THERE’S been shock and surprise that Redditch County Councillor Juliet Brunner has not been selected to defend her Arrow Valley East seat in the forthcoming local elections by her local Conservative party.
Coun Brunner, who also represents Matchborough on the borough council, is the current vice-chairman of Worcestershire County Council and, had she been selected and had retained the seat, would have become the first woman from Redditch to chair the county.
As a borough councillor she was a popular mayor of the town.
Coun Brunner shares the Arrow Valley East seat with Coun Tom Baker-Price, and he too failed to get selected to fight the seat on Thursday, May 6.
Instead they will be contested by Councillor Matt Dormer, the Leader of Redditch Borough Council, and a previous critic of the county council, and Joanne Monk.
And while Coun Brunner was staying tight-lipped, Coun Baker-Price said: “It’s how politics go – members have made their choice and I’m not bitter about it and I’m not giving up on politics.
“Someone said all political careers end in disaster and in life you get a lot of setbacks but I’m not going to let this stand in my way.”
Coun Dormer said: “Juliet is a very good borough councillor and I have no reason to believe she isn’t the same at county level, but we had a lot of good applicants coming through.
“Tom is very talented and articulate and he just missed out.
“As for me standing, I think Redditch has been neglected in the past by county and I want to get in their to fight for our fair share and I only hope I can get elected to do just that.”
