As the results of the local elections continue to roll in, the Liberal Democrats look set to make promising gains across the country. But for one newly-elected Lib Dem councillor, yesterday’s vote has left him seeing double. Sitting Salford Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Twells has accidentally won a second seat more than 160 miles away from his first in the Gloucestershire ward of Tetbury with Upton.
The double whammy win occurred after Twells agreed to be a ‘paper candidate’ to help out the local Lib Dems who were struggling to find a candidate to nominate. Twells’ two-timing first came to light in April when the Labour mayor of Salford Paul Dennett wrote to Twells to express his ‘shock’ at his decision to stand for another seat. In what has turned out to be a case of famous last words, Salford local party leader Alex Warren said of Twells’ nomination at the time, ‘He will not win.
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