CANVEY ISLAND is a small area of reclaimed land, in the Thames Estuary, surrounded by a fifteen mile long concrete seawall. It is located some thirty miles east of London, and around fifteen miles west of Southend-On-Sea, in Essex. It is connected to the mainland via two bridges, which are provided by the B1014, Canvey Road, and the A130, Canvey Way.
In 2003 the island saw the forming of the Canvey Island Independent Party (CIIP), established by Dave Blackwell after the local Labour Party failed to endorse him as their Westminster candidate. Blackwell had been deputy leader of Castle Point Borough Council, of which Canvey Island forms a part, during the eight years of its Labour Administration, beginning in 1995, that ended in financial turmoil and a Conservative landslide at the next local elections.
In 2007, the CIIP launched a successful petition, signed by some three-thousand of Canvey's 40,000 islanders, which led to the UK government granting its inhabitants their own Parish Council - established in 2008. The CIIP fought hard to turn it into a political entity with the assistance of the then local MP, Bob Spink, and was rewarded by gaining ten of its eleven seats.
The moment that the Parish Council was formed, Blackwell set about ordering expensive chains of office; re-designating the tiny Parish entity as a 'Town' Council; and requesting that the old Canvey Urban District Council's coat of arms be transferred to the new body.
The Canvey Beat was established on 6th April 2009, upon strict journalistic lines, in an effort to see if there was still a market for local news; but an early straw-poll of readers asked that the Blog's focus should be directed towards local politics.
During the next two years, the Canvey Beat ran a number of articles exposing Bob Spink's fraudulent office expenses; his hold over Newsquest's local Echo newspaper, which persistently promoted him in their columns, and the relationship between Spink and Blackwell that was specifically designed to divide the Borough into two political camps and hence ensure both's continued re-elections.
Spink was defeated at the polls in 2010 and the Canvey Beat turned its attention to Canvey Island's Town Council, uncovering details of financial waste and revealing how over £2,500, collected on behalf of Veteran Charities, had been re-directed into the Town Council's own bank account.
Whilst the local Echo continued to give precious space to CIIP Press Releases and their manufactured photo opportunities criticising the Borough Council at every opportunity, the Canvey Beat found itself in the unenviable position of having to dispute much of which Blackwell was quoted as saying by Echo reporters. The quotes were undoubtedly true; but Blackwell continually misrepresented the facts.
It was not long before this Blog had all the evidence required to finally announce that the CIIP were serial liars, and, in return, the CIIP stepped-up their local propaganda by branding it as a 'Tory Blog.'
In the 2011 local elections, the CIIP conducted what is perhaps the most cynical, dirty campaign in England's political history to retain their seats. They consistently lied; misrepresented the facts; and sought to discredit anyone (including the Press) whom had the audacity to try and question their plans and policies.
The strategy succeeded.
For 1,500 years, since the fifth century, Canvey Island was predominantly used for sheep rearing. Very little, it seems, has changed. On the first Thursday of May, each year, the island flock is counted - and then it is ceremoniously fleeced shortly afterwards...
