The farmers and the affluent retirees of this part of Cumbria have returned a Tory MP as long as anyone can remember. Indeed a Tory MP seems as much a part of the natural order here as Wordsworth, lambs, lakes and Beatrix Potter.
The crop of lurid orange Lib Dem signs in the farmer’s fields, however suggests that the political climate is changing. “Lib Dems winning here!” the posters declare. (The Times 22 April 2005.)
And so we did and the stakeboarding campaign was a major element in that success.
In 2005 we had 644 sites and by 2010 when Tim Farron’s majority was at its highest it was 1296 excluding those farmer’s fields. The latter amounted to over 50 sites. On each of these sites we would erect at least 5 boards.
That may well be a record for any party for any election in the UK. Though someone will tell me they did better. I do not think we will reach that figure again in Westmorland and Lonsdale.
How was it done?
Well, I have written a written a manual which I am happy to send you and if you follow it making adjustments to local circumstances and you do the other normal things like leafletting, canvassing, knocking up etc over a period of years and have a strong Council base and a bit of luck you will win the seat.
There is always a combination of things that come together to win an election and in 2005 we had a hard working, high profile candidate, some money to back the campaign, premises and a good Campaigns team.
We won in 2005 with a majority of 806, we had a majority of 12,264 in 2010 on a 76.9% turnout and in 2019 the majority was 1,934 on a 77.8% turnout.
Stakeboard sites were down in 2019 for all sorts of reasons. The bubble has certainly been pricked and it is a hard to work out exactly why but a variety of factors were at play. It was fun while it lasted as the cartoons illustrate.
* John Studholme has been a member for 44 years, was a Councillor for 20 plus years, has been Mayor, District Council Chair, affordable housing campaigner and Parliamentary and European candidate. He was Tim Farron’s Campaigns Chair when he was elected and the Lib Dems took control of South Lakeland District Council.
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Reg Calvert and his boarding school of rock
A shocking abuse of the legal system where the rich try to bully the weak and poor into submission
Are we doing enough to insure against climate change?
Paul Holmes
David McHardy
George Thomas
8 Comments
Belive there are 4 by elections todasy, two in Glasgow and two in Argyll.
I misread the headline as SKATE boarding to win. 🙂 sounds like fun.
@Jenny Barnes – so did all the LDV team!
@Jennie Barnes
Not at my age, I’m afraid.😀
Sorry I got your first name wrong, JENNY. Mary’s comment echoes mine. By the way, my wife reminds me of another word that we can’t help confusing. Whenever we see a van going by with “Shopfitters” on its side, we both automatically read “SHOPLIFTERS”. Why I have no idea.
John doesn’t mention all the local election stakeboards erected by Tim’s team.
Working on a project at Oxenholme in 2008/9/10, each May the local fields were full of orange, prompting colleagues (like myself not locals) to wonder what was going on!
Answer: A lot of hard work!
Well 1,296 might be a record for the Liberal Democrats but I doubt it is a record if we consider the predecessor parties. I remember travelling through North Cornwall in 1966 and seeing what appeared to be every house with either a poster for John Pardoe or for his tory opponent.
Headline on page 41 of yesterday’s “Times”:
“Private girls’ school starts skateboarding scholarship”.