All Change

So much for Crewe and Nantwich.

Good ol’ Gwyneth held the seat comfortably at the last election and now her daughter secures a 17.6% swing to the Tories.

This sends a message in block caps underlined twice. This encapsulates exactly the innermost secrets of winning politically where the way is hardest and the opposition is toughest

It gives the lie to the ‘in your face’, ‘up and at them’ tendencies in the party. The decision to import toffs into the local mix was witless, embarrassing and unsuccessful.

We received a royal thumping. We are holed beneath the waterline. Our efforts at bailing out are not being helped by the guys from the bridge directing their hoses on to our exertions in the scuppers.

Now it’s up to Gordon. Change course he must. Unequivocally, quickly and effectively.

No pressure there, then.

But one area he might like to consider – a small pocket of quality shining through the underperformance which characterised Birmingham.

In the very same month that Ken lost London, that Gwyneth’s legacy did not endure, that the local elections went South at a pace…….the Tories were denied any material improvement in their vote in Sutton Coldfield.

In Vesey ward, the Tory vote went down for the fourth election running.

Clearly, Dr Rob is doing something right. If there was any election in the last ten years when your blue rinse, died in the wool, totally committed, knee jerk, gimme the pen Tory could have been expected to queue up at the ballot box, this was it. We are at the point in the political cycle when expectation is all, no performance will ever outbid the anticipation that change is in the air. They should have been able to milk it.

Their back up was good, their leaflets are quality, the MP sent his snapshot album to every voter in the constituency. Money is not a problem to these people.

We could have expected chartered buses to have been made available for the faithful and the disappointed, the mad and the bad and the sad to climb aboard and administer mass chastisement to a government so far out of touch they can’t find a cell.

And in Vesey ward, the Tory vote went down for the fourth election running.

Gordon must phone Dr Rob. And when Rob talks about community politics, when Rob talks about action, about surveys, about involvement about putting in the hard miles, about inspiring a few activists, about maintaining an honest, uncomplicated relationship with an electorate a million miles from his philosophical preferences, Gordon should reach for a stubby pencil…………

And Gordon,…Leave out the Toffs.




Nightwatchman