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Posted by Dave (and Thomas) on Friday May 02, 10:46

At the polls yesterday Labour remained in control of the council with its overwhelming majority, with 62 of the 96 seats on the council. The Lib Dems have the other 33, with the one remaining a Tory (who was elected as a LibDem).

The Lib Dems gained one seat overall, with the Green Party losing out on its one councillor.

In Manchester Withington the Labour vote reduced slightly (down by less than 1.5%), but the real story is that the Tories, despite a good night elsewhere, actually received less votes here than they did in 2006.

John Leech's big target - to gain Sheila Newman's seat in Chorlton (which the LibDems won in 2006) - was a resounding failure as Labour increased their vote by over 19%, winning the seat by more than 250 votes. There was no change in the other six wards in the constituency.

The real question coming out of these elections is will LibDem voters continue to support a LibDem candidate in Westminster when it looks increasingly likely that the Tories will regain power in Westminster?

Manchester City Council's election results in full.

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Posted by Dave on Thursday Apr 03, 16:04

John is one of many cross party M.P's to have signed a letter regarding Missle Shields and European Defence. Anyone else seen it?

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Posted by Dave on Thursday Jan 24, 11:17

MP for Manchester Withington, Liberal Democrat John Leech, said he did have some worries about the event.

"I do have concerns that a small minority of idiots will choose to ruin the minute's silence and I do think there is a case for having a minute's applause rather than a minute's silence to ensure that doesn't happen.

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Posted by Dave on Monday Nov 19, 13:03

Why is no paid up liberal democrat prepared to stand up and defent John Leech Christie Hospital issue in public on this forum.

Especially the many Lib Dem Councilors who were in the photographs with him.

And could someone tell us how John Leech is supposed to have resigned from facebook?

I am starting this new thread on behalf of Yasmin, as it is obviously very important that she finds out this information

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Posted by Dave on Saturday Aug 25, 12:26

He has even got his picture on page 37 of the Weekend magazine (25th August) of the Guardian. With even talk of a diplomatic incident. Anyone else seen it?

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Posted by Dave on Tuesday Jun 05, 12:12

Okay, so some of the Labour supporters on this site and myself including acknowledge that Leech isn't the most effective of MP's. However, I am still angry enough with Labour of the issue of Iraq to continue voting for them, along with many others who post on here. My questions to the Labour supporters is this; How will you stop ex-labour supporters from voting Lib Dem?

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Posted by Dave on Wednesday May 09, 21:22

I am sure many of you will join me in congratulating Paul Ankers on removing former Lib Dem Cllr Angela Gallagher, who defected to the Labour Party, as councillor in Chorlton. I am sure John Leech will be chuffed too. Good to see democracy working.

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Posted by Steve on Sunday Apr 01, 12:41

Lucy Powell has been selected by the the Labour party to fight John Leech at the next General Election.

The members in the constituency voted to select Lucy from a shortlist of five extremely talented candidates, each of whom spoke for ten minutes and took questions for a further ten minutes at the husting. They each received the following votes:

Lucy Powell	168
Jenny Lennox	32
Nargis Khan	30
Naheed Arshad-Mather	26
Yogesh Virmani	11

Lucy Powell clearly has a resounding mandate from the members. What's more, it is likely that she will reinvigorate the membership with people already saying things like, "2 hours and five speeches later I am surprised to report that my mojo is on the way back. Two things did it for me. Being with 150 other people prepared to give up a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon, all of us feeling a sense of lost opportunity about the last 5 years, all of us with a sense of pride in what Labour has done. But most of all we have chosen an exceptional candidate."

Should John Leech be scared of a resurgent Labour party locally with a candidate in place?

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Posted by Chris Paul on Monday Mar 19, 12:27

Cllr John Leech MP made the mistake last year of using taxpayers' money to fund a Parliamentary Report which was neither distributed at the end of a full year nor a parliamentary session but was distributed shortly before an election period began, featuring pictures of candidates. There were complaints at the highest level and the Manchester Evening News carried the story. Particularly that Leech had wilfully distributed it outside his own constituency for political advantage. Well, he has done it again this year. His report carries a picture of the candidate for part of Tony Lloyd's constituency on the front and again inside. It also carries pictures of at least three or four other candidates and a picture of him in Parliament near the disgraced Cluster Bomb campaigner Willie Rennie. It is time for John leech to grow up and stop cheating the rules.

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Posted by Jim Mackrell on Sunday Feb 04, 21:06

First of all let me say that I believe that Manchester winning the battle to secure the only super casino in the East of the City is a great thing. 

On the day of the announcement I heard John Leech speaking on radio saying it was a bad idea.  He later released to the press a statement saying that we ought to have a referendum on the issue, presumably open to all people who live in the City of Manchester.

Given that John is an MP and also a Councillor in the City he has more votes than most in deciding this.  I think it safe to say he will be voting against at every opportunity.

What do Withington people think about this rather unusual device of a local referendum? Should the people of Withington, Wythenshawe and Blackley have a veto over the Council's bid? 

Does anybody know if John Leech has the support of the Lib Dem group on this issue or is he loning it again?

Does John Leech have the support of his parliamentary colleagues for his stance.

And finally, what does it say about John Leech that he is against a proposal that will bring £100 million per year to our City and bring much needed investment and jobs into one of the most deprived areas of our City?

I look forward to hearing your views. 

 

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Posted by Chris Paul on Saturday Jan 27, 20:24

Anyone visiting John Leech's own website www.john-leech.libdems.org.uk will find that the masthead there partially reflects the reality.

It claims John is working for a list of wards and areas which DOES NOT include Chorlton Park. A search on the term "Chorlton Park" finds two items. One of these is John's own description of himself as a councillor for the area. The other a rather confused story about social housing which could be written about any ward with a residential building site in it.

A screen grab is available at my blog chrispaul-labouroflove.blogspot.com. As Cllr John Leech MP shows no sign of giving up a second job he cannot manage to cover properly should the Council or the Electoral Commission change the rules so that he must resign? And if that isn't managed should it be considered ultra vires for a councillor to transfer money they get from the people of Manchester to be a councillor to a constituency office which has a very considerable party political element?

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Posted by Chris Paul on Sunday Dec 31, 15:31

John Leech asked me in a recent email exchange whether there was *anything* he ever did that I approved of. I thought I'd found something I could offer up recently when John stood alongside Willie Rennie MP and asked a good question about "dumb" Cluster Bombs. But all hopes of a warm positive feeling about the MP who would like my vote after the boundary changes (unless there is a snap election as Menzies Campbell is predicting) during the season of goodwill vanished when I discovered Rennie's gross hypocrisy as he works for a firm that lobbies FOR cluster bomb makers Raytheon.

I've covered this in more detail with links on my blog chrispaul-labouroflove.blogspot.com.

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Posted by Phil M on Saturday Dec 30, 12:33

Featured in many a Lib Dem leaflet is their campaign against Post Office closures - happily blaming the Labour government, and even in some cases scare-mongering about post offices that aren't likely to close.

We can argue all you like about the rights and wrongs of the issue, but on the day of the big announcement in the House of Commons about the future of Post Offices in the UK, where was John Leech MP? Sitting listening and commenting on or arguing with the announcement? Taking part in a debate at the highest level about what, according to many Lib Dem leaflets, is a crucial issue for his constituents?

No. He was in the Town Hall in Manchester at the Finance Scrutiny Committee, leaving part way through. Which I get the impression isn't where his constituents would have wanted him to be. I think when they voted for him they thought he would actually spend some time in parliament, debating the issues that matter to them.

That's the trouble with doing two jobs. You end up doing both of them badly.

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Posted by Simon Oakwind on Tuesday Dec 19, 14:56

Rumours are circulating about whispers of discontent among Manchester Lib Dems about the performance of Mr John Leech. I hear that "senior" Lib Dems are concerned about his behaviour and the fact that the Christie scandal won't go away. Could this be the start of a campaign to replace him in good time for the next election?

What do you think? Is there a real chance that John Leech could be deselected at the next election?

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Posted by Steven on Wednesday Dec 13, 19:17

During Prime Minister's questions on 29th November, John Prescott said:

"The House should welcome the fact that the Christie hospital, a specialist cancer hospital, remains open, despite what was said during the election campaign by the hon. Member for Manchester, Withington (Mr. Leech), who campaigned together with the Tories on the basis that this facility would close down or not be opened. It has, in fact, been opened this week and is now serving the people of Manchester. If the hon. Gentleman had been a bit more honest, he would have thanked the Labour Government not only for the continuing promise to keep the facility, but for the 11,000 more nurses, 1,000 more consultants and 600 more GPs that are serving his area and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Worsley (Barbara Keeley). That is a Labour Government in action. We are delivering, and the people in this country are grateful for it."

Clearly our local MP has a reputation outside the constituency for being less than honest about the "closure" of Christie Hospital.

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Posted by Rod on Wednesday Dec 13, 11:40

John Leech asked Yvette Cooper a question in Parliament yesterday (12th Dec) about brownfield sites.

She told him to contact his local council, saying "I suggest that the hon. Gentleman take up the matter with his local council"!

It would appear that John Leech can't do his council job when he's in Manchester and when he's in London he is told to contact his local council.

Yvette Cooper also explained that John Leech's proposed change in the definition of greenfield sites would leave people unable to build patios or extensions in their own gardens, and as such she had no plans to change the definition to include gardens.

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Posted by Suzanne on Friday Oct 27, 11:26

The Manchester Evening News has reported today that John Leech MP has the largest expenses claim of all the Greater Manchester MPs.

An expenses bill bigger even than the Prime Minister's! However Mr Leech tries to spin this one the ordinary people of Withington are going to find that particular bill hard to swallow.

Especially since Mr Leech, now commonly known as "Two Jobs John", has also been claiming £15,000 a year for his role as Cllr for Chorlton Park.

http://ontheknocker.blogspot.com/2006/10/leech-149000-prime-minister-8700.html

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Posted by Thomas Graham on Tuesday Jul 18, 20:14

In a massive blow to Lib Dem MP John Leech the ex-Liberal Democrat Councillor Angela Gallagher has defected to the Labour Party saying, "I have made this decision in order to put the residents of Chorlton and Manchester first. I do not feel that the Lib Dems in Manchester put the City first."

Gallagher, a councillor in Chorlton, was one of Leech's top donors at the General Election.

Councillor Patrick Karney said, "We are delighted that Angela has joined us. She is a talented individual who has spent her life in public service. She will receive a warm welcome in our Labour group."

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Posted by Thomas Graham on Friday Jun 09, 00:41

According to the South Manchester Reporter, John Leech has written to McDonalds asking them to give his world cup tickets to a real fan. He will still be going out to Germany to play the charity matches, and as a result will miss the Didsbury Festival and his surgery on Friday.

John said, "The organisers [of Didsbury Festival] have never invited me to the festival anyway. I went last year but they didn’t invite me to open it."

Lord Bradley, the former Withington MP who chairs Didsbury Community Association, the festival’s organisers, said: "I’m sure that John Leech has very good reasons for travelling to Germany rather than support our local festival.

"My only concern as chair of the organisation is to to ensure the continued success of the Didsbury Festival for the benefit of our local community and our local charities."

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Posted by Karen Bradley on Sunday Jun 04, 19:42

John Leech has defended the free world cup tickets that he received from his former employer McDonalds after he and his parliamentary football team mates asked for some free tickets.

Kevin Miles, from the Football Supporters' Federation said, "They [McDonalds] are doing it to buy themselves influence, let's make no mistake about it"

John Leech said, "I've been a season ticket holder for Manchester City for 22 years and I can safely say I'm a proper football fan.

"The tickets that have been provided for us would have been given out by McDonald's to somebody else, and I'm sure there's plenty of fans that would like to see the game as I would.

"I fully understand people's frustration, but it's not up to us who get the tickets."

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Posted by Steve James on Friday May 12, 09:21

John Leech has taken part in his first transport debate. Despite hoping the debate would "be on something very specific" and being "alarmed when he saw the title 'Cycling'", he felt the debate was "very interesting"

Some interesting comments were made by Mr Leech including:

"To be fair to the Government – no one has mentioned this – one of the main reasons for cycling rates not being as good as they are elsewhere is our pretty poor weather."

"I am sure that poor weather is the only reason that the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) has a car following him to work with his suit and shoes, because he does not want to spend the rest of the day in a soggy suit and shoes. Instead of having a car following him, perhaps he ought to get a wardrobe"

"Perhaps Members of Parliament need to do a little more. Rather than give 20p a mile for cycling and 40p a mile for cars, perhaps we should turn that round and give 40p a mile for cycling and 20p a mile for cars."

John also raised important points including the provision of storage facilities for bicycles, location and convenience of cycle lanes and stressed the importance of public consultation over these matters.

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Posted by JLW on Friday May 05, 01:53

Despite John Leech's efforts to increase the number of Lib Dem council seats, the Lib Dems had a bad night in the local elections in Manchester. In Manchester Withington, the Lib Dems failed to gain Chorlton where their main campaign took place with Val Stevens holding the ward with a majority over 100 votes. In Old Moat Brian Harrison increased his majority to over 750 votes.

The Liberal Democrats lost 4 seats in Manchester to the Labour Party including Fallowfield, Gorton North, Longsight and Whalley Range.

Liberal Democrat Leader Simon Ashley said, "A bad night, yeah". It wasn't really the ‘challenge for control of this great City’ that they had hoped to make.

The main Conservative target, Brooklands, was held by Labour with a massively increased majority.

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Posted by Thomas Graham on Wednesday Apr 12, 12:00

Welcome to the new John Leech Watch - you've probably noticed it looks a bit different, but there is a major difference.

Now you can add blog entries yourself - if you see or hear something that John has done that should be mentioned then, using the "Add to the Blog" link at the top of this page, you can post to the blog yourself.

As John Leech Watch is still a work in progress if you have any problems or ideas how it could be improved please don't hesitate to get in touch via email.

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Posted by JLW on Tuesday Feb 21, 13:42

John Leech is placed 260 out of 688 MPs for responding to letter from his constituents via WriteToThem.com, according to the 2005 MP Responsiveness League Table.

John Leech received 114 messages, and replied to 75.3%* of them within two to three weeks of the initial letter being sent.

Update: Keith Bradley (previous MP for Manchester Withington) came 137th – he responded to 85.7% of the 62 letters sent within two to three weeks (67%–96%). You can see the table at www.writetothem.com/stats/2005/mps.

* This figure has a 95% confidence interval of 65%–84%.
This means that WriteToThem.com are 95% certain that the true values lie between the two limits of the confidence intervals i.e. between 65% and 84% based on the data available.

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Posted by JLW on Wednesday Feb 08, 14:54

It has emerged that John Leech is backing Chris Huhne as the next Liberal Democrat leader. Read more at: www.chris2win.org/pages/supporterslist.html

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Posted by JLW on Tuesday Jan 17, 16:20

John Leech has asked his first written question in Parliament.

"To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dental practices in Manchester, Withington constituency have stopped carrying out NHS work since 1997."

It is a slightly strange question to ask, surely as a local champion he would know this? It would also be interesting to know how many new practices have started carrying out NHS work.

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Posted by JLW on Monday Jan 09, 17:07

So far John Leech has been all quiet on the subject of Charles Kennedy's replacement as leader of the Liberal Democrats after saying he would back Charles Kennedy all the way.

Will John back a new candidate to be leader?

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Posted by JLW on Saturday Oct 22, 06:34

A new website has been launched by mySociety called HearFromYourMP.com. If you sign up with your name and postcode, you will hear from John Leech about local issues, and can discuss them with other constituents.

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Posted by JLW on Wednesday Sep 21, 14:03

News from the BBC (and previously in the South Manchester Reporter) on John Leech taking part in the hunt for the killer dogs. Find out more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4266954.stm

The first meeting of the action group takes place at the Red Lion pub in Withington on 6 October.

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Posted by JLW on Monday Aug 15, 06:09

John is running his "Thank you!" campaign and leaflets are going through doors at the moment.

The basic message was that the election was a success for the Lib Dems - a bad night for Labour and a bad night for the Tories.

"John Leech MP was sensationally elected our new MP in Britain's biggest winning swing to the Liberal Democrats, overturning a massive 11,574 Labour majority."

The leaflet points out there are "Only 667 votes seperate Lib Dem John Leech and Tony Blair's man.".

The leaflet also says that he may not have responded to the "hundreds of people [that] contacted John Leech during the election campaign" and if you haven't recieved a response getback in touch. Perhaps he will be more diligent as an MP.

Something to note in the small print: "...we may call you in future - even if you are TPS registered...". Seems a little odd considering the Lib Dems campaign to stop nuisance election calls: http://www.libdems.org.uk/tps/

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Posted by JLW on Monday Jul 25, 16:02

The future of the Christie Hospital is Safe - reports Metro News this week.
Surprised?
We thought not.
The Hospital's super £7m critical care unit is on the way and we have confirmation that the GMSHA 'review' of cancer services across Greater Manchester safeguards the hospital.
(Remember folks, this is the very review John said could 'mean the end' for the hospital!!)

So why are we still banging on about all of this.

Well, the material issue at stake here is that John Leech's election materials gave impression that the Christie Hospital was under the threat of closure.
Quite simply, it wasn't.

John maintains that he was acting on the media coverage after Christie doctors/consultants had signed a statement. This statement was never presented to the Christie Board (although the hospital has, at last, confirmed the signed statements exist.)

In mid-April, one consultant broke ranks and took it on herself to provide a version of events to the Manchester Evening News. Why? Well that's a very good question...

But here's the rub: The threat of 'closure' does NOT appear anywhere in the Doctors statement. It is, quite clearly, a ludicrous concept, given the investment past, present and future - including the £7m Critical Care Unit that will now be built (pending details of which John and co. should have known at the time...but never mentioned).

Yet days later John is asking all of us to sign 'Save' the Hospital...to ask for a 'guarantee that Christie Hospital will not be closed.
Incredulously, he goes on record as saying the review could mean the end for Europe's largest cancer hospital.

Remember: Neil Goodwin (GMSHA Ch Exec) said unequivically such rumours were 'complete and utter nonsense.' But it was John Leech and the Lib Dems that helped create the impression that the Christie was under the threat of closure. It's there in black and white in their election materials.

Whether the people of Manchester Withington forgive or forget this abject opportunism remains to be seen

Perhaps John will put things to the test when he resigns his council seat ahead of the May 2006 Local Elections...

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Posted by JLW on Monday Jul 25, 14:51

The latest editions of the Metro News and the LINK

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Posted by JLW on Tuesday Jul 19, 10:52

A press release from John Leech says he has handed over 1500 names to the Strategic Health Authority calling for the Authority to garuantee that Christie Hospital will not close. We'd interested to hear from the people that signed the petition and what your thoughts are on the subsequent media coverage.

You can find the press release at KEEP CHRISTIES - LEECH

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Posted by JLW on Thursday Jun 30, 06:25

John Leech has asked for a guarantee that the Metrolink will be funded.

"Given the Prime Minister's promise during a recent visit to Rochdale in April to deliver Metrolink phase 3, will the Secretary of State now guarantee the necessary money from the transport innovation fund and finally get Metrolink back on track?"

Graham Stringer (Manchester, Blackley, Lab) and Paul Rowen (Rochdale, LDem) also contributed to the debate asking the Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport for assurances about funding of phase one of the Metrolink and that GMPTE won't lose out with the introduction of the national consessionary fare scheme.

Alistar Darling says the position has not changed since his statement on December 16th 2004, and said "Since the hon. Gentleman has raised this issue, I hope, Mr. Speaker, that you will allow me to pay tribute to his predecessor, Keith Bradley, who did an awful lot of work to try to get Metrolink moving along."

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Send John Leech an ePostCard

Posted by JLW on Wednesday Jun 22, 03:17

A new website that allows you to send John Leech an ePostCard has been set up. The website, www.south-manchester.co.uk, is an easy way to ask John Leech to "COME CLEAN ABOUT CHRISTIES", and explain why he has misled people about Christie Hospital's "Closure".

You can also get in touch with your MP at www.writetothem.com, and you may want to sign up for Your Constituency Mailing List.

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Using the Freedom of Information Act to find the truth.

Posted by JLW on Monday Jun 13, 11:23

We have received an email about the petition that the doctors signed:

"I have just used the 'Freedom of Information Act' for the first time. This new law means that any member of the public can obtain a copy of any document that is held by a public body. [As long as this does not effect another person's confidentiality, for example medical records].

It is an excellent way to find out the truth.

The Christie Hospital 'petition of 60 doctors' reported by MEN does not exist. A statement was circulated among the Medical Staff Committee. It did not mention closure or potential closure of the hospital. It has not been signed by any doctors and handed in to any member of the Christie senior staff or the Strategic Health Authority. The Trust have confirmed that there are no signed copies.

Under the terms of the 'Freedom of Information Act' you do not have to know which filing cabinet a document might be in - if there were any signed copies of this anywhere within the Trust I would have been given them under my request.

The Corporate Affairs Director at Christie's, Lyn Evans, was very helpful and responded very promptly to my request. Ian Roads from the Strategic Health Authority, also confirmed that they had not received any signed copies.

The statement that was circulated very rightly discusses how important it is not to dislocate some services, such as critical care, to get the best patient outcomes. The Christie is getting a new critical care unit for £7million which will mean that patients who become critically ill when they are being treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy will not have to be moved to other hospitals.

The Freedom of Information Act is brilliant. The truth is available to all."

You can download the statement circulated to the doctors here: Christie reivew staff statement - Word Document.

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Contact with Shareholders Utd

Posted by JLW on Thursday Jun 09, 15:12

A message on Shareholders United:

I wrote to my new MP on Feb 14th asking him for support in the fight against Glazer. Although I received a quick reply it was just a short note asking what he could do? I mentioned what Keith Bradley had done but was a little fuzzy on the detail. I directed him to speak to the Sports Ministers of each party but also gave him contact addresses for SU and for Oliver Houston, Sean Bones and Nick Towle. I'm disappointed to report that unlike his predecessor who was excellent in keeping in touch when I contacted him about any local issues, I've as yet heard nothing. I was wondering if he's been in touch with any of the people at SU mentioned above.

Has anyone else had any difficulty getting a response from John Leech when they have contacted him? When we have emailed him regarding the site he has got back to us after a couple of days via email although he has still to respond to questions about Christie Hosptial addressed in the emails.

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EDMs John has signed

Posted by JLW on Thursday Jun 09, 09:23

On the excellent Pims website you can keep up to date with the Early Day Motions John Leech has signed. So far the EDMs signed range from concerns about using animal testing for drugs used on humans, rexamining the case for reintroducing small standing areas at football grouds, making St. George's day a public holiday, restoring the national anthem on BBC 1 at the end of the normal day's programming, and perhaps most importantly that Parliament decide whether to deploy British armed forces.

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John Leech won't submit fortnightly column

Posted by JLW on Wednesday Jun 08, 16:29

John Leech has responded to our request that he submit a fortnightly column to the site.

He has declined, saying, "Given that the website has been set up to undermine me in any way it can I have no hesitation in declining your offer. As previously stated I am not prepared to have anything to do with a site which seeks to misrepresent the truth and continues to retain information that the administrator knows to be false."

This site does not seek to misrepresent the truth, and all comments are owned by the person that posted them.

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A Month Later

Posted by JLW on Friday Jun 03, 15:15

It's almost a month since the General Election and today this website has recorded its 5,000^th hit. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to visit the site and who has contributed to the debate. It's clear that there is mounting public interest in local politics here in Manchester Withington.

Clearly everybody has their own view on the tactics John Leech employed during the Election Campaign. Some believe he told tall stories in his election materials, misrepresented Labour's Keith Bradley on his opposition to the Iraq War and, most importantly, sold the public a lie that the Christie Hospital was under threat of closure.

The latter has yet to be justified.

Other people believe John won because of public discontent with Tony Blair, his high-profile publicity campaign and recognition of his work as a City Councillor.

Whatever your opinion, we're delighted that so many people are taking an interest and have a forum within which to exchange views and take an interest in the local political scene.

That can only be good for local democracy.

Above all, whilst comments left on the message board are the sole ownership of the individuals who post them, we are always keen to ensure balance and accuracy.

That's why we have today written to John to invite him to submit his own fortnightly column to this website. This will be produced in full and allow him an opportunity to tell us more about his work.

We're now awaiting a reply from John and hopefully he'll be back in touch shortly.

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John Leech - Constituency Surgeries

Posted by JLW on Tuesday May 31, 18:30

John Leech has now arranged constituency surgery times and they are as follows:

1st	Friday of the month -	Withington Library	3.30 - 4.30pm
2nd	Friday of the month -	Didsbury Library	3.30 - 4.30pm
3rd	Friday of the month -	Chorlton Library	3.30 - 4.30pm
4th	Friday of the month -	Burnage Community Centre	3.30 - 4.30pm

Surgeries start 10th June. It is assumed that Mr Leech will now arrange another set of constituency surgeries to accomodate the majority of his constituents who work 9-5, Mon - Fri.

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South Manchester Reporter - New MP hit by double whammy

Posted by JLW on Sunday May 29, 11:14

Story from the South Manchester Reporter:

"NEW Withington MP John Leech is facing a baptism of fire three weeks after deposing Labour's Keith Bradley.

The Lib Dem's first month in office has already been beset by stinging criticisms about his "ruthless" election strategy - and now he finds himself fighting "a war on two fronts".

The invective has mainly centred around the MP's pre-election claims that Christie Hospital could close under Labour.

The dire warnings were seen as key to Mr Leech's election success but health bosses have since rubbished the idea.

On top of that, the under-fire parliamentarian has also been vilified for keeping his post as a Chorlton Park councillor - he can claim up to £15,000 a year in expenses on top of his MP's salary - while busying himself with the affairs of parliament at the same time."

Full story online at the South Manchester Reporter

Should John Leech continue to be a councillor for Chorlton Park while he is the MP for Manchester Withington? Leave your comments below.

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John Leech makes his maiden speech

Posted by JLW on Thursday May 26, 09:36

Yesterday, John Leech made his maiden Speech in a debate on the economy and welfare reform. To compress it into some bullet points:

• Keith Bradley was forthright with his opinions and "represented his constituents with great determination and gave them 100% of his support"
• Manchester, Withington is the vibrant heart of south Manchester
• Is dissapointed that plans remain for the introduction of identity cards - would rather the money was spent on police officers
• Dismayed to have heard no mention of light rail transport in the Queen's Speech - Metrolink
• Welcomes the proposals to encourage greater participation in elections, but unsure the Government's proposals are what is required
• Welcomes the Government's assurances that they will use the presidency of the G8 to secure progress on tackling poverty in Africa and on climate change
• Just before the election a review of cancer services at Christie Hospital by the strategic health authority could threaten its future - he is delighted that the critical care beds have been approved
• Welcomes the assurance that education remains a top priority

No real suprises there then.

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Christie Hostpital was never going to close

Posted by JLW on Tuesday May 24, 14:20

Despite repeated claims that Christie Hospital was going to close by John Leech, this has now been categorically denied by Neil Goodwin, the chief executive of the authority in an article for the Manchester Evening News.

He said: "We are committed to improving cancer services across Greater Manchester and that includes strengthening the role of the Christie as the region's specialist centre.

"There have been despicable rumours that the Christie would close. This is complete and utter nonsense and wholly irresponsible. The hospital has been, and always will always be, central to our plans for the future of cancer services."

Apparently, medics feared that a three-month review of cancer services would recommend that surgery, leukaemia, critical care and administration should be transferred to the new Manchester Royal Infirmary "super hospital". Today Health Chiefs pledged £7m for critical care facilities to look after cancer patients who become seriously ill after chemotherapy or surgery.

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What is John Leech's Perception of a Brighter Future

Posted by JLW on Sunday May 22, 18:41

Dr David Reilly makes some very interesting points when he talks of John Leech. I would be very interested, genuinely, to know exactly what it is that John has done for the ward and indeed, more importantly, the constituency. What is John's perception of a brighter future? The only information that I received from John in the run up to the election was " Save Christie Hospital" (not under threat!) and how "Tony Blair's Labour Man" (very childish) voted in favour of the war in Iraq; infact he didn't as Hansard and the Public Whips Office proves.

Please post any comments below if you know what John's perception of a brighter future is.

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Leech for the Pie...in the Skies...erm...

Posted by JLW on Tuesday May 17, 20:51

EVERYBODY KNOWS SOMEBODY WHO HAS BEEN HELPED BY JOHN.

This line that appeared so many times in his leaflets that it just had to be true...just like his claims that Christie Hospital is under the threat of closure and that under a Lib Dem Government, the colour 'black' will be rebranded and known as 'white.'

Are you one of the 68,000 voters in the Manchester Withington Constituency who is indebted to John's *help*?

If so, leave a comment below.

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Sworn In

Posted by JLW on Tuesday May 17, 09:02

John Leech took his oath yesterday

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Taking the Oath...

Posted by JLW on Friday May 13, 23:28

John Leech wasn't one of the 470 MPs to take their Oaths yesterday between 2:30pm and 4:03pm, though the oaths are taken in order of seniority. The speaker said "I hope that, by late this afternoon, we will have made sufficient progress to enable all Members to swear in who wish to do so", so I don't really know if that means he could have been sworn in or not - perhaps he was too busy, they ran out of time or he just couldn't be bothered turning up. Suppose it will happen on Monday now.

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John Leech elected MP for Manchester, Withington

Posted by JLW on Friday May 06, 20:35

Results from the election for Manchester Withington
LD gain from LAB

John Leech	(LD)	15,872	(42.37%)
Keith Bradley	(Lab)	15,205	(40.59%)
Karen Bradley	(C)	3,919	(10.46%)
Brian Candeland	(Green)	1,595	(4.26%)
Robert Gutfreund-Walmsley	(UKIP)	424	(1.13%)
Ivan Benett	(Ind)	243	(0.65%)
Yasmin Zalzala	(Ind)	153	(0.41%)
Richard Reed	(TP)	47	(0.13%)

LD Maj 667 (1.78%)

17.33% swing Lab to LD
Electorate 67,781
Turnout 37,458 (55.26%)

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