I have long found it interesting that I was so easily able to convince liberal people of my opinions. Unless they were the rare close-minded liberal, I was normally able to explain my point of view and come to an agreement.

Equally interestingly, I often had trouble relating to so-called Conservatives who it seemed were entrenched in their opinion and were irreconcilably wrong. I have slowly come to realise, of course, that there’s often no right or wrong answer (clichés like that sound so much less trite if you believe the underlying sentiment).

If I’m totally honest, I sometimes wondered whether those Conservatives who did not agree with me were just a little stupid (in some cases I was right about that, but that’s not the point of this note).

But reasonably recently I realised that there was an alternative explanation. The world was not full of Conservatives who did not agree with me and liberals who did because I was an unusually liberal Conservative, rather it was because I am at heart more liberal than most Conservatives.

I posted letters yesterday by first class to the appropriate people to explain why I am leaving the Conservative Party and so will no longer be a Conservative Councillor. From this moment I shall refer to myself as Independent until the party I am joining have officially accepted my application for membership.