There’s shortly to be a mayoral by-election in Bedford following the August death of the incumbent mayor and blogger Frank Branston.
Local Lib Dems are the first to name their candidate as Cllr Dave Hodgson, familiar to many attendees of party training as the membership recruitment and retention expert, spreading best practice to local parties up and down the country.
LocalGov.co.uk reports:
Cllr Dave Hodgson is leader of the Bedford Liberal Democrats group, and was appointed to Bedford BC’s cabinet as member for partnerships and IT by the late mayor.
He expressed his delight at being selected to stand, adding that he was committed to the borough.
‘We face enormous challenges such as the decaying town centre, regeneration of the bus station area and the need for a quality transport system,’ Cllr Hodgson added.
‘It will require each and every one of us to work together, if we are to succeed and bring about the changes that the borough so desperately needs.’
Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman, Ed Davey, MP, has backed Cllr Hodgson for the role after the pair discussed key issues and priorities for the by-election campaign.
‘The Liberal Democrats go into this by-election in a strong position after coming first in the recent council elections,’ Mr Davey said.
The by-election is expected to take place on 15 October.
The Lib Dems are the largest party on Bedford Borough Unitary Council with 13 seats to 9 Conservatives, 7 Labour and 7 Independents. And as yet, it’s unknown who else will contest the election. Will another wealthy newspaper magnate throw his hat into the ring? Only time will tell.
Mayoral by-elections are vanishingly rare in the UK as only a few boroughs and towns are run by elected mayors, and so far, few of them have died or resigned. My brief research, however, indicates that this is at least the second – the first having been on North Tyneside in 2003, where the incumbent resigned following a scandal.
Mayoral elections are expensive at the best of times – one of my first party experiences was as a very green agent to a very experienced candidate in the first Mansfield mayoral elections. One of the key debates there was whether the party could possibly afford to be represented in the booklet prepared by the local authority with details of all candidates. Contesting the race in Bedford will not come cheap – the campaign will cover a population equal to some three constituencies by my reckoning. So I’m sure the local party will welcome your donations – find details for their local party officers here. Don’t forget to include your name and address to help them fulfil their PPERA obligations – and if you’re being really generous, it might help to include your electoral number.
One final aspect to explore: in 2007 when the mayoralty was last contested, the ballots were counted electronically. IT and business blogger Dynamoo was not impressed at the conduct of the count.
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10 Comments
While the circumstances are sad, good luck to Dave. I worked with him on membership campaigns some years ago, and he is very well suited to the Mayor’s role – friendly, even tempered, sensible and very hard-working indeed.
All the best to him.
Here is the local rag reporting Dave Hodgshon’s candidacy
http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/bed-news/First-candidate-announced-in-race.5615912.jp
Seems the Tories have been making a big song and dance about opening up selection – and Cameron has been to town
http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/bed-news/Fancy-standing-as-Mayor-for.5615618.jp
http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/bed-news/Cameron-coming-to-town.5615729.jp
Can’t find any stories about Labour!
*shamless plug alert*
If you want to come and help get Dave elected as Mayor of Bedford, why not come along to the Liberal Youth Bedford Action Weekend from Saturday 10th October to Sunday 11th October.
More details can be found on our Facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=136329496086&ref=ts
This is an election that the party should treat like a parliamentary by-election (given there are so few of those and it’s one we could win with a really big campaign).
But they won’t.
Tony Greaves
Good luck Dave!
And I agree with Tony this by-election deserves the same attention as a Parliamentary by-election. It’s much more winnable than several recent by-elections
Does it, though? Obviously a win will be morale-boosting. But it will reinforce the idea that we are a party of local government, not national.
Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman, Ed Davey, MP, has backed Cllr Hodgson for the role after the pair discussed key issues and priorities for the by-election campaign.
Gosh, is Bedford a foreign affair, then? Did the old mayor win independence for the town? I think we should be told.
Keep an eye on Dave Hodgson’s website for news of the campaign: http://daveformayor.org.uk. The campaign is going well – lots of leaflets delivered and canvassing well under way.
Robson – we should aim to be a party of local AND national government, not either – or!
Good luck to Dave, he is a brilliant choice.
YES!! Pull it down, it’s an eyesore and always has been. It’s a great shame that we never took advantage of the county theatre.