Events in Scotland have rather dominated these past few weeks, but we shouldn’t forget there’s another election soon to take place: the by-election in Clacton triggered by Douglas Carswell’s defection from the Tories to Ukip.
Early polls shows Carswell is the front-runner to retain the seat in his new colours. The local Lib Dems have selected a candidate to fly the party’s colours: Andy Graham, “a former teacher in Clacton [who] has performed in shows at the Clacton’s West Cliff Theatre”.
Details of how you can help Andy in Clacton are as follows:
-
399 Old Road Clacton CO15 3RJ
[email protected]
01255 434158 (landline)
After all, gotta love a candidate whose website says this:
Andy Graham brought the stage version of Sense and Sensibilty to Clacton’s West Cliff Theatre 10 years ago and says “I am hoping to bring some Sense and Sensibilty to Clacton in this by-election”.
* Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.
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10 Comments
It will be interesting to see what effect the Independent candidate, a local consultant oncologist will have on the vote. I still believe that it is issues like the NHS that concern most people and not the EU.
Jayne Mansfield
I think you are right about the NHS, which is why it kept being mentioned in Scotland,
Best of luck to Andy Graham. I hope all those people who spent time and money supporting the Unionist cause in Scotland will now devote as much time and mony supporting the Liberal Democrat cause in Clacton.
Although I would advise against Nick Clegg offering any Vows orPledges, the people of Clacton are not that daft.
Good luck to Andy but we know, better than most what happens in Byelections that attract media interest, they turn into a 2-horse race & everyone else gets squeezed. The big question in Clacton will be how much UKIP win by & how Tory MPs react.
paul barker 20th Sep ’14 – 1:28pm
Paul, I do not kow if you are old enough to remember the by-election when Simon Hughes was first elected. It attracted acres of newspaper space and almost daily TV coverage. The papers mainly seemed interested in smearing the Labour candidate. The Guardian a few days before the vote predicted Simon Hughes would be in fifth place behind Labour, Independent Labour, Conservative, I cannot remember who they tipped for fourth.
Strangely, Simon was elected and he’s still there.
By-elections do not conform to some sort of law of nature if you campaign and go out and win them. I realise since Clegg came along winning by-elections is a forgotten art but it is still possible. Saying it is the bag for UKIP is the sort of fatalistic self-fulfilling prophesy that is now a feature of the Liberal Democrats. I wonder where the buck stops?
I find the candidacy of a local doctor interesting for two reasons. One, doctors are still trusted more than politicians. Two, he provides a counter argument to that of Ukip supporters. He is a strong advocate for the NHS, he points out that pressure on local cancer services is not due to immigration but to the fact that Clacton has a 25% higher elderly population than the national average, and he puts a strong argument for immigration and the importance of immigration when it comes to providing our first class NHS.
I hope that he makes inroads into the potential Ukip vote. He is a powerful voice and I hope that the Liberal Democrat candidate will be singing from the same song sheet with equal vigour.
This is a fake by-election designed as a publicity coup for UKIP and their first elected MP. We should not be taking part, just as we didn’t challenge David Davis in his silly by-election. There are more productive uses for our limited resources and no real reason to expose senior MP’s to humiliating lost deposit interviews after this particular loss. It may not go UKIP’s way but the only possible challenge here is the Tory. So the tactical vote for Labour and Lib Dem supporters is for the Tory. What odd times we live in.
Stevan, I would normally have had sympathy with your view, but this time there is a simultaneous County Seat By-election on the same day. This was caused by the “already selected” UKIP candidate being dumped to allow Carswell to get back in with a new flag. The ex-UKIP Candidate was the sitting County Councillor in Brightlingsea ( few miles from Clacton) and had only just pipped the LD candidate at the County Election. So, as the thenLD agent for second placed LD candidate, I take the view that we leave the 2 or 3 horses to race at the Claction election, where they will throw everything they have at each other, and not allow one helper out of their constituency, and we concentrate on gaining a County Seat from UKIP.
Tories and UKIP have almost no footsoldiers in Brightlingsea Division. No canvassing or tellers last time round, And,
most importantly the UKIP records of that election are with the resigning councillor. LD;s have an established and successful District Councillor, only 165 votes behind UKIP ( who ran a remote campaign with massive media PR Hype)
fighting new, and unknown candidates from UKIP and the Tories.
Worth a bash, wouldn’t you agree? And we have the added bonus of a real top flight agent, not a yesterday’s man
like me.
Pop over to Essex, it is quite nice.
Richard Boyd OBE DL.
Fingers crossed for the council seat then but I wouldn’t have wasted the deposit money on the Westminster seat. I am a former Essex resident, constituent of the then personal fiefdom of the Channing family. The only place I’ve lived that had a strong LD presence, so I agree it is (mostly) quite nice.
Stevan:
First, there is an overlap between the Westminster seat and the county council division, perhaps about a fifth of the latter. This allows us to kill two birds with one stone and it would not help in the county fight if we weren’t even standing in the parliamentary contest.
Second, the local party and its activist base will benefit greatly from work done in the parliamentary contest – and in Clacton we need it.
Thirdly, it’s about time someone tackled UKIP head on.
Fourth, the negative publicity from not contesting a parliamentary by-election at all would far outweigh negative publicity from any poor result. Lib Dems get small vote is no longer news.
Fifth – don’t assume it will be a bad result!
the campaign is virtually over and it has been a great capaign whatever the result. The good thing is we have leafletted and canvassed hard and we have had an audience on the doorstep with the people of clacton….no door slams …but conversations of quality…..this is a by election yes but whatever election it is….the strategy should be the same…treat the people with respect and dignity … and even in the long shot seats.. it will be rewarded…. we have to build everywhere in britain!!!!!