++++++++Breaking: Richmond Park Result: We’ve done it! Well done Sarah Olney, our Newbie MP

We have done it! We had just 37 days to persuade the voters of Richmond Park. To overturn a 23,000 majority in such a short time is incredible.

Initially, the two numbers that matter.

Zac Goldsmith 18,638

Sarah Olney 20,510

Monster Raving Loony Party 184

One Love Party 67

Christian People’s Alliance 164

Independent 173

Christian Woolmar (Labour) 1515

Liberal Democrat majority 1872 on a turnout of 53.6%. It’s a swing of 21.6%.

And the percentage changes via Britain Elects:

Sarah Olney is on Sky News now, saying that we didn’t know until the last minute how it was going to go. People wanted her to win, she says, because of Brexit. They were alarmed about the direction the Conservative Brexit government was going in.

She says that she will vote against the triggering of Article 50. She believes that remaining in the EU is best for Britain and she will fight for that.

Asked if the Liberal Democrats have a “woman problem”, she highlighted that the party has some brilliant women selected in key seats so there will be more.

It is so good that our MPs have become slightly more diverse. It’s still embarrassing and we must never allow ourselves to get into this position again.

Sarah is our first Newbie MP. She joined the Liberal Democrats in the wake of our election defeat last year. Like thousands of others, she was motivated to keep generous-spirited, open, internationalist, liberal values alive.

Some, though, remain unmoved by these marvellous events:

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings

Read more by or more about or .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

29 Comments

  • Just a bit:-).

  • Very good news indeed. Congratulations to Sarah and the team.

  • Richard Underhill 2nd Dec '16 - 2:35am

    A good result.

  • She is outstanding – it was obvious to local people that she was special from the moment she started getting actively involved in the party.

  • On behalf of the National Liberal Club’s Orpington Fund which has donated at least the deposit to every by-election since 2008 – Congratulations Sarah!

  • Congratulations Sarah Olney and her teams and everyone who went to help. A great result. I hope this will give us a boost in our opinion poll ratings.

    49.7% is a higher percentage than Susan Kramer and Jenny Tonge achieved. The turnout at 54% seems high for a by-election.

  • Lorenzo Cherin 2nd Dec '16 - 2:49am

    Superb ! A woman in the House again, and a terrific new mp !

  • Joyful news by itself and such a huge lift for our progressive LibDem fightback

  • David Evershed 2nd Dec '16 - 3:20am

    Congratulations to all those involved in bringing about the by-election win.

  • Mick Taylor 2nd Dec '16 - 3:29am

    A brilliant way to start our last day in India! Well done to Sarah and her team

  • Well done, Sarah. Hopefully a real weather changer and a great boost for Tim..

    Let’s hope the media – and for that matter, Bercow the Speaker , start to give the party a fair hearing again.

  • Eddie Sammon 2nd Dec '16 - 3:58am

    Congrats again, but don’t retreat into liberal bubbles and think this vindicates your approach. I think the best choice pragmatically and morally at the moment is soft-brexit and even if you disagree morally I think pragmatically it’s hard to argue that dividing the country into two halves is a good idea.

  • Congratulations, Sarah! Thrilling news.

  • David Evans 2nd Dec '16 - 4:19am

    Great News. Now let’s all get to Sleaford!

  • David Pearce 2nd Dec '16 - 5:07am

    Congratulations. Opposing Brexit works politically. Thats more people on your side than voted for the current government.

  • Brilliant news, on so many levels.

  • Not the first time a mega-rich out of touch Tory called an unnecessary election and got hit by the door on the way out.

  • Just great! The comeback was already in evidence – but this result brings it sharply to the attention of London based media AND hence to the general public! Not a time for complacency, however.

  • jedibeeftrix 2nd Dec '16 - 7:53am

    Congrats to Sarah for winning, but an even greater congratulations for defining the issue away from a the incumbents position onto your own.

    That is an enormous achievement.

  • Woohoo! 🎉🎉🎉

  • Someone news, something there has not been enough of in 2016.

    Congratulations to Sarah and her team.

  • That should have said “some good news”

  • Chris Bertram 2nd Dec '16 - 8:38am

    This has to be a game-changer for us. A day or so of being headline news, and in a good way, when we’ve had to fight for the few minutes of coverage we’ve been allowed since GE2015. The weekend blatts will make for interesting reading.

  • Catherine Jane Crosland 2nd Dec '16 - 8:53am

    Brilliant result – Congratulations, Sarah 🙂

  • Tremendous result. Well done to all concerned.

  • David Garlick 2nd Dec '16 - 9:47am

    Yippee! Great result, congratulations to all involved and to Sarah in particular.
    An Inspiration to us all to get out on the Campaign trail and win some local elections next May. Not forgetting of course that we have another by-election running now so lets get cracking.

  • Ian Patterson 2nd Dec '16 - 10:18am

    Worth staying up to 2 in morning to see result. Hadn’t done that in long time. Btw was Christian wolmar’s speech just a tad ungracious, with zac g standing mere feet away?

  • Sue Sutherland 2nd Dec '16 - 6:08pm

    Wonderful result, thank you to Sarah and all the team.

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • John Waller
    Tom you say: (Trump) has already threatened Denmark with “massive tariffs” unless it sells him Greenland. Conversely, if he likes a country’s policies, Tr...
  • John Waller
    My father was a Captain in the ACS Heavy Transport before Allenby’s attack on Beersheba on 31 October 2017. He had been in the British Army since the start o...
  • Joseph Bourke
    The risk of displacement from Gaza was not the only threat in Trump’s press conference. Asked whether he would support Israel annexing West Bank “areas”, ...
  • Suzanne Fletcher
    Yes it is tough being a councillor, but yes stick at it in trying to make a difference. You find out how much you did and were appreciated when you retire! The...
  • Craig Levene
    'it’s holding back our country and keeping people poor' Plenty of poverty around in 2016, as there is now. The UK has significant regional divides, none of ...