Stooping to be Conquered
May 20th, 2008
(From the left: Cllr Graham Cherry, RB and Cllr Dave Sammels)
I have now recovered after a day at the Crewe and Nantwich By-election on Saturday. Joined by Cllrs Dave Sammels and Graham Cherry, we set off at a fairly early hour to get in a day’s campaigning. We were amongst over 500 Conservatives who had descended upon the unsuspecting residents, stirring up apathy as we went! I had left a none-too-convinced Sian wondering what it is about me that would inspire a 400 mile round trip to Cheshire on the day of the FA Cup Final.
Firstly, although I have worked in Cardiff for the last ten years, at no time have I been a Cardiff City supporter. This does not mean that I wished them ill in their endeavour last week, but my conscience did not allow me to become a sudden and fair weather City supporter. I know that true City fans and former players such as my good friend Phil Dwyer respect my position!
Secondly, I could not resist the prospect of playing a small part in the most significant by-election in recent political history. What of the last time we gained a seat from Labour at a by-election? Mitcham and Morden took place at the edge of my political consciousness, when the SDP was making headlines and when Labour was in collapse during the Michael Foot years. If I remember rightly, the sitting Labour MP had joined the SDP and put himself up for re-election - a noble gesture from another century that led to his political doom. It led to the election of Dame Angela Rumbold, as she later became, who used to send me rather nice letters when she was in charge of Parliamentary Candidates in the mid 1990s.
What about Darlington in 1983? Ossie O’Brien scraped home for Labour only a few months before their June wipe-out. This result created a misplaced air of confidence within the Labour Party. Michael Foot invoked the “Spirit of Darlington”, but unlike the Spirit of St. Louis, it quickly had to ditch in open sea. Poor Mr. O’Brien only had time to attend a few debates before being given his marching orders in the General Election.
The massive swings to opposition parties in by-elections before 1992 did not presage any great shift of allegiance, but the truly dreadful results for the Conservatives in the mid 1990’s (mine at Islwyn, for example!) heralded the end of an era. By the end of it all, it was almost a case of having to drag “volunteers” kicking and screaming into by-election selections.
Since then, by-elections have frankly been a complete bore - and then came Crewe. The decision to hold the election so quickly after the unexpected death of Gwyneth Dunwoody seemed like indecent haste to many. This issue was raised with me during my Saturday morning session in east Crewe. Secondly, the by now well-documented nature of Labour’s negative campaign has set the teeth of many residents on edge.
Not only is it an unpleasant throwback to a bygone age, but it also makes certain assumptions about the local electorate that I would find deeply insulting. Labour’s use of fictional (and now deceased) characters from Coronation Street to prop up their failing campaign, plus the lack of text in many of their leaflets suggests to me that they don’t rate the intelligence of local people very highly. From my encounters last weekend, they are making a huge mistake. They also assume a certain mean-spiritedness on the part of Crewe residents that just isn’t there.
I was pleased to see a positive campaign from the Conservatives, with proper criticism of Labour POLICY. Labour’s double standards are shining through in this nasty campaign. The Labour candidate is hardly from an impoverished background. She was the former Welsh Assembly Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire - a place with which I had a strong political association. Her grandmother was a peer. She is listed in Burke’s. Pots and kettles, quite frankly.
The worst moment in this campaign, however, was a puerile attempt by people who have no understanding or appreciation of the criminal justice system to portray Mr. Timpson, the Tory candidate, as the paedophile’s friend, just because he may have represented some of them in Court. That’s me scuppered, then! Perhaps I should not be surprised, bearing in mind how much this lot seem to hate the justice system and outdated notions such as the right to Trial By Jury.
I know that many residents are getting fed up of literature and canvassing, but the publicity has been good for the area. One happy elector said that he hadn’t seen any canvassers for forty years! We did meet a few Labour activists; a few cheery “hellos” and an offer to swap leaflets was a pleasant contrast to the ugly side of the campaign.
My best wishes to my fellow barrister and former member of Circuit, Edward Timpson; here’s hoping for a famous victory on Thursday.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:34 am
On Newsnight last night it was very amusing watching Dunwoody squirm like a fish on the end of a line as Paxman laid into her over this.
Dunwoody may be in Burke’s - but Timpson certainly isn’t. It would seem that Labour aren’t even clear about the difference between a toff and a member of a hard working Northern success story.
The repeated attacks by Labour against Bentley owners is a tad bizarre - apparently 3500 people are employed by Bentley in Crewe.