Tag Archives: leicester south by-election

Parmjit Singh Gill

Opinion: Charles Kennedy: Loss of a great leader

By Parmjit Singh Gill | Fri 5th June 2015 - 2:30 pm

Formidable, talented, passionate and hugely inspirational, Charles had deep conviction and was able to engage the public in a way no other politician could. That gave him a level of public popularity rarely enjoyed by a political party leader. Above all else he was highly principled and when Tony Blair took us into the Iraq war supported by the Conservatives, he stood firm to those principles against the political establishment. Despite being heckled and shouted down in Parliament and criticised widely he remained resolutely against a war which he knew was fundamentally wrong.

That principled stand was significant in the historic 2004 Leicester South By-election, where media arrived from all over the world. I recall speaking to a number of international film crews from as far away as India and Japan. They were unclear on whether the British public supported the war or not and seemed to have a collective view that this particular By-election would be seen abroad as a Referendum on the Iraq war. Would the British public support Tony Blair’s decision to go to war through the ballot box?

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 6 Comments
The Voice

The LDV election results open thread

By The Voice | Thu 5th May 2011 - 10:20 pm

Here are the starting positions (as Stephen’s already described):

Scotland: the party is defending 16 seats (11 constituency MSPs, and five regional list MSPs), which was a drop of one compared to 2003. There are 129 contested seats for the Scottish Parliament.

Wales: the party is defending six seats (3 constituency AMs, and three regional list AMs), which was the same as in 2003. There are 60 contested seats for the Welsh assembly.

In the English local elections:

1,876 of the 3,948 Liberal Democrat councillors (48%) have been defending their seats today in –

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Posted in Local government, Scotland and Wales | Also tagged | 29 Comments
Mark Pack

Homophobic smears hit Leicester South by-election

By Mark Pack | Wed 4th May 2011 - 7:53 pm

It’s become a grim feature of many Parliamentary campaigns for around the last decade to see last minute anonymous smear leaflets to appear over the Liberal Democrat policies for sexual equality and toleration.

The leaflets often vary in approach and the one that is just going out in Leicester South ahead of tomorrow’s by-election takes a particularly pernicious twist by pretending to be a Lib Dem leaflet promoting gay rights and distributed in very heavily Asian areas only:

A similar smear was tried in the previous …

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Posted in News | 43 Comments
Merlene Emerson

Opinion: The road to Leicester and multicultural Britain

By Merlene Emerson | Fri 22nd April 2011 - 5:27 pm

I was one of about 20 on the Team London coach to Leicester last Saturday to help our candidate, Zuffar Haq

The lucky people of Leicester South will have 4 ballot papers to fill on May 5th: to vote for their ward Councillors, elect their Mayor, their MP as well as vote in the referendum on Fairer Votes.

We were briefed to keep our canvassing strictly to the by-election. Fortunately our man, Zuffar was easy to sell at the door step. He is the only candidate of the 3 major parties who is local, born and educated in Leicester.

Moreover …

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Posted in Op-eds and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged | 9 Comments
Helen Duffett

Parmjit Singh Gill withdraws as Lib Dem candidate for Leicester South

By Helen Duffett | Wed 23rd March 2011 - 12:34 pm

Liberal Democrat candidate for the forthcoming Leicester South by-election, Parmjit Singh Gill, has announced he is to stand down. He will be replaced by Zuffar Haq.

Commenting, Parmjit Singh Gill said:

Given much reflection and after talking with my family, it is with regret that I have decided to stand down as a candidate for the by-election.

I remain committed to the people of Leicester and am proud to represent the Liberal Democrats, but I have a very young family and I fear the toll that fighting the by-election with all the commitment and dedication it deserves would be too much.

I

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Posted in News and Selection news | Also tagged and | 7 Comments
Helen Duffett

Parmjit Singh Gill selected for Lib Dems in Leicester South

By Helen Duffett | Sat 19th March 2011 - 9:25 am

Leicester South Liberal Democrats last night selected Parmjit Singh Gill as their candidate for the Leicester South by-election, at a hustings in the constituency.

Gill was previously the MP for Leicester South from 2004 to 2005, having gained the seat from Labour in the 2004 by-election.

Current MP Sir Peter Soulsby (Labour) is resigning so that he can stand to be Leicester’s first elected mayor.

Commenting on his selection Parmjit Singh Gill said,

It’s an honour and privilege to be selected to fight Leicester South for the Liberal Democrats. Only last May the Labour MP convinced constituents that he was committed to

…

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Posted in Selection news | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
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