Political

Conservative councillor joins Liberal Democrats in Gloucestershire

Cllr Keith Rippington being welcomed into the Liberal Democrats

Heidi Allen isn’t the only elected person joining the Liberal Democrats this week:

Councillor Keith Rippington (Bisley & Painswick) announced his decision to resign from the Tory party on September 9, saying it was “very right wing”.

And today, he has announced that he has joined Gloucestershire Lib Dems.

Mr Rippington, who described himself as “a lifetime supporter of the Conservative party”, had backed the group for 50 years.

He said he left the group over the party’s approach to Brexit and its shift to the “extreme right”.

Following a brief spell as an independent, he has joined the Liberal Democrats, which he said is the only party “representing what is in the best interests of the country.” [Stroud News & Journal]

Leader of Gloucestershire Liberal Democrats, Cllr Paul Hodgkinson, welcomed the news:

We are delighted to be welcoming Keith to our party. It takes a brave and principled individual to walk away from something that has been a part of your life for so many years, and I applaud him for that. He is an incredibly hard-working councillor, and will make an immediate impact within our group.

We would welcome all councillors who similarly want to change the direction that this country is going, and ask them to join us to make Gloucestershire a more equal, greener place to live and work with top-notch local services.

If you sign up for my blog posts digest you’ll get a handy one-a-day email with links to all the latest posts. You can also sign up for a range of other lists, including Liberal Democrat Newswire – a monthly newsletter about the party. Just pick the options you’d like on the sign-up form.

One response to “Conservative councillor joins Liberal Democrats in Gloucestershire”

  1. how can we help to give such people the courage to do the right thing.?. but a bit more publicity of the parliamentary defections by the BBC would help

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All comments and data you submit with them will be handled in line with the privacy and moderation policies.