Well, well, well. After months of dodging questions about his former past killing wildlife, it turns out that Wiltshire’s Conservative candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathon Seed was ineligible to stand anyway. Just two days AFTER the elections took place, and one day before votes were counted, we now discover that Mr Seed was disbarred from standing because he has a criminal conviction for drink driving. Could Mr Seed be any more of a caricature: entitled, arrogant, pro-hunt, and apparently dishonest too…If he stood as a candidate and went through the election process knowing he shouldn’t have, then he has perhaps committed electoral fraud as well.

How prescient the posters that appeared across Wiltshire now appear. Just how much due diligence was done by the local Conservative party when they backed an unsuitable candidate like Mr Seed to run policing in Wiltshire? Or perhaps they’ve been in power so long they’ve stopped caring?

In the quote below Mr Seed says he plans to continue serving as a local councillor! Let’s add breath-taking contempt for local residents to the above list then. Democracy – and Wiltshire – deserves better than this.

Apparently Wiltshire’s PCC election will now have to take place again. Local taxpayers will no doubt foot the bill, polling station staff will have to make themselves available again, and local residents will have to make an extra journey to a polling station to vote again – not before we have had an opportunity to question or investigate any new candidate put forward though. Without that opportunity how could any election be fair if we don’t know who we’re voting for (though given the bizarre circumstances surrounding this election, how much did we really know anyway?).

A candidate running to be Wiltshire’s next Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has been disbarred after a historical driving offence emerged.

Jonathon Seed was the Conservative Party’s candidate to replace fellow Tory Angus Macpherson.

A party spokesperson confirmed Mr Seed had been disbarred, while Mr Seed told the BBC he had withdrawn himself.

Vote counting for the PCC post is due to start in Salisbury at 10:00 GMT on Monday and is set to go ahead.

If Mr Seed wins the vote, another election will need to be held.

A Conservative spokesperson said the central party was unaware of the offence until a couple of days ago.

But they were unable to rule out that someone more locally might have said that it would not have been a problem for Mr Seed to stand.

They said: “Due to a historic driving offence that has come to light, the candidate has been disbarred from becoming the police and crime commissioner.”

Mr Seed, a Wiltshire councillor, said he had been advised by his party that a 30-year-old drink driving offence would not affect his application and that he had believed he was eligible.

He said he withdrew his candidacy earlier on Sunday.

Mr Seed said he was “bitterly disappointed” that he will now no longer be able to take up the post if he wins the vote and wished Mr Macpherson’s eventual replacement “every success in the role”.

“I will continue with my work as a local councillor and within the local community, to which I have dedicated my life for the past 20 years,” he said.

BBC News (Wiltshire), Jonathon Seed: Conservative PCC candidate barred after offence emerges, 09 May 21