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UK: Cannabis found in Tory HQ garden

The BBC

Tuesday 11 Jun 2002

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Conservatives in Wales have been pleading their innocence after cannabis
was found growing in the grounds of their Cardiff headquarters.

The young plant was found growing in a flower bed at the premises in the
Whitchurch area of the city.

Party workers said they believed the Tory HQ gardens had been chosen for
their secluded nature, and did not think the cannabis had been planted as a
political prank.

A party spokesman said: "We have not got a clue how it got there."

"As it was quite close to the main road the suspicion must be someone
thought it would be a very safe place to plant it."

Embarrassing find

The cannabis was discovered by a party worker who had formerly been a
police officer.

Staff destroyed the plant and informed the police of the find.

Nick Bourne, Conservative leader in the Welsh Assembly admitted there was
"an amusing side" to the discovery but insisted it was a serious matter.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4, he said: "When our gardeners at our headquarters
in Cardiff identified these as suspicious plants and thought they might be
cannabis our director ... called the police in immediately."

"These plants apparently - and I didn't know until this morning that this
story was true - were planted in a secluded part of the garden," he added.

"The police have advised other people with large grounds in the area to
check under all their trees and in their herbaceous borders to see if there
are suspicious plants there.

"I don't suppose for a minute that it is a Conservative member."

Cannabis has proved to be controversial for the Tories in recent years.

In 2000, a proposal by the then shadow Home Secretary Ann Widdecombe for
on-the-spot fines for cannabis use backfired.

It prompted confessions from a string of senior Conservatives who admitted
to experimenting with the drug in their youth.

In July 2001, former deputy Conservative leader Peter Lilley called for the
drug to be legalised, claiming the existing law was "unenforceable and
indefensible".

 

 

 

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