We quote from a Press release from Rotherham Labour Group:
“Councillor Akhtar also expressed his disappointment that Anston and Woodsetts Councillor Darren Hughes narrowly lost his seat saying “Darren had been a great servant to his ward and made an important contribution in the Town Hall. He was on the receiving end of a very bitter and negative campaign which sadly proved successful. I have no doubt that he will continue to play a valuable role in the life of Rotherham.”
The only important contribution we can think of, was champagne!
Press release can be read in full here. Full result here.
Rotherham Politics 
A Rovrum Laybah Grooip spokesman said: “Ah’d like ta thank Brother Dellboy Turncoyt fa teeachin iz bruvvaz n sistaz in Grooip abart that fancy French booiz wot’s called champaz, it’s rayt gud n’t bubbulz gets rayt up thi nooiz, just like all t’ active n empowered citizens wots allus askin us kweshchuns and gobbin off that weer all in it fo wot wi can get art ov it, reight, rayt, right” ….
Cheers to ivvreeone, including the Corn Fed Grunters, Muppets and Clowns … we’re a watchin n a listenin … ho ho ho, he he he, hum hum hum 🙂
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Surely you are taking Zee piss sir, I understand from my mother who lives in Woodsetts that Cllr Hughes was a huge help to her when she had a housing issue. She tells me that he was very popular in the area. The fact he lost the election is neither or there, that’s just democracy.
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Re Jahangir Akhtar’s comment – Great servant to the Ward? Great servant to himself more like.
Darren Hughes had a great reputation in this Ward for NOT getting back to people.There was no bitter campaign just the truth. There again Jahangir Akhtar has to say these things to justify their only loss in Rotherham.
Over and out – Anston resident.
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I would like to know what Councillor Akhtar means by a “very bitter and negative campaign” because all the literature I received from Councillor Hughes and other candidates, as a Woodsetts resident, were not bitter in any way. Negative, yes as he was elected as a Conservative candidate and voters have remembered this. I do accept that he did some very good work for our village and was very supportive of voluntary groups here but he also upset an awful lot of residents with his support of the Faith School development at Dinnington. I believe it was an inevitable result.
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Mr Fletcher, may I take the literary opportunity to paraphrase your viewpoint thus:
“Cllr Delboy Turncoyt bit the hand of the electorate who put him there in the first place when he became a double-agent, and the Anston & Woodsetts electorate then bit back with devastating, but wholly predictable political results”.
Motto: You can kid some of the people all of the time, but you can’t kid all of the people all of the time, ho ho ho, he he he 🙂
Nice one, Anston & Woodsetts peeps, really really nice one 🙂
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Having just come back from holiday and Goggled my friend Darren Hughes election results, I came across your site. After looking through your site I can not believe how you have demonised and called into question his character, this of a man you clearly don’t know and have probably never met. Some of the vindictive comments from individuals are childish and without merit. Having looked through your site I see there are no comments from Darren himself and that most of your opinions are clearly without fact or clarification. Anyone who knows Darren, and I have known him for many years, knows that he is the absolute opposite of what you make him out to be. This is a man who gives his time freely; works voluntarily for many charities privately and through his membership of Rotary International helps many local needy causes. He raises thousands of pounds a year for charity and in 2009 took time out from his business to give four months full time unpaid work ensuring the survival of a Rotherham charity that had fallen on hard times. He has been a leading advocate for equality and worked on many gay rights campaigns. He may be a petrol head and likes his motors/bikes but he has worked extremely hard to enjoy his successes having come from a poor background. To make suggestions that he is a dodgy dealing charlatan (Del boy) is completed unfounded and should be withdrawn from your site. By all means you are entitled within the law to your opinions, but your attempts to assassinate his character are outrageous. Given that the majority of Councillors in the UK are retired I would have thought that you would welcome someone younger with his level of experience and commitment who can and does give a lot back to his local community. It’s clear from the childish comments and name calling that the underlying issue is that he changed political parties half way through his term, a decision you clearly don’t agree with. This does not however justify the comments on your site and the people who comment (lynch mob) should be ashamed of themselves.
Richard Warrington.
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People having an opinion is ‘lynch mobbing’?? And I thought I was the loony!
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I have to agree with RW’s comments wholeheartedly, the Darren that has been described to me by people who he has helped is certainly not the man portrayed by some people on this site. Some of the comments about him are purely infantile.
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Maybe Darren needs more “friends” like RW and “A”, cos he clearly didn’t find enough on election night, oh dear how sad, never mind the people have spoken.
He can now devote more time to his good charity works and his extensive business interests. He’ll be missed at Rovrum Laybah Grooip I’ve every confidence.
He can now get out more and make more “friends” 🙂
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I live in Anston and have not met Darren, I read his election leaflet and Clive Jepson’s, however the deciding factors for me were his lack of commitment to what affects Anston residents (or lack of interest) i.e. what’s his take on the A57, the support of the school to be built on Green Belt land – there’s enough land without having to do this. Littering the village with election signs (a note of desperation??) However in the end the letter sent to my son persuading him to vote for Darren – he’s not even 18!!!! – was the final straw for me to say no. I don’t know Clive either, but he is a local guy with local issues at heart. @ Richard, some people do have a view without a lynch mob.
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Donna – I think you misunderstood what RW was saying, he wasn’t having a go at people for not voting for Darren but the personal attacks about his apparent wealth, living in Catcliff and other silly inconsequential things that didn’t have any bearing on his ability or commitment to the area he represented. You of coarse and quite rightly made your mind up in a very rationale and methodical way based on the election leaflets of the 2 main protagonists and voted accordingly. I believe most politicians go in to public life for the benefit of the community they wish to represent and it demeans us all when some people resort to personal attacks rather than scrutinising the decisions they take on our behalf. Don’t want to offend anyone but just my thoughts.
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Whilst i have to agree with comments made against attacking Mr Hughes personally I would also like to agree with Donna. Whilst Mr Hughes charity work is no doubt admiral his lack of presence within the ward he was elected in is notable. I believe Mr Hughes was voted in and out not due to his change in political affiliation but simply due to a lack of action within the
ward and a failure to deliver consistently on his
promises. I see no relevance in his supposed
affluence to the discussion however would have to disagree with Mr Warringtons comments that Mr Hughes is from a poor background? I’ve always been led to believe from the man himself that his parents are aristocrats and whilst this is largely irrelevant to his professional capabilities is does
beg the questions as to whom is telling the truth………..
his parents are aristocrats
to disagree with Mr
My 17 year old son also received a letter encouraging him to vote
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Whilst i have to agree with comments made against attacking Mr Hughes personally I would also like to agree with Donna. Whilst Mr Hughes charity work is no doubt admiral his lack of presence within the ward he was elected in is notable. I believe Mr Hughes was voted in and out not due to his change in political affiliation but simply due to a lack of action within the
ward and a failure to deliver consistently on his
promises. I see no relevance in his supposed
affluence to the discussion however would have to disagree with Mr Warringtons comments that Mr Hughes is from a poor background? I’ve always been led to believe from the man himself that his parents are aristocrats and whilst this is largely irrelevant to his professional capabilities is does
beg the questions as to whom is telling the truth………..
his parents are aristocrats
to disagree with Mr
My 17 year old son also received a letter encouraging him to vote
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Whilst i have to agree with comments made against attacking Mr Hughes personally I would also like to agree with Donna. Whilst Mr Hughes charity work is no doubt admiral his lack of presence within the ward he was elected in is notable. I believe Mr Hughes was voted in and out not due to his change in political affiliation but simply due to a lack of action within the
ward and a failure to deliver consistently on his
promises. I see no relevance in his supposed
affluence to the discussion however would have to disagree with Mr Warringtons comments that Mr Hughes is from a poor background? I’ve always been led to believe from the man himself that his parents are aristocrats and whilst this is
largely irrelevant to his professional capabilities
it does however beg the questions as to whom is being told the truth and why the discrepancy…
My 17 year old son also received a letter dencouraging him to vote
being told the truth telling the truth………..
his parents are aristocrats
to disagree with Mr
My 17 year old son also received a letter encouraging him to vote
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Adam, you obviously don’t follow the politics of RMBC. If you believe that most politicians go into public life for the benefit of the community, you have never scrutinised the antics of the likes of Stone, Smith, St John and the rest of the politburo in Rotherham. They are only in it to stuff their fat pockets with our money. £12,500 each before they start, then the bonuses for the cabinet members etc. The days you are talking about in Rotherham, when no allowances were claimed, are well gone, decades ago.
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Mr Fletcher, I fear your analysis is sadly entirely correct in respect of those who are elected to RMBC public office and then receive remuneration far in excess of that received by City of Sheffield councillors. Yes, that’s a financial FACT, not an opinion.
I have obtained via FOI, and previously provided to Rotherham Politics, the Gifts and Hospitality Register for RMBC Councillors. This is a public document which readers can access via this website, and contained within it is a gift, and many others, of a £240 Cyclops speed detector given to Cllr Roger Stone by Rotherham businessman Nick Cragg. The Leader’s list is embarrassingly extensive. FACT not opinion.
The very same businessman who has sat on the so-called RMBC Independent Remuneration Panel which recommended that Cllr Stone should be given even more public money that he currently gets!!!! FACT not fiction or opinion.
I do not believe for one moment that such politicians are active in politics for the good of me and my family and my town – they are having so much fun junketing and wining and dining and watching local sporting fixtures with gifts of tickets that they are just too busy to bother themselves with the interests, concerns and aspirations of ordinary Rotherham citizens.
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I can confirm that Darrens parents are not Aristocrats, and in fact was brought on a council estate in Sheffield. I have only commented on here once before, however have read most articles with interest. People who put themselves out in the public domain will always come in for some uncalled for comments, thats just the nature of the beast.
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Didn’t you know, Darren’s says his uncle is The Duke of Norfolk and his family had a private bank in Sheffield etc etc! And yes I have met him, often, If the comments re his poor background are correct, then he is a very sad individual to deny such things. The names Walter and Mitty come to mind. And NO he did not follow things through.
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How about his yacht? Is that a fantasy too!
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Some of the comments on here about Darren are sounding very much like a witch hunt. I have no prob with scrutiny of any elected official and quite rightly we should hold all our representatives to account for any decisions they make on our behalf but it is taking the proverbial Michael with the level of criticism being aimed at Darren on here and even now that he has lost his seat. To my knowledge he has accepted the electorates decision with grace and dignity. So I would respectfully request that we leave the man alone.
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The real Darren Hughes is now being revealed. Found out by us for being an ambitious fool, anxious to impress and trying to buy his way up the greasy pole.
More ambition than ability he jumped ship and joined the socialists! Showing little in the way of loyalty, this came as no surprise to us.
I dare say that there were many in his new party who had difficulty accepting his Damascene conversion to socialism. We only realised his background was suspect when we compared notes, claims to nobility, false as it turns out his background was more prosaic, claims to “have a yacht,” also turned out to be false. To use an old Yorkshire expression, he was a bit of a romancer.
The people of Anston & Woodsetts have rejected him, not unsurprising to those plugged in to local opinion and we very much hope we have heard the last of this deeply flawed man.
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He does have a yacht based in grimsby i believe
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I’m sure he told me it was at Hull?
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Think we get the gist!
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