A week is a long time in politics

A few days I ago I posted a blog about an emerging story concerning Mervyn Barrett OBE and his campaign to become the PCC for Lincolnshire. He was running as an independent. I wrote this previous post on basis of a story in the Telegraph by Andrew Gilligan. Like Mr Gilligan, I may not have had all the facts.

It now seems that an entirely different set of circumstances were in play. It would appear (or should I say 'alleged' - I will need to choose my words carefully) that Mr Barrett's 'campaign manager' was not all that he claimed to be. You can read Mr Barrett's full statement here on Russell Webster's blog:

Official statement of Mervyn Barrett OBE on his withdrawal from Police & Crime Commissioner election in Lincolnshire

Russell is collating follow up stories and Sam Chapman has commented. I am not about to add any further comment about the circumstances.

But I will say one small thing: as I tweeted the other day, we all have the potential to be conned (as it has been alleged he has been etc). And I am sad for Mr Barrett. It is one matter losing lots of money, another realising that you have been taken but it is a whole other ball game for this to have happened so publicly. I hope he bounces back from all this.