James Forsyth James Forsyth

A comic tale with serious undertones

The Joanne Cash affair is the kind of story you couldn’t make up. But once you get beyond the comic details there are a few things worth taking seriously. First, CCHQ has not covered itself in glory during this episode. It was aware of the problem but rather than dealing with it, it attempted to massage the situation. If CCHQ had acted decisively, this problem could have been resolved a fortnight ago without all this publicity and damage to the party. CCHQ’s performance hardly fills one with confidence about whether or not it has done the appropriate due diligence on its candidates all around the country.
 
Second, it is striking how much resentment there is to the Cameron circle even in an association so close to Westminster and Notting Hill. Someone told me this morning that Cash’s habit of talking about ‘Dave’ and ‘Sam’ was what had turned some people against her.
 
Third, being a pregnant candidate isn’t easy. Apparently, some shocking comments were made about pregnant women even before Cash became pregnant. I’m also told that one councillor, when told that Cash was pregnant, commented ‘that being a candidate should be enough’ for her. Anyway, much more on all this in the column tomorrow.

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