Congratulations to April Pond on her selection today as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Norwich North by-election.
Local campaigner and successful businesswoman April Pond said,
“I’m delighted to be selected for Norwich North and have the opportunity to follow the work of Ian Gibson.
“Talking to Norwich people, it is clear that they are angry and disillusioned with the way things are at the moment. People are concerned about jobs losses and practical worries and see this Government as failing miserably when they should be working hard to put things right. MPs’ expenses and an inability to put in place practical incentives for climate change leave us letdown, ignored and insulted.
“In Norwich North, we have a real opportunity to make a real change.
“It is clear that Labour are set for a very bad election. Charles Clarke has already said that Labour could finish third at the General Election. The Conservatives offer nothing but the same old politics that has let the people of Norwich down.
“On issue after issue, the Liberal Democrats have led the fight for real change while the Conservatives lagged behind. On the economy, on the environment and now on the real reform of politics, it is the Lib Dems that are offering something different.”
You can read the full press release on the Norwich Lib Dems’ website.
Follow the campaign on twitter at @norwichnorthld and @aprilpond and of course, pitch in at Norwich North Campaign HQ; map here.
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21 Comments
Hilarious. Not even a mention that she has deserted Broadland, where until today she was the PPC. Broadland was supposed to be a key LibDem target. Will she go back there when she loses Norwich North? I suspect the voters of Broadland will be far from impressed.
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/06/libdems-select-itinerant-for-norwich.html
April Pond is a real name, right? Like Limbo Optik or Corin Slugg or Trixie Bonham-Carter-Cliche…
I mean, you haven’t just generated this story on the back of the DailyMailNonToriesEatBabies.com algorithm?
Which would be more damning if Broadland was not a new seat that will include part of the current Norwich North seat.
If that’s the best attack the Tory’s premier blogger can come up with I think we’ll be alright!
Well done April! 🙂
Dale’s a good writer, doesn’t make him any good at politics. The shrillness in the post on his blog (“I’ve always thought that the Lib Dems could be a bit dim”) is about par for the course.
Of course he’s got a lot to teach us in East Anglia, hasn’t he?
I’m afraid Mr Dale is a bit of an April fool.
Dale got very uppity recently when Michael White described some departed female Labour minister as having a hissy fit. “Sexist”, yelled Dale. But apparently it’s OK for him to say that April Pond is whoring. What a prat. I hope April trounces Labour and the Tories.
I spent some time in the last parliament explaining to Iain Dale that Norman Lamb’s majority of 483 (2001) would go up and he would do well to keep it below 5000. In the event it was 10,606.
But he was in denial right up to the last minute in spite of the writing on the wall from local government results.
Tony Greaves
Om nom nom nom nom.
Tory tears taste so sweet.
You’d almost think Mr Dale had a reason to be grumpy towards the Lib Dems…….
Nice one April! Give them a good trouncing!
Mr Dale really must get out more; and I thought he knew about Norfolk!!!
There are four wards in the current Norwich North Constituency that are due to be transferred to the new Broadland seat:
Taverham North & South
Drayton North & South
Around 12,000 electors.
A clever move to have April appeal to these people before the GE starts in earnest.
But Iain, a good chunk of Broadlands is in Norwich North and moving to Broadlands at the next election. So if she hadn’t got the selection, you could have written, “Lib Dems dump the person they’ve already selected to fight part of the seat”.
Oh please please please can Mr Dale stand for the Tories again? After all, he’s so *successful* in fighting us in Norfolk.
A shame he’s a sexist bigot who failed dismally in his attempt to be an MP.
“Dale’s a good writer”
No he isn’t.
Dale is everything bad about politics- the elevation of partisan Westminster tittle tattle above ideas, ideology and policy.
Asquith, how can you condemn Dale as a writer when you are so poor yourself ?
Meandyew – are you Dale’s sock muppet?
“I think that the huge push to send 50% of our teenagers to university is ridiculous and ill thought out. For many, there is nothing but disillusionment after years of study, and a huge debt. You do not have to go to university to lead an interesting life, but you do need the baiscs, and ensuring that every child leaves middle school able to read, write and do simple arithmetic is the key to inclusion at secondary school.”
Two cheers for that, but the other cheer withheld for not proof-reading the education paragraph for typographical errors!
Chris Paul – no, I just don’t think his writing is bad albeit from a different perspective and quite frankly when he is criticised by someone who struggles to achieve mediocrity in their writings then I am compelled to say something. Had it been Alix Mortimer or Helen Duffet that would have been a different matter.
Do you have a problem with that ?
Give Dale his due too he makes some nice comments about Rennard’s replacement. Mind you he also makes some conspiratorial ones about Pond being moved out of a winnable seat into a less winnable one. Perhaps he has been hanging around alt.conspiracy ?
The comment
Dale is everything bad about politics – the elevation of partisan Westminster tittle tattle above ideas, ideology and policy.
is spot on. It’s this “yah booh sucks” attitude to politics which is putting people off it. First of all Mr Dale says “yah booh sucks” because the Liberal Democrats didn’t bring in some big name who has no immediate links with the area, then he says “yah booh sucks” because someone is brought in who isn’t quite local enough. One might suppose that Mr Dale really doesn’t care about how people live, what can be done to get their voice most effectively heard, what needs to be done to move our country forward and deal with all the problems it faces, the particular issue that Norwich North and its people face. No, all Mr Dale cares for is that he has found an opportunity to say “Nanahnahnahnah, poo bum belly”.
I understand that Mr Dale is some sort of famous commentator, though I’ve never bothered to look closely at what he writes. But if this is typical, he’s a waste of space, and the sooner he and his like are got shot of, the better.
Now, the issue here is that we know attention is placed on by-elections. So when one comes up, we might seek a candidate for it who might not otherwise have gone for that constituency. Which is, of course, why some consideration was given to various reasonably well-known characters. In this case the decision was given to use someone local who was previously lined up for a neighbouring constituency, indeed with this overlap due to boundary changes, as mentioned. So?
I have no idea who this April Pond is, but if she’s a person we think well of, then of course we would have her lined up for a constituency we suppose to be winnable in a general election, but then propose her for another when it comes up as a by-election as that’s an unexpected opportunity to give this person we think well of a chance, and it is hardly the other side of the country.