Brothers fall out over claims in election leaflet

TWO brothers are at loggerheads over an election leaflet in which one was branded a '˜bully'.
Geoff FazackarleyGeoff Fazackarley
Geoff Fazackarley

Jason Fazackarley, a former Portsmouth city councillor says piece of election propaganda written by his brother, Geoff, a Hampshire County Council election candidate is ‘a slur upon his own family’.

The short piece – which has been distributed to homes across Portchester – was part of a Tory leaflet for constituents in the build-up to May’s council elections.

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Geoff, currently a Fareham borough councillor who is the Tory candidate for the Portchester seat on the county elections, says he stands by the piece and that his brother was deliberately trying to discredit him ahead of the elections.

Jason FazackarleyJason Fazackarley
Jason Fazackarley

Geoff Fazackarley was formerly a Lib Dem councillor in Fareham who moved to the Tories.

Jason was originally a Labour councillor in Portsmouth who became an independent and then joined the Lib Dems. He lost his seat in 2014. He is also a former Lord Mayor of Portsmouth.

In the piece, Geoff claims that he was born in the back of a butcher’s van on the way to hospital, that his mother was unable to walk through arthritis, that Jason, 54, bullied him and that he spent time living on the streets.

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In response to the leaflet, Jason said: ‘What he’s produced here is nonsense.

Jason FazackarleyJason Fazackarley
Jason Fazackarley

‘I have not had much contact with my brother for 30 years but I feel I have got to speak due to my sheer anger at the series of allegations he has made.’

He stated that Geoff, 50, had been born at St Mary’s Hospital, that the comments regarding their parents were ‘utter nonsense’, that he had exaggerated his homelessness and that the claims he bullied him were not supported by evidence.

Jason wrote to all of the councillors on Fareham Borough Council after he received the leaflet.

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He said: ‘There was no political reason for writing to them or getting involved in this and I fully appreciate that it is not unusual for politicians to make claims in their political literature that are less than air-tight but in my opinion to denigrate one’s family is deplorable.’

Geoff – who is to be the new mayor of Fareham from next month – said: ‘I completely stand by what was said in the leaflet.

‘It was my opinion and it was my view on my life.’

He said that Jason’s comments sprang from animosity between the brothers since they were children.

‘I think he is now working with the Liberal Democrats because they are worried that I am doing so well in Portchester,’ Geoff added.

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In response to the claims, Councillor Roger Price, current Hampshire county councillor for Portchester and leader of Fareham Lib Dems said he did not wish to comment on the dispute.

However, in relation to Cllr Fazackarley’s thoughts on the election, he said: ‘As far as the election is concerned there is no way that he can say that he is running away with it in Portchester.’

Cllr Geoff Fazackarley joined the Tories in acrimonious fashion in 2014 after becoming disheartened with what he called the Lib Dems’ ‘weak policies and culture of bullying’.