Rochdale Councillor Elwyn Watkins has been selected to fight Oldham East and Saddleworth for the Lib Dems. Elwyn, 43 beat off 4 other candidates and has now promised to hit Labour hard.
Elwyn, a financial analyst for a Sheikh in the Middle East said, “I am obviously delighted that local members have shown their faith in me. I will repay that faith by working hard with Councillors and Members to regain this seat. Phil Woolas MP has a poor record and I am going to expose that. People in Oldham East and Saddleworth are sick of a largely, London based Labour apologist and want a return to a hard working local MP like Chris Davies. My first priority is to work with the Council Group to deliver a Lib Dem Council, just like we’ve delivered in next-door Rochdale. I have a track record of beating Labour and I am proud to have the opportunity to prove it.”
Oldham East and Saddleworth is one of the Lib Dem’s top target seats and only a 5% swing from Labour is needed to win the seat. In this year’s local elections the results in the Constituency were:
- LibDem 13964
- Lab 6698
- Con 3939
Elwyn is currently a member of Rochdale Council, and has been involved in the party for well over 20 years. He was a central figure in the successful General Election campaign in Rochdale in 2005 and has helped in numerous by-elections.
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13 Comments
Surely the headline should read “Cllr Watkins to fight Oldham East and Saddleworth” not Rochdale!!
I just noticed the same thing and wondered if anyone had told Paul Rowen 😉 I’ve corrected it.
That’s Rochdale AND Oldham East and Saddleworth in the bag for Labour then!
BTW what was the turnout in the locals versus the last General Election?
Rochdale Lib Dem gain but Oldham East Labour Hold
Yesterday was not a good day for copy editing… you could almost tell I was under time pressure as I prepared those posts!
We’ll forgive you, Elwyn is a great candidate. I should know I’ve worked with him for nearly 3 years. He is a superb Councillor and strikes fear into Labour wherever he stands.
Bring it on…
Hi Dave
Is it right that he has stood successfully just once and been a councillor for one year?
And what’s all this about being a financial advisor to a Sheikh in the Middle East?
Best w
Chris P
(Quaking)
I’m glad that Laboury supporters have already got the wind up. When I first stood against them their vote colapsed. When I stood against them again, inspite of a very dirty campaign they still did very poorly in a ward that they used to win! For the record I was born a total of three miles outside the constitency which is a lot better than the London based MP who I understand comes from nowhere near the constituency.
“And what’s all this about being a financial advisor to a Sheikh in the Middle East?”
Obviously dedicated to wealth redistribution then…
Let’s hope he’s better than that previous unfortunate offering Mr Dawson who is mentioned on this link
http://www.thesouthportparty.co.uk/text-Elections%202005.htm
And of course its all true fact for if it were not it would have been removed ages ago.
Reading back Chris Paul’s comments a year later, its interesting to consider the Liberal Democrat result in Oldham in May 2008 following Elwyn’s selection…
We made 4 gains, including 2 gains in Oldham East & Saddleworth itself – with Elwyn on the team, we won every ward in Oldham East & Saddleworth!
At least he has to be better than ‘Tonio’ for sunny Southport who really cocked up last time.
There we go …
“Enclosed are a series of newspaper cuttings and excerpts concerning the disgraceful antics of Tony Dawson (or should it be “David Anthony Dawson”?), senior case worker for Southport’s Member of Parliament, John Pugh, during the 2005 General Election campaign. If he is capable of this unruly behaviour, e.g. talk of “abusing donkies” on a public chat forum, incorrectly entering his name on his nomination paper (he had no trouble putting his correct name on his nomination form for the 2001 General Election in Chester), then what was he capable of doing during the local elections in 2003 and 2004 when he worked in the Liberal Democrat office in Shakespeare Street, Southport? It must be borne in mind that John Pugh was fully aware of Tony Dawson’s activities on the chat forums. “
http://www.thesouthportparty.co.uk/text-Elections%202005.htm