By-elections
Been away for a week, so not been following the discussions about the by-elections going on below. Nonwithstanding my disappointment that the party has once again managed to select male candidates in by-elections, I’m sure that both Phil Wilson in Sedgefield and Virendra Sharma in Ealing Southall will make excellent Labour MPs.
Contrast this with the unhappiness of Tories with their candidate and their part’s strategy over at Conservative Home:
“Are there no suitable local candidates?”
“We will come a poor third in both of the by elections. Our record in parliamentary by-elections is appalling.”
“I do object to the party selecting candidates for by-elections in this way.”
“I wish him well, but doubt that we are even going to come close here.”
Update, slightly off topic: just wandered over to Labour Home, not something I do that often, and was chuffed to find out that not only has my friend Kirsty McNeill been selected to fight Bermondsey and Old Southwark again, but that Nancy Platts, who I know from Fawcett’s trustee board, has been selected in Brighton Pavilion. Fantastic news - two more wonderful Labour women.
Since when have comments on ConservativeHome been representative of grassroots feeling?!?! And the comments you cite are not those I’ve heard from our workers - and I’ve been in the constituency (at all ends) three times this week.
The Labour campaign is non existant - about the only publicity about your lot is local newspaper coverage of the failure to select the (female) leader of the Labour group on the council. No doubt once again your party is taking a seat for granted (indeed one Labour supporter shouted at our megaphone car for daring to go and campaign to voters she regarded as automatically Labour’s). But it’ll be some consolation that the Fib Dems are near invisible.
“The Labour campaign is non existant - about the only publicity about your lot is local newspaper coverage of the failure to select the (female) leader of the Labour group on the council. No doubt once again your party is taking a seat for granted (indeed one Labour supporter shouted at our megaphone car for daring to go and campaign to voters she regarded as automatically Labour’s). But it’ll be some consolation that the Fib Dems are near invisible. ”
The funny thing about this Southall campaign is that people campaigning there seem to have different perceptions on what it’s going on (some saying no Lab activities…I read others claiming to have seen Con and Lab and no LD…others who have seen Con and LD and no Lab and so on). Being such a diverse constituency, it can depend on what areas said people have visited.
This morning I was in the Ealing half again and the momentum is very clearly in the blue corner. Meanwhile Labour took a further pasting on the Southall side as five councillors left the party and joined the Conservatives.
I did see a few Labour activists standing opposite the town hall by the cinema. They were immediately below the sign saying “Die Hard”…