LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Sunday 4th May 2008

What does Dave really think about Boris's win?

My post suggesting that, despite all the reasons for not doing so, there might perhaps be something to be said for voting for Boris Johnson as Mayor of London, as some kind of vaccination against a future Conservative Government, attracted quite a lot of criticism in Lib Dem circles. Jo Christie-Smith, for example, made a good critique of this position on her blog (apologies to Jo that for some reason I don’t understand Wordpress won’t let me link to her blog, but if you put her name into Google, it comes up pretty quick!). In fact I wasn't firmly saying ...

Election Results

The final election results for the Yarborough Ward are as follows:- Mary Little (Liberal Democrat) 698 votes Michael Bolton (Conservative) 543 votes Jim Tattersdale (Independant) 476 votes Michael Taylor 400 votes Martin Grant (Independant) 104 votes Full election results are available from the following link:- Mary Little, Sarah Leak and myself would like to thank all of the people who helped with the election campaign, but most of all we would like to thank everyone who voted for Mary and the Liberal Democrats. You can be assured that we will continue to serve the people of the Yarborough Ward to ...

Mayor of London result

Well, the people of London felt - rightly, in my opinion - that Ken and his cronies had to go. I am disappointed but not surprised that Boris was the winner. Fingers crossed that he does a decent job (and doesn't keep cluttering up Trafalgar Square with bread-and-circuses events at vast expense). The man can't be all bad: at least he rides a bicycle without a chauffeur-driven limo following...

Dog-whistle politics in Crewe and Nantwich?

I've fled the Capital for Crewe, but only for a couple of days. Firstly because having Boris Johnson as Mayor is pretty repellent in itself, but also because I was getting campaign withdrawal symptoms! I tried going cold turkey after the London elections but it didn't work... Today I was out delivering in the beautiful floral market town of Nantwich. This makes up the rest of the constituency for the Parliamentary by-election on May 22nd. Residents here take an obvious pride in their gardens, and the "floral" tag is well-deserved. It was really pleasant delivering to houses with such stunning ...

Time is running out on the LIb Dem narrative

Although it is good to see once again the Lib Dems building on the number of councillors they have after the recent local elections, it is painful to see the Tories being the main beneficeries of Labour's nadir. Particulary on the issue of the 10% tax issue that affects the poor. Labour is losing the image of the party of equality, but the Lib Dems do not have that association fixed in the voters mind either. This was not so much the case when the party advocated a 50% tax rate on high income earners. We were reassured when this ...

Puzzling Tory tactics (2)

However Iain does provide something of interest - although I think it will come back to bite the Tories. Crewe Conservative candidate Tim 'nice but dim' has written a snide letter to the new Labour candidate asking her to say what she thinks about a few current issues. His aim is to either force her to say she opposes Brown or to go against the perceived wishes of the people. All very well, but it is a bit rich of the Tories to be seeking to criticise others on policies. So I reckon Lib Dem candidate Elizabeth Shenton should join ...

Is the BBC hurting British politics?

This question begins in America, with Jon Stewart's first ??? and last ??? appearance on CNN's 'Crossfire' programme. Indeed, it was one of the last appearances made by anyone on the show in its long-running format ??? it was cancelled as a result of the fallout from Stewart's appearance. Live on air, he used his appearance to accuse Crossfire of 'hurting America' with its take on US politics. What Stewart was referring to was the established means of 'doing politics' on TV, where Beltway insiders of both parties (and never anyone from outside the big two) would score points against ...

Announcing the Iain Dale Crewe sweepstakes

The Tory cheer-meister has started his usual by-election tactic of running rubbishing stories about the Conservatives' main opponents. You can read it here - if you must. Readers will remember just how much he followed the party line during the Ealing by-election (only to get egg all over his face when the Tories came a humiliating third). So I thought I would hold a little competition. Between now and polling day (22nd May, for anyone who doesn't know) just how many times will Iain run stories on the Crewe by-election which are blatantly pro-Tory or anti-Labour (or both). To qualify, ...

on direct democracy - the citizens' initiative

The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, as rejected by the French and Dutch electorate, contained a provision for a 'citizens' initiative'. This initiative, a legislative triggering measure, would have allowed the citizens of the EU the opportunity to introduce legislation at a European level as they deemed necessary to fully implement the Treaty(ies). An interesting form of direct democracy, the initiative required one million signatories for a proposal to be placed before the European Commission (the percentage of required signatories from each member state was to be decided after the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty) and an EU law ...

The curious case of Iain Dale and the truncated news release

A rather unfortunate posting over on Iain Dale’s blog this evening about the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. Iain writes: It seems to me that the Conservatives should be very careful not fight an aggressive campaign here. They don’t need to launch attacks on the Labour Candidate. They need to be the voice of sweet reason and play up [...]

How did the Left List really do in Manchester?

Apparently, to quote Dave Sewell on his blog Complex System of Pipes: I think the message to take home is this: in Manchester, Birmingham and Sheffield, where we could effectively canvass and reach out to people, Left List did very well. In London, no-one had heard of the new name, and still looked for Respect; where they saw the Respect name, that candidate did very well. Interesting analysis. I couldn’t even find any candidates standing under the name “Left List” in Birmingham, let alone any candidates doing well. In Sheffield, the Left List stood one candidate (elections in 28 wards), ...

Edward Timpson

Edward Timpson, the Conservative candidate for the Crewe & Nantwich by-election, is busy calling himself local. So I thought I’d take a look at his official biography on the Conservative Party website. And here’s what I found: (Click on the thumbnail to see full size version.)

Tories dump a rubbish policy again by allowing longer vehicles to use re-cycling centres

Councillor Robin Hughes told me today that trailers longer than 1.8m entering Hampshire household waste recycling centres will be allowed to use the County re-cycling centres." Cllr Robin Hughes said " I am delighted that the Conservative run Hampshire County Council has finally caved into Liberal Democrat and public pressure and dumped their insistence that trailers longer than 1.8m would not be accepted at Hampshire's household Waste Recycling Centers." In a complete U-turn the blanket ban on trailers above the 1.8m x 1.2m limit is to be lifted. The County Council will shortly be introducing a permit system for trailers ...

Beyond my wildest dreams

We always knew that winning control of Sheffield was a real possibility, despite the (now ex-) Tory councillor saying that the Lib Dems couldn’t win. But the result of Thursday’s election was absolutely stunning. It wasn’t just the upper end of what we expected, but the upper end and then some. The [...]

Hermitage Hill speed limit finally set to change

With the Hermitage Hill speed limit finally set to change from 60 mph to 30 mph, I would just like to thank everybody who has campaigned over the years to achieve a reduction in the speed limit. This has been a long time coming. I have campaigned for this for as long as I have [...]

Only seven London Post Offices to be saved?

Word reaches me (though how reliable - not sure) that our cynical government, scared to announce the result of the consultation into Post Office closures in London prior to the elections, will announce this coming week that only seven Post Offices in London will not be closed. So - nearly all our campaigning and desperate pleas will have basically fallen on deaf ears if this is true. Having watched both Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman today on the TV saying that they have learned lessons and are listening to the people - I would say if the Post Offices rumour ...

Don't help the campaign in Crewe and Nantwich

The story above explains it all really. When the party does something like this I believe it deserves criticism, Chris Rennard and the other Lib Dem tacticians should not go unpunished. Heres to a heavy loss and a victory for the Labour party candidate. I don't like fighting for a party that engages in running over local party members, it goes against our entire party philosophy. We play it by the straight and narrow, this sought of thing is not what I joined for.

Brian Paddick and Hugh Paddick are related

I thought this piece of trivia might prove too good to be true. But this page on Graham Taylor-Paddick's website shows that Brian Paddick is the second cousin once removed of the Round the Horne star Hugh Paddick (far left in the photo). I found it via Brian Paddick's Wikipedia entry. Now read about Kenneth Horne's father, who was a Liberal MP. Or if you are young, read about Round the Horne.

Conference call

Will Brown survive the headlines beyond conference?

The Beeb: it's not just a Scottish problem

In today's Sunday Herald, Iain Macwhirter has a pop at BBC Scotland for providing a second-rate service compared to England. But I think Macwhirter's got it wrong. The Beeb is failing to provide a proper service throughout the UK, not just in Scotland. Its coverage of political matters is frequently shallow, biased towards metropolitan areas, lacking in depth, lacking proper balance of opposing views, stuck in a two-party mindset, sensationalised, focused more on splits and processes than proper coverage of issues, and at the mercy of political spin merchants from all parties. And, as we saw on Thursday with its ...

The mad case of Maddy

It seems the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is still selling newspapers and attracting wealthy financial backers to the 'campaign'. Only yesterday reporters were marking the anniversary by broadcasting from Praia De Luge. ITV referred to a bizarre large mannequin of Maddy erected in front of the church where the service was being held to remember her. Although not shown, a glimpse of the madness was just about noticeable in the background - a huge model staring bizarrely and forlornly into the distance. You could not make this case up. Not in my weirdest imagination could I concoct a story as ...

Blogging - perfecting the art of procrastination!

I know, it's obvious really, I am having a procrastinating interlude.......Blogging is preferable to sorting out my paperwork! OK, I have caught up with email, done a bit of reading about child poverty, watched Andrew Marr and the Politics Show, listened to the awesome A Dance to the Music of Time (so disappointed I missed the first couple of episodes), made some Thai Basil Lemonade, cleaned up the kitchen...........but that's about it really. At every opportunity I have found myself distracted, drawn back to putting in me tenpenneth on this or that issue. But, it will all be back to ...

BritBlog Roundup 168: Is Boris good enough?

This week's were nominations were dominated by the local elections, and the London Mayoral election in particular. So with thanks to NewsBiscuit for the photograph, let's get on with it. Those elections in full First a mention for the three bloggers who were featured on the BBC election coverage: Luke Akehurst, Iain Dale and Alix Mortimer. They all did a much better job than Jeremy Vine or David bloody Dimbleby. And also a mention to Andy D'Agorne for recognising that the elections did not just take place in London. He went to Sheffield and saw strange goings on involving postal ...

Linkspam in lieu of Del.icio.us actually working

The Perceptual Differences of Students - {[info]} purple_pen is frustrated that students seem unable to remember she's a Doctor, when they are quite able to remember that her male colleagues are Doctors. Evidence that perceptions of what women should be are more deeply ingrained in us all than we realise? Road Tax for Motorbikes - I've blogged about this before, but nobody seemed able to answer whether or not it was true, so this is a "just in case" measure. I don't think it's too much to ask that we simply get the same treatment as car drivers. Via {[info]} ...

Seagulls nuisance

I've obtained the assistance of City Council Environmental Health Officers following complaints from residents about seagulls noise in the early hours. I contacted the Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards about the problem, following constituents being kept off their sleep by the noise of gulls nesting on tenement buildings in parts of the West End, particularly on some of the tall tenements south of the Perth Road shopping area. The problem of nesting on tenement roofs was summed up neatly by one resident who said, "Never mind the swooping attacks once the chicks have hatched, my main problem is ...

Tough Love for Israel

Henry Siegman is director of the US/Middle East Project in New York and is a research professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program at SOAS. He is a former executive director of the American Jewish Congress and of the Synagogue Council of America. Like many Jews he is exasperated at the lack of any real progress and the gross negligence of the Quartet in pandering to the notion that it is Israel who is the victim. This article is full of profound observations, not least his reflection that "The abandonment of the Palestinians now is surely not an ...

Friends Of Dundee City Archives - Lunchtime Talks

The Friends of Dundee City Archives hold regular lunchtime talks in the Glasite Hall, St. Andrew's Church, King Street, Dundee, usually on the first Thursday in the month. These are open to non-members and talks commence at 1pm (doors open from 12.30pm onwards when tea, coffee and biscuits are available at a cost of 50p). The talks are free of charge although donations to the Friends are appreciated. You can see the list of forthcoming events by clicking on the headline above (and note Western Cemetery is a forthcoming topic!)

Bring the Sunshine in

John Hemming, a Birmingham MP who chairs the organisation "justice for families" is releasing a charity song called "bring the sunshine in" to fight miscarriages of justice against mothers and fathers. "The song", he said, "calls for more openness in the Family Courts. Britain has a network of secret courts that lock up mothers, fathers and grandparents for heinous crimes like talking to

From third to first party in Northumberland - interview

This is the next interview about the local elections we produced for the forthcoming email newsletter to Lib Dem members in the North East. Councillor Neil Bradbury explains the increase in the Lib Dem seats and the Labour wipeout in most of Northumberland. Neil was himself elected on Thursday and is also one of the Lib Dem Euro candidates for the North East.

I'd like to thank the academy, my mum and dad, my fiance, my daughter, my dogs...

{Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice} I guess this makes me a Proper Lib Dem Blogger now. My début in the Golden Dozen features me not once, but twice. Horatio will be breaking his chains again... * blush * I suppose this means I ought to tone down the invective, right? Become more acceptable and measured, and less angry and sweary? ... Nah. Not going to happen. In other news of Lib Demmery, our very own Martha Kearney, {[info]} alixmortimer, makes an interesting point about the current fortunes of the party:It strikes me that we're in a sort of puberty stage ...

Let's put forward our SOLUTIONS

Although we have done creditably well on May 1st - we need to start being braver and putting forward our solutions. This will contrast highly with the Conservatives and Labour. We need to show how we’ll hand down power to the most appropriate level. We also need to be a lot tougher with the opposition parties - [...]

Another complaint to the BBC

Or should that be the British Biased Corporation. I’ve never seen such an awful balance of opinion presented and dumbed down as that of today’s Politics Show. The BBC have completely overstepped the mark. It shouldn’t be up to the Lib Dem invitee to point out about Burnley etc. [...]

Linkspam for 4-5-2008

10 great years in Britain—an immigrant writes Tim Ireland: To avoid putting you offside, I'm going to list my 10 favourite things about this glorious nation without mentioning one your women that I married and one of your jobs that I took. (tags: humour Immigration bloggers) An open letter to Labour MP's from Labour voters. « Schrodinger's Pig Can't argue with this—watch for the 10p smokescreen as excuse-Perhaps you've forgotten us. We are the tax paying, voting people. Remember the folks who put the X in the box in 1997, and waited with you, fingers and toes crossed, for the ...

Brinnington wall breached

I’ve just recovered from the locals - having been agent for the indefatigable Chris Walker who took this Labour bastion for the Lib Dems. True we were helped with the town centre being part of the ward including the terraces of Shaw Heath, the Mottram street towers with the HA/Council/Private dwellings of the Town Centre. It [...]

The National Association of Head Teachers and bad behaviour

A BBC report on the union's 2007 conference: Parents too often encourage their children to behave badly at school by giving endless excuses for their behaviour, head teachers have said.The National Association of Head Teachers said parents had responsibilities as well as rights.At its annual conference, it voted unanimously to work with the government to enforce a "respect agenda" and reduce harassment of school staff.And a BBC report on this year's conference: Teachers at a conference have jeered a minister after she talked about league tables and tests in schools.The flashpoint involved Children's Minister Beverley Hughes at the National Association ...

Have you really got it Mr Cameron?

It's going to be tough for the Tories from here on. I know they've just had a riotously successful election night and I know that the media are busy crucifying the PM, but seriously, Cameron et al are now going to come under so much pressure they won't know what hit them. Take London. They got Boris elected in an incredibly tough fight. This appears to have been managed by paying Lynton Crosby �140k to sit on Boris for three solid months, making sure he never said anything. But now what. Boris will launch the 'first 100 days plan' that ...

Neath Port Talbot election results 2008

The councillors elected, party affiliation and change from 2004 are as follows: Aberavon Jeffrey Dinham (SDP) John Sullivan (SDP) Tony Taylor (SDP) no change Aberdulais Doreen Jones (Labour) no change Alltwen David Lewis (Labour) no change Baglan Juliet Hopkins (Labour) Peter Richards (Labour) John Tallamy (Ratepayers) Returned unopposed - two Labour gains from Ratepayers Blaengwrach Alf Siddley (Labour) Labour gain from Plaid Briton Ferry East Colin Morgan (Labour) no change Briton Ferry West Hugh James (Labour) no change Bryn and Cwmavon Marian Lewis (Labour) Brin Roblin (Independent) Ivor Williams (Labour) no change Bryncoch North John Bryant (Plaid) no change Bryncoch ...

New Labour, New Labour Message..........can it work?

Have just heard Harriet Harman on the Politics Show, following on from Gordon Brown this morning. Apparently now they not only have to listen but also to communicate their message more simply to the (presumably uneducated) masses. Yes, of course, in a soundbite, instant gratification age, messages need to be sharp and memorable. But in my humble opinion the problem Labour has is that the message they are trying to convey (change for the better) is discordant with the reality (more of the same tired old government). The Tory's message is very simple and exactly the same - change for ...

Goff

I've never been comfortable referring to myself as a Goth, if only because I find it unduly restrictive as a label, but other people seem to think I am one. I listen to lots of music that's applicable to the genre (although I listen to lots that isn't as well), I dress mainly in black, I like bats, I read Poe for cheery comfort reading... You can see why people want to stuff me into that pigeon-hole, right? As such, I find myself wanting to shout obscenities at Edward Stourton for letting this atrocity (click Listen to this week's programme ...

Just how many spoilt ballot papers were there?

I’ve been looking at the final results of the London elections on the London Elects website and I’m confused. Under Turnout and Technical Information, it state the following: Electorate: 5,419,913 Papers counted / turnout: 2,456,990 Turnout: 45.33% Good votes 1st choice: 2,415,958 2nd choice: 2,004,078 Rejected votes * 1st choice: 41,032 2nd choice: 412,054 Blank **(no votes cast): 13,034 No 2nd preference ***: 407,840 * “Rejected votes” refers to ballot papers where the vote has not been counted because the ballot paper has not been filled out correctly. This may be because the voter has marked more than one preference ...

Fuelling The Public's Anger

Both Shell and BP have announced better than expected profits for the first quarter of this year thanks to the rising price of oil. The oil companies claim they need big profits to invest in the sear...

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #63

With Mr Tall t’internet less and Mr Foster off in Greece, it’s my turn to complete this weeks Golden Dozen. It’s the 63rd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (27th April - 3rd May), together with a hand-picked quintet you might [...]

Should Hillary admit defeat?

As much as I would love to see a woman in the Whitehouse, I have admit to having doubts about Hillary, not least because of her support for Iraq and her recent comment about obliterating Iran. But, Democrats are now beginning to worry about the impact dragging out this contest will have on their party, not least if the final decision is made by the "Super Delegates". One such person is David Swanson from After Downing Street where you can read his interesting analysis.

The Fifth Dimension: Wedding Bell Blues

No great sociological significance this week, just a great and forgotten record. Fifth Dimension has the US hit with "Up, Up and Away" and also worldwide hits with a medley from the hippy musical Hair.Not that they look much like hippies in this.

Brown under new pressure

The Sunday Times reports that the Prime Minister is under pressure to make further concessions in the row over the abolition of the 10p income tax band following Labour's disastrous showing in the local elections: Cabinet ministers were yesterday engaged in a mass ring-round of panicking backbenchers to shore up Brown's sinking support. Many are openly voicing concern that Labour cannot win the next general election while Brown remains in charge. The prime minister will face further assaults from Labour critics this week as MPs return from the bank-holiday break to take stock of the party's electoral humiliation. Frank Field, ...

Anecdotes of the day

Dennis Healey once got into a shouting match with rebel Labour backbenchers on the floor of the Commons during division; he later recalled, when asked if the exchange involved shouts of bastards and f***er, that "I questioned their parentage when they praised my virility....." On Budget day, the briefcase that Lamont waved at photographers contained a bottle of whiskey, while the speech itself was carried in a plastic bag by his then aide, William Hague. "It would have been a major disaster if the box had fallen open," Hague said later. The Sunday Times

Look What the Old Boy Done

A couple of weeks ago I looked at just what Labour had promised us on taxation. Unlike Kezia Dugdale through her red rose tinted glasses I gave them a less than exemplary grade. Which leads nicely unto education. We all rememebr the mantra leading up to the 1997 Election, when at the 1996 conference Blair pormises: "Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education,

Bizarre conclusion of the day

From the Sunday Times: One silver lining is that the highly publicised, and close, contest in London resulted in a sharp rise in turnout, a vindication of directly elected mayors. Really? Er..no! It is actually a vindication of what some of us have been saying for some time, that if you give voters a real choice and a chance to make a difference then they will come out and vote. You do not need a Mayoral election for that.

Brown on the ropes, should we be wishing him well?

Gordon Brown has just had a grilling, well perhaps a couple of seconds in the microwave, with Andrew Marr. He argued that Labour would be helping people through putting in place a number of building blocks, he was offering a strong sense of direction, but he didn't say what that direction was. Frankly he looked terrible, very uncomfortable, a sense of a deep underlying misery. He is a man on the ropes, promising to fight but his body language says quite the opposite. I am someone who really believes in the power of humour when you are under attack, it ...

What a Day

I know it was a Saturday and I should have had a rest and perhaps I did, I could have gone to the recreation ground in Bath and watch our local team destroy Saracens 66-21 and book themselves top spot in the table. Well don Bath but to ensure top spot at the end of the season we need Gloucester to beat Wasps this after noon and then next Saturday for Bath to Turn over Gloucester at...

Government scapegoating of overseas doctors shameful

Commenting on last week's ruling by the Law Lords that Government restrictions on the right of thousands of overseas doctors to work in the UK were unlawful, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said: "The Government is in a hole of its own making. "Ministers acted shamefully by scapegoating overseas doctors last year for the mess they made with the junior doctor training process. "Rather than empty political gestures, the NHS needs good workforce planning. This would reassure British doctors and make use of the skills offered by overseas doctors." Health may be a devolved matter, but immigration policy ...

Today in 1979 - Apropos to Nothing

On this day, the 4th May, in 1979 (two years prior to the historic birth of Julian H) a man called James Callaghan resigned as Prime Minister. Callaghan was the last Labour PM not to have won a General Election.

No Rest for the Weary

Many political activists around England and Wales have their feet up during this long Bank Holiday weekend, to recover from weeks or even months of delivering and canvassing. But in truth, there is no rest for the weary. Labour’s May Day Massacre and its body-count may be over, but two parliamentary by-elections loom, one in the north and [...]

Crowded streets

There are around a dozen streets in Redlands, in particular the streets off Erleigh Rd, where the number of people living in them has reached a critical level. Much of the housing in these streets is owned by private landlords who typically extend them into the roofspace, the back garden and in several cases, into the basement. They are then rented to students or immigrant workers. Higher housing density is not a bad thing in itself, but where parking and waste management runs out of the space required, or where it causes increases in crime or anti-social behaviour, then it ...

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone"

In their posts, Keeping it in the family and Tamsin dunwoody selected for crewe, Bernard Salmon and James Schneider accuse Labour of nepotism and suggest that 'Labour's only hope of holding the seat is to call it very quickly and try to tap Dunwoody's personal vote". Why so surprised Bernard/James? Nepotism is now commonplace throughout politics. What's more, the Lib Dems often use it themselves. Were either of you to have been in Taunton Deane last Thursday, you'd have seen Mollie Floyd, elected as councillor for Comeytrowe Ward, Taunton Deane. Mollie takes up the seat following the recent death of ...

What I've been up to by Text today

My daily digest of texts, tweets and status updates.11:21 was wrong(just). But not as wrong as Kellner's YouGov, so meh. # 14:23 agreeing with Nosemonkey on Boris: tinyurl.com/6z8yc3 Agreeing with nice Mr James is a common thing for me... # 19:03 "She's my daughter"!!! WTF? #Microblogging using LoudTwitter and Twitter. {[info]} matgb_twitter is there if you're mad enough.

Tamsin Dunwoody selected for Crewe & Nantwich

So Labour's only hope of holding the seat is to call it very quickly and try to tap Dunwoody's personal vote. Tamsin Dunwoody, former Welsh Assembly member, has been confirmed as Labour's candidate for the by election.

London. Oh.

I see that Jo A has womanfully collated a list of fretful blogging reactions to our London results thus saving me a lot of gloomy scrolling. I hope opposition bloggers are watching this. The London results are dire for the Lib Dems, and we are all saying so - is it at all possible that [...]

Keeping it in the family

Labour's just had its worst electoral drubbing in decades, so what's the first thing the party does to try and restore public trust? Of course, it's to select Gwyneth Dunwoody's daughter to fight the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, in a desperate attempt to keep hold of the undoubted personal vote which Gwyneth enjoyed in the seat. I suspect the voters in Crewe and Nantwich won't be too happy to be considered as mere bit parts in a dynastic fix which proves that nepotism is alive and well in the Labour Party. UPDATE: I see that Tamsin Dunwoody was a member ...

Sunday 4th May 2008

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