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.
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