Unless you live in Wales you will probably never have heard of Winston Roddick, he was recently elected as the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales. He was elected as an Independent which on a personal level is both good news and bad news for me. I am thrilled that an Independent was elected, but disappointed that Richard Hibbs who also stood as an Independent in the same election failed to be elected. Richard and I got to know each other during the campaign and exchanged occasional emails and he is someone who I believe had the residents of North Wales very much at heart.

All is not what it seems with Winston. Like many of us, he was challenged by the public to confirm if elected he would focus on the role of PCC to the exclusion of all other priorities. It is claimed that he said he would, and presumably the salary of £70,000 would help to compensate him for lost income from other sources. The news today is that he has not only reneged on this by continuing as a Barrister, but as this news article makes clear, he was in any case a Lib Dem and not so Independent after all.

My own view is that if someone stands as an Independent, they should be Independent of all Political Parties. I hope that the Lib Dems will have the integrity to remove him from their party membership for the duration of his tenure as PCC. I also hope that any other PCCs who promised to lay down their other roles will not be found to be carrying on with extra curricular activities like Winston.