowe, he of the blog post with the scary photo
• Nich Starling, in typically robust form, highlighting how Caroline Righton recently promised to fight a “positive and honest campaign”
• and finally some chap called Mark

If I’ve missed any or a new one has appeared since I wrote this, do post up a comment with a link.

Whilst I’m not expecting a personal response from him, it’ll be interesting to see how the Tories nationally react.

Failing to back your PPC when they are facing such accusations would be a pretty damning vote of no confidence in Caroline Righton, but on the other hand defending Caroline Righton looks to be pretty near impossible given the evidence against her.

Although the story have been taken up by quite a few other bloggers (including Andrew Reeves, Nich Starling and Lib Dem Voice), I’ve yet to see anyone try to defend or excuse her behaviour – or indeed any Tory commenter post a comment on any of these stories at all even those some of the blogs running the story regularly attract comments from supporters or members of the Conservative Party.

It’s as if collectively her Tory colleagues wish the story just didn’t exist – but it does. So why the silence?