John Mann MP continues on his mission to alienate the voters of Retford.

First, as I reported a week or so ago, he claimed to be the MP for Retford, when in fact, until the boundary changes come into effect, the MP for Retford is Patrick Mercer. He apologised for that in the Retford Times.

Now he has some more apologising to do. In his recent attempt to woo Retford voters, he distributed a pamphlet with the usual self-serving claptrap, mainly suggesting that Retford was a second class town which would benefit from his expertise.

To round off his pitch, the pamphlet concluded with a couple of photos contrasting the market place with a shot of the Clinton Arms, in an area he describes as ‘a neglected backwater’.

The Retford businessman who had recently purchased the  Clinton Arms for £160,000 and is in the process of spending another £40,000 turning it into a retail establishment to compliment the one he owns on the opposite side of the street was less than delighted when he spied the above photograph. He, understandably, went nuclear. Having invested £200,000 in an area he believes to have great potential, he sees it described as ‘a neglected backwater’ by Mann.

And just yesterday, when I went to photograph the area (for future use) I was approached by the landlord and the occupier of the house next door to the Clinton Arms, who were also enraged that a nice house was being ‘classed as a slum’ by Mann.

So there are at least 3 voters who won’t be putting their crosses against Mann’s name.

He claims to be ‘A different kind of MP’.

I can’t argue with that.

And neither would the majority of decent, hard working MPs who would not care to be associated with Mann or his behaviour.