Jonny Keeley, a member of the band Fight the Bear, has been elected to represent Bishop’s Castle and the surrounding villages on Shropshire Council. His majority is 442.
A couple months ago, Charlotte Barnes unfortunately had to stand down as Shropshire Councillor for the Bishop’s Castle division triggering a by-election. Yesterday, a substantial majority of voters supported Jonny as her replacement.
48.83% turnout. 1,414 votes cast.
| Jonny Keeley, Lib Dem | 862 |
| Georgie Ellis, Conservative | 420 |
| Judith Payne, Labour | 95 |
| Steve Hale, Green | 37 |
Congratulations to Jonny and the great Lib Dem team that backed his candidacy. He steps into the role held by two excellent predecessors, Peter Phillips and Charlotte Barnes.
Thanks to Charlotte for the great work she did as a councillor and the work she has done supporting us fellow Lib Dems. I am sure she’ll be back to public life in the future.
The Conservatives ran an error prone campaign. Candidate Georgie Ellis was backed by MP Philip Dunne but I am sure he would not agree with the comment published on the Ludlow Conservative website: “Sadly the LibDems don’t seem to be able to stay the course.” This ill-informed statement was widely derided in the press. Peter Phillips held Bishop’s Castle for more than 20 years and Charlotte only stepped down under overwhelming personal pressures. Ellis also claimed to be a member of the development committee of Enterprise South West, a role she stepped down from a while ago.
It is no suprise that Jonny stormed into the seat. He is such a decent guy. He has Charlotte’s air of confidence and I am sure he will be just as popular in Bishop’s Castle. Jonny is going to be a great asset on Shropshire Council.