Author Archives: Hilary Stephenson

Oldham East & Saddleworth: It’s already on

We currently expect a parliamentary by-election for the Oldham East & Saddleworth constituency to take place well before Christmas. This will be one of the shorter by-election campaigns we have seen but it is important that people in Oldham are not left unrepresented after what has happened there.

Within 24 hours of Phil Woolas being found guilty of breaking election law last Friday, we had a new campaign HQ up and running. There is an experienced campaign team already in place: veterans of many victories, including the last by-election in this area, Littleborough and Saddleworth in 1995.

My experience of by-elections (and …

Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged , and | 14 Comments

The signs from Liberal Democrat voters

Whilst political pundits struggle to fathom the implications of coalition and ‘new politics’, the signs are that Lib Dem voters are optimistic and that they are responding well to the new vision. It seems that when the new order combines with a strong local campaign and a candidate who offers the traditional Lib Dem promise of ‘service and action all year round’ success follows.

A series of elections over the last two weeks brought first an encouraging result in the extended Parliamentary election in Thirsk and Malton. This being a safe Tory seat with a notional majority of over 14,000 and …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 10 Comments

A quick report on how it’s going in Crewe and Nantwich

An excellent day yesterday with Nick Clegg and a lot of press interest. We’ve got a big operation going and had a very good number of helpers in today already.

This is a really important weekend – the team proved yesterday that we are well set up to deal with large numbers. We just need lots of people every day!

The news from the doorsteps is encouraging. It’s been a pleasure to be out and about. The big Elizabeth Shenton posters are going down a storm – as is Elizabeth herself with both the team and the public.

I’ve seldom come across …

Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged | 24 Comments
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  • Simon Robinson
    It's good to have an MP putting herself forward for this. The manifesto seems a bit vague though. All good thoughts and nothing you can really disagree with, b...
  • Robin Bennett
    I am sure Alan will have the sympathies of all of us. The situation is sad and frustrating. Forgive me for making one small point, Alan: you said that 40 Ho...
  • Jonathan Brown
    @George - me too. I know that not everyone is happy about this, but it's perfectly reasonable policy and I think all care is being taken to try to reassure thos...
  • George Thomas
    It follows the position of what I believe is a majority of UK population of supporting Israel but being against these unlawful settlements. Maybe not brave in t...
  • David Le Grice
    I don't get your point. Starmer's problem was that he had no charisma or any broader understanding of how to be popular. Boris Johnson managed to deliver the ...