I will stand up for the open, tolerant, united Britain that we believe in. pic.twitter.com/c51dqx1UDN
— Sarah Olney (@sarahjolney1) December 2, 2016
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:
Richmond Park result:
LDEM: 49.7% (+30.4)
ZAC: 45.2% (-13.1)
LAB: 3.7% (-8.7)— Britain Elects (@britainelects) December 2, 2016
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:
Hazel isn't excited enough about @sarahjolney1's stunning victory, I feel. pic.twitter.com/nh0Yi2DiVN
— Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay) December 2, 2016
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
29 Comments
Wonderful wonderful news.
Just a bit:-).
Very good news indeed. Congratulations to Sarah and the team.
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.
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
Congratulations to all those involved in bringing about the by-election win.
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.
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.
Great News. Now let’s all get to Sleaford!
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.
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”
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.
Brilliant result – Congratulations, Sarah 🙂
Tremendous result. Well done to all concerned.
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.
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?
Wonderful result, thank you to Sarah and all the team.