Liberal Burblings

Archive for the ‘Council elections’ Category

Well done to Richard Huzzey for an excellent piece on the aftermath of the May 3rd elections.

I particularly agreed with this point:

Locally, we need to strengthen and expand the party’s excellent training and mentoring programmes so best practice is spread more widely.

It is amazing how, with years of incumbency, the campaigning instincts and skills of members get dulled.

We got a pounding here in West Berkshire (although we actually won back two seats, got David Rendel elected to the council and held control of the two town councils), so you would expect people like me to be at the forefront of blaming the leadership.

Not a bit of it. If we can win councils like Hull and Eastbourne, is it Ming’s fault if we lose elsewhere? Incumbency, the Cameron effect, forgetting some of our campaigning methods and the Tories getting smart in theirs…these all have their impact.

Hywel Morgan put it brilliantly in a comment on LibDem voice:

If people point to the impact that Nick and Chris have made in their spokesperson roles then (a) it seems fairly minimal and (b) nowhere near that established by Ming in Foreign Affairs before he became leader.

The failings of the party since Ming became leader are firstly not that massive (the issue is learning the lessons from them for the future) but secondly would have arisen even if Charles had remained leader so to lay them at Mings door is missing the point.

I have been greatly amused by Iain Dale sniffing around trying to either find unrealistic LibDem commenters to laugh at (I usually fall into that category) or finding people who, in his eyes, have “smelt the coffee” and are getting mutinous.

I am not in the Liberal Democrats solely to win. That will no doubt get quoted and laughed at, but it is not the primary point. Having just recovered from the bruises on my feet due to recent pavement pounding, I have slogged away since 1987 as a member, and since 1970 as a supporter, because I believe in Liberalism and in advocating and spreading it. Of course, winning is an objective but if it was the sole objective, then I would have drifted around from party to party dependent on the political tide at the time, in order to experience winning.

If anyone thinks I am going to be shifted off course by the arrival of that idiot David Cameron, they have another think coming.

On a recent ‘Have I got news for you?’, Jeremy Clarkson joked to Krishnan Guru-Murthy that he had an easy job on Channel Four news: “Just turn up, read out the Guardian, and go home”.

I feel a little like this blog should be retitled: “Wot I liked in the Guardian today”….but as my father-in-law would say “Doesn’t matter”.

The said organ today has a fascinating little piece on the impact of rubbish collection changes on the May 3rd results:

Local concerns, especially over rubbish collection, were thought to have made the difference in several council elections in England yesterday. Complaints about the move to fortnightly bin collections changed the political map in around 10 councils. In Bournemouth, Torbay, and Waverley, this played a part in the Tories’ triumphs at the expense of the Lib Dems.

The Conservatives suffered in areas where they have tried out the system, notably North Lincolnshire, Hinckley, Bosworth, Salisbury, and West Somerset. The issue played some part in Labour losing Blackburn with Darwen, after 24 years, and damaged the party in both Telford and Charnwood.

One of the bright spots of the Thursday results is that the BNP failed to make any real progress. They made a net gain of two councillors which was far short of their goal to leap from 49 to 100 councillors. This was despite them fielding a record number of councillors.

Quite a few people are googling for local election results in these parts. The Newbury Town Council results are here (albeit without figures). The West Berkshire Council results are here.

I am in election detox mode (EDM) – i.e long walk in the country this morning, three pints of Marston’s Pedigree, Bangers and Mash at a canalside pub with the missus and a nice sleep this afternoon. Perfeck!

However, I think I can safely suspend EDM to say well done to all the candidates in the West Berkshire and Newbury Town Council election. I am sorry to the ones who were not elected.

Well done to the LibDem team. Despite a result that will take some absorbing, there were some little nuggets of gold in the results. Getting David Rendel back on the council is fantastic. Retaining largest party status (“control”) on Newbury Town Council against the district council pattern was a real shaft of sunlight.

I have now published my predictions for West Berkshire and Newbury Town Council elections, made on 27th April. They appear to have been a little too pessimistic. I still have the sealed envelope intact, in which I sent the predictions to myself for postmarking through the Royal Mail on 27th April, if anyone wants to check that my published post is the same as my prediction.