West Oxfordshire councillor Liz Leffman has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the by-election to be held in Witney following David Cameron’s resignation as MP. She was chosen by members at a selection meeting this evening.
Liz represents the Charlbury and Finstock ward where she had a commanding lead over the Conservative of over 600 votes in this May’s election.
She stood in Witney before, in 2005 and secured a strong second behind Cameron, in fact the highest ever Liberal Democrat result in the seat.
I’ve worked with her over the last few years on the Federal Finance and Administration Committee and I think she’s great. She combines a forensic eye for detail with a very practical approach. She’s superb at getting people to work together.
As well as running her own business and her council duties, she mentors women in business and is a trustee of her local Citizens Advice Bureau.
I shall be getting down to Witney as soon as I can to do my bit for her campaign.
Our success in this campaign will depend on how much work we can do at the very beginning, so if you can get this weekend, please do.
Tim Farron has been telling us all week that we’e spending the next four weeks in Witney. I wonder how soon he’ll get down there to support her. He does love a good campaign, so I doubt he’ll be able to stay away for long.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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22 Comments
Excellent news!
Great news. Really looking forward to working with her. Huge enthusiasm at the hustings earlier.
Do we have an office there yet ? Or where should we report to at the weekend please ?
This is really great news and a tremendous opportunity.
According to Wikipedia Liz Leffman achieved 23.0% in 2005, just putting the Labour candidate into third palce; however in 1983 (candidate Philip Baston) we had 30.8%, we also had 25.8% with Muriel Burton in 1987. Since then second place has swapped between Labour and Liberal Democrats: in the election before 2005 Gareth Epps was in third place on 20.3%, when Labour had 28.8%.
“the highest ever Liberal Democrat result in the seat” does depend on insisting on a rather artificial distinction between Liberal and Liberal Democrat.
What all of this does show is that there is a fairly strong Labour core vote that was squeezed down to its lowest at 13.0% in 2010 and Labour have the same strong local candidate (not a Corbynite newcomer) who stood last time, so we certainly have a fight on our hands if the objective is to get back to second place, form our dismal 6.8% of last year.
Fortunately Liz Leffman is also a strong local politician and whoever the Conservative turns out to be will not have such an easy account to make to voters. I guess it would help us if the Conservative is a Brexiter. but whether or not, one strand of the campaign should be to press the Tories for a Brexit plan.
Is fielding a candidate in her late sixties, who has unsuccessfully stood for parliament several times really the way forward?
Martin, I take your point, but if you joined the Liberal Democrats from the SDP, as I and many others did, then the distinction is not ‘artificial’ at all. This party was founded in 1988.
The Labour candidate may be anti-Corbyn, but surely that will limit the enthusiasm of their half a million members to go and campaign for him. They are about to learn the lesson we did in 2015 – divided parties don’t win.
Guido (www.order-order.com) reports that the local Conservative shortlist will be all male and pale.
@ malc She sounds like a well qualified grown up to me with a good career and a good local profile.
@ Frank Little Any sign of Clarkson J. ?
@Malc. You have a seriously ageist and sexist attitude; Witney is a free-hit for us. No-one expects us to win it, and even if we did no-one would expect us to hold the seat at the 2020 General Election. It is a great opportunity to expose the Tories’ failings over Brexit. I am sure that the local party have chosen the best candidate for the by-election and that is all that matters. Just because a different candidate had been appointed to the seat to cover the possibility of a snap General Election being called is no justification for denying the local Party the right to choose their by-election candidate.
Fantastic news. Liz is a brilliant campaigner, local Councillor and experienced business woman. I’ll be in Witney in the next few days to support her and the local party!!
@Malc: What an appallingly ageist attitude. I actually don’t know how old Liz is. I’ve never asked. What I do know is that she is brilliant. Might I point out that both candidates for US President are in their late 60s.
A wonderful woman from Witney whats not to like about this candidate hope she becomes the next MP and confounds the political pundits .
We will spread the word wheres the by election head quarters for activists to report into ?
For this sort of constituency and under the specific conditions the priority has to be someone who has well developed record as a local politician who is able to stand up to the media; age and gender can only be secondary considerations.
That said, in general, the party needs to try to operate a positive bias towards the young, providing whatever we can to bring young Liberal voices to the fore, even more so, in my opinion than for women. A Liberal Democrat revival really does depend on engaging the younger sectors of the electorate, who are currently appallingly ignored and even disenfranchised. It is they who will have to bear the more onerous consequences of Brexit, even though predominantly, they voted against Brexit.
David Raw
“malc She sounds like a well qualified grown up to me with a good career and a good local profile.”
You could be right, but I would have thought a younger candidate who hadn’t stood as often – in different seats – and lost, would have had more appeal. Perhaps I’m judging her on the 2015 campaign when she was the candidate for Brigg and Goole (my constituency). It was a poor campaign and the Lib Dems dropped from 3rd to 5th place and from 15% to 2%. However, she may do better on her home patch and I genuinely hope she gives a good account of herself.
Malcolm – if it was a poor campaign and on your patch why didn’t you change it? I presume you have already booked in at Whitney to give the campaign the boost it needs and with all your wisdom and experience you can provide?
david
It would be fun, but do you really think the Witney Lib Dems would put out the welcome mat for me?
Yes I do. We all must make the effort. This could be a game changer
We’ve all been saying it: “What we need is a by election in a Tory-held seat in the south of England where we are in 2nd place?” Well, here it is. And we have a good candidate with a good local record. So my suggestion is let’s stop gabbing and get out there.
And as for ‘nobody expects us to win it’. Laurence, do I really need to reel off the list of names, starting with Orpington and ending with Dunfermline? I know your basic message is a positive one, but let’s not write ourselves off before we even get going!
Also, to echo Maurice’s question, can the campaign please issue instructions for those who can’t travel to the seat but want to help remotely?
Self-correction: yes, I know we weren’t in 2nd place last time.
But we were the last time Liz stood. That’s what I meant. 8=)
Please let me know by email where and when Liz Leffman will be speaking during the bye election campaign and whether there are any hustings. I should like to hear more about her ideas.
Geoffrey Prior-Wandesforde