Tag Archives: wokingham

Lib Dems gain control of Wokingham

Just a year ago we won the Parliamentary seat of Wokingham with a huge swing. And today, as a result of a Council by-election, we have gained overall control of Wokingham Borough Council.

By the way, don’t confuse Wokingham in Berkshire with Woking in Surrey, which we also control.

The received wisdom was that Lib Dems had to win a Council before they could hope to win a constituency, but now we are seeing the reverse effect. The key thing is that a winning campaign at either level, if carried out with care and foresight, can build local capacity which can be …

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The smiles get even bigger

We are now on a net increase of 409 councillors, and the Conservatives have topped their worst case scenario of 1000 losses.

In Surrey Heath – an archetypal Blue Wall area straddling the Thames – we have taken control with 14 new seats coming to us, giving us 21 out of 35. That will give Michael Gove a huge headache tonight as it pretty much covers his constituency of the same name.

Wedged between Lib Dem Mole Valley and Chichester lies Horsham, newly turned bright gold with an increase of 15 councillors.

And we have taken control in Guildford, although some results are still pending.

Home Counties West Berkshire has also fallen into our laps with another superb net gain of 13 councillors. Us 29, them 14 is the score. Next door is South Oxfordshire which has also come to us – we can be sure of that even though there are still 6 seats to declare.

We are also now the largest party in nearby Wokingham, but not quite enough to take control directly.

We have now gained 12 Councils, and held many more. So far we have not lost any.

We are still awaiting the result of the Mayoral election in Bedford, which Dave Hodgson is defending.

And quick look at the BBC’s electoral map reveals that almost the entire bottom right hand corner of England is now under No Overall Control. Many of those Councils were previously held by Conservatives.

The Blue Wall is beginning to look like a Yellow Wall.

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Conservative splits as two stand against John Redwood

Not a happy time for the Conservatives in Wokingham where not one but two party members are standing as independent candidates against John Redwood.

I’d already highlighted how (ex) Conservative Town Councillor Robin Smith was standing against John Redwood (see more details in the Reading Chronicle).

As pointed out in the comments, there is in fact a second Conservative running against John Redwood – Mark Ashwell, who has criticised John Redwood for being too right wing.

The Lib Dem candidate is Prue Bray.

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Looks like a Tory councillor is standing against John Redwood

As far as I’ve been able to find our, Cllr Robin Smith (Conservative) is the same as Robin Smith, Independent Parliamentary candidate in Wokingham, where the Conservative candidate is one John Redwood. Curious.

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    @Mick Taylor "The claims of tax bring a disincentive to work are pure right wing propaganda." So what exactly is the point of earning a £1 an hour extra ...
  • Paul Hunt
    Thank you for your comments, Mervyn. I remember Joan Bowskill and Pam Shields so very well. Pam Shields was our parliamentary candidate in 1970 when Pam Brown...
  • Tristan Ward
    Welcome to Cllr Paul Dick! This is very good news. As it comes ever more obvious that Kemi Badenoch is positioning the Tory party to share power with Ref...
  • Mervyn Evans
    Re Pamela Brown I was chairman of Hastings Young Liberals and organiser for St Clements Ward in 1968/9 when Joan Bowskill won the Council Election.At a county ...
  • Roland
    >"This isn’t a failure of the FA’s ambition" It is; it is also a failure of government over several decades. Firstly, let us not forget it was the FA a...