Billy C. Mumford / Billy CMumford
Cleobury Mortimer is a small market town nestling in the rolling countryside beneath the Clee Hills in South Shropshire. Passing through this town no-one would notice the simmering discontent or smell the stench of political corruption, but this account written by a local shop-keeper, depicts a decade when a pleasant community that was prosperous, friendly and vibrant, was turned into a declining community with warring factions. The shop is an ’old fashioned’ ironmonger’s similar to that depicted in the Two Ronnies sketch ’Four candles/fork handles’ and it is from the vantage point of this shop’s steps that enabled the passage of local political events to be observed with close scrutiny. It is the observation of how the negative influences from the style of modern politics in Government introduced by New Labour in 1997, and a more liberal society, filtered across the country to Shropshire Council, which in turn had an impact on our own community through corrupt local politics and propaganda. Not satisfied there, the destructive force moved into the neighbouring parish of Neen Savage . . . . . . This account combines the impact of high-profile public scandals with lots of twists and turns to suggest that, although most people do not give a monkey’s about politics, we are in much different times and a wake-up call might just focus the mind a little to encourage an influence or even just an interest, in the conduct of our communities and those around us.
