Wednesday June 14 | 2017
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FINAL COUNTDOWN FOR BBC 500 WORDS ENTRANT EMILY HOLGATE Page 19
NEW TONBRIDGE HEAD VOWS TO CARRY ON GREAT TRADITIONS IN 2018 Page 3
CONTINUE THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS AT GROOMBRIDGE’S JOY FESTIVAL Page 58
YOUNG RUGBY FAN HAS THE TIME OF HIS LIFE AT TWICKENHAM Page 2
UKIP demise boosts main parties’ vote INSIDE Tugendhat is runaway winner but raises concerns over DUP deal
By Murray Jones
murray@timesoftonbridge.co.uk LABOUR last week enjoyed its best election result in Tonbridge and Malling in 20 years with the party picking up an extra 5,000 votes, an increase of 71 per cent over the 2015 figure. But it was nowhere near enough to threaten the sitting Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat who was returned to parliament with an increased share of the overall vote of 63 per cent. The swelling of support for both the main parties can largely be attributed to the implosion of UKIP – who came in
second place at the last General Election with 8,153 votes. This time around they achieved less than a quarter of that, finishing last with just 3.3 per cent of the
‘We didn’t have a good campaign; that is plain to see’ vote share. The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party came in third and fourth respectively. Turnout was 73.7 per cent. The strong and
stable Conservative leadership that Mr Tugendhat campaigned on has not been achieved as the party failed to retain a majority in the House of Commons. Despite this, Mr Tugendhat told the Times that Theresa May still ‘has a mandate to govern’, pointing to the fact that she received a higher vote share than former PM John Major and a greater number of total votes than Tony Blair in 1997. Although he conceded that ‘we didn’t have a good campaign; that is plain to see’. He claimed that ‘it is far too early to tell’ if she is ‘a
dead woman walking’ as ex-Chancellor George Osborne claimed on Sunday. May’s authority during Brexit negotiations would not be significantly hindered by the result, he argued: “EU leaders will respect that she is the PM.” However, despite his backing of the Prime Minister the proposed deal with the Democratic Unionist Party [DUP] ‘certainly throws up some questions’. “Three questions I have already put out: One, the implication for the Northern Ireland peace process and neutrality of the UK government. Two, equality in the UK and three the
Huge line-up of sporting tasters for women in Tonbridge Page 63
PICNIC OF THE WEEK
All you need to know about outdoor gourmet dining Page 46
Continued on page 2
A true Yankee Doodle Dandy
NEW CONNECTIONS: Martin Graetz (left) and Mayor Roger Dalton
THIS GIRL CAN
NEARLY 100 Morris Dancers descended on Tonbridge on Sunday [June 11] but one in particular drew the attention of the town’s Mayor. Octogenarian Martin Graetz came all the way from Acton, Massachusetts to participate in the 65th anniversary of the formation of The Hartley Morris Men. In his younger days, Mr Graetz lived in the UK and quickly developed a love for all things British, particularly cricket and Morris dancing – a tradition that dates back to the 15th Century. He performed a solo dance on the Castle Lawn before having a long chat with Mayor Roger Dalton, where they discussed the tradition of Morris dancers in Massachusetts as well as the potential for a Mayor-led cricket team to play in the US. Mr Graetz was the co-creator of one of the most influential video games of all time – developing ‘Spacewar!’ in 1962 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology[MIT].
DANCE WITH DANGER James Bond meets the ballet at Trinity Theatre Page 60
GENEROUS LOANER
The Charity Bank boosts lending in aid of good causes Page 8