Vanity Mirrors

Huge row as giant 2,000-acre solar farm to be built overlooking King Charles's Highgrove

James Gray, the Conservative MP for North Wiltshire, opposes the plans.

On his website he said: "Of the ten largest solar parks in England, eight are in our beloved county...We have 42 operational solar farms with a further 12 under planning or construction, nearly all in the north of the county.

"They cover 3,000 acres, which is more than any other county in England...

"And now we have an absolutely outrageous application for vast new solar parks under the misleadingly rustic title 'Lime Down Solar Park'.

"It will be 2,000 acres of vanity mirrors stretching from Luckington to Malmesbury, from Sherston to Hullavington, from the M4 to Corston.

They aren't mirrors of course, and they aren't being planned out of vanity, but it's an excellent way to describe them. 

Mr Gray seems to have a solid record of voting against this kind of nonsense, but it doesn't appear to have had any effect on stopping the rot. I'd have voted for him, but it would have ended up as a Conservative vote, not a conservative vote.

Apart from the vanity mirrors issue, this story does highlight a conservative voter's dilemma. Do I still vote for a decent individual who is a member of a failed party?