Labour claim Conservatives have lost nearly 10% of the vote in just a year. They say it resulted from life long Conservatives swinging to Labour for the first time. They also claim it represents a near 5% swing from Conservative to Labour since the June 2011 by election.
The unthinking will say, “Well, we still won it”....and they would be right.
But what a terrible result from a bastion of UK Conservatism?
Most votes are postal from residents living abroad unaware of the controversies raging around this profligate, under siege council. It is a dire result...it should trigger some deep thinking about the message voters are sending to Pooter Cockell.
But more concerning should be this. The Labour candidate ran an effective, highly localised campaign. He got out and about and focused on high tension local concerns.
If Labour continue to run these intensely resident facing campaigns it bodes badly for other wards where voter loyalty is becoming increasingly tenuous.
The Dame says there needs to be a break with the past. A new leader with an understanding of how to reconnect with voters is vital. That leader in waiting is Cllr Coleridge: he should not wait too long...this Council needs him now!
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| A LEADER IN WAITING |
Coleridge takes the trouble to reach out to parts of the Borough his colleagues ignore. He is remembered as the man who stood up to be counted during the Sloane Square affair.
He is a man of integrity and decency....someone who represents old fashioned values...so come on Coleridge. Your name is being bandied about everywhere as someone to mend fences and build bridges.
As usual the Dame hits the nail on the head. Memories are long. Most remember Tim fondly for going against Moylan and putting himself in the vanguard of the SSS movement.
ReplyDeleteAs in running a company a leader needs to be able gather a good team together and inspire officer and fellow cllrs. Frankly, I cannot see anyone coming close to this man.
Tim Coleridge would be a great leader, he stands for everything the nasty clique who run this Borough hate, integrity, honour, decency and respect for local people.
ReplyDeleteIf he doesn't move they will all be utterly doomed, because residents are sick to death of the wastefulness, corruption, lies and deceit that has been done in our names, with our money, by a bunch of egotistical thugs in suits.
There is only one other option...Victoria Borwick, but she is of course too honest
ReplyDeleteI questioned the Labour figures, but on checking they are correct. Conservatives have lost nearly 10% in a year, and the swing of nearly 5% to Labour is also accurate.
ReplyDeleteI hear no senior Tories were at the count, no Leader, no Deputy, no Whip ... not even the incumbent Brompton Councillors, which tells you all you need to know about their disdain for local democracy and residents. Apparently it was left to Miss Weatherhead as sole Tory Cllr to witness the battering; whatever must Barkhordar think of them all?
In the South Ken area alone I spoke to three lifelong Conservatives who voted for Mr Sautter. He worked very hard and listened intelligently, 100% more than current Councillors ever did.
By the way Dame, Tory Councillors are under very strict instruction not to comment on the highly embarrassing by-election, so this post might be a bit quiet!
Another dark horse for a future leadership campaign is Cllr Gerard Hargreaves. Unlike the flashy but ill-informed Read, Cllr Hargreaves is intelligent and takes control of his brief. He also does not antagonise residents.
ReplyDeleteABC. Anyone but Cockell. But Dame are you sure that Coleridge is the right choice? He lacks the determination to do tough things and wants to be liked by everyone. Has he ever had a real job?
ReplyDeleteIt is only a gut feeling, but I think when given responsibility he will acquit himself excellently
ReplyDeleteIt is this ability to connect with residents that is so important. Under Cockell and Moylan the Council has become aloof and arrogant....personified by likes of Weale with her nonsensical 'we listen but don't hear'. No wonder she just got the push from her job flogging insurance policies
ReplyDeleteLabour's vote share was 11% in 2011 and in this election was... 11%. Where do they get their figure of a gain of 5% from the Conservatives? They gained only 2 extra votes compared to last year!
ReplyDeleteThe Conservative vote did fall by 9 points since 2011, but that is almost entirely due to UKIP who did not run in 2011 and got 8% this year. UKIP barely even mentioned local issues in their leaflet, but ran on national and international issues.
All these figures are easily available on the council website so I don't know why you didn't check them before reporting Labour's claims verbatim.
Whatever labour did in 2011 is irrevalent it's where we are now that matters, residents have realised this borough is run by a few for the few and that doesn't include residents!
ReplyDeleteWe are fed up with the arrogance and deceitful ways this council has been run and will demonstrate this in the democratic way at the ballot.
Thanks to the Dame residents have a full picture of what's happening on cockells watch and unless the
decent Tories like Coleridge and Borwick do something (they are the only two who can reinstate some semblance of decency) the Tories will suffer.
A fairly bad result for all 3 Major parties. Liberals improve by 15 votes on a very poor result last time. Labour selected the same candidate as in 2011 and his vote rose from 101 to 103. Conservatives down by 78 votes. UKIP didnt stand last time and got 71. 10 more people voted this time.. I hope that the majority of the 71 weren't people who only wanted to vote for a candidate called John, Bert or Fred.
ReplyDeleteLabour leaflet was very good but had no impact on the electorate. Im worried that they dont have enough activists to mount a campaign outside North Kensington. If the Conservatives have any sense they will field only Closeau-or a sane human being-in St Charles and the Liberals will deliver Labour into the ground in Colville.
It will take hundreds of volunteer hours to win up there and theyve still got to campaign in Cremorne and provide help in Hammersmith and Fulham-which wont go Labour if they cant provide a lot of Mutual Aid.
11.30
ReplyDeleteYou forget that for Labour to get ANY votes in a diehard Tory Blue ward is breathtaking.
'Swing' is the change in one party's share plus change in another party's share divided by two.
ReplyDeleteTory share declined by 9.3, Labour was up .2, so 9.5 divided by two is a swing of 4.8% from Conservative to Labour compared with the 2011 by-election.