Where is David Warburton?

What has happened to the MP for Somerton & Frome? We investigate.

LC special issue 2

4 October 2022

The populace of Somerton & Frome are agitated. In fact they are now agitating. The cause of the angst being expressed is that they have not had an MP able to represent them since April 2022. On the 2 April an article in The Times by Gabriel Pogrund accused him of a number of misdemeanours. These are now subject to three separate Parliamentary Enquiries. Of which more later.

At this point however I must once again declare an interest. David Warburton has been a friend of The Leveller® and a supporter of the paper for many years. You will therefore have to consider if what follows is biased.

Mr Warburton is the MP for Somerton & Frome (shown in red in the map below). He was first elected to the constituency in 2015 for the Conservatives. He has been returned, as a Conservative MP, in each of the last three general elections. In 2019 he received 36,230 votes which was 55% of all the votes cast.

But however large the majority, if an MP is not able to represent his constituents, they are going to feel aggrieved.

Scott Ward certainly feels aggrieved. The Frome resident has started a ‘Finding David’ campaign. A website and petition advocates for Mr Warburton to stand down and allow a by-election to be called. Mr Ward is a former Frome Town Councillor. The petition has already attracted 1,810 signatures and can be viewed here

Mr Ward says he has voted in the past for the Labour, Lib Dem and Green Party. He adds that he believes that the decisions made by Mr Warburton have, for the most part, not been in the interest of the residents, businesses and natural landscapes of Somerton & Frome.

Separately, last week Sean Dromgoole, Chair of the Labour Party of Somerton & Frome wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsey Hoyle. In his letter he says “We, the constituents of Somerton and Frome, have not been represented for 6 months.