Last night we had Radio 4’s Any Questions in town. It was a good evening except for the fact that there was no Lib Dem on the panel. Instead we had as well as the statutory LAB & CON rep an SNP MP and the barely coherent deputy UKIP leader, Peter Whittle. You’d have thought that the BBC planners would have figured out that the Richmond by-election was taking place the day before and would likely feature a Lib Dem…
A smaller majority and greater Brexit pressure could force May’s hand The Lib Dems have their mojo back. Their result in Witney was good but safe seat or not, second is the best-placed loser. It’s winning that counts and it was a win that was delivered in Richmond Park on Thursday. After more than ten years without a gain, the campaign surge, the tactical votes and the Friday celebration must come as a long-overdue reminder of the good old days…
Giant Goldsmith crushed by miniature rival. pic.twitter.com/UfyYmcXCJO — Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) December 2, 2016 Like in previous tight CON-LD fights LAB got squeezed. So what? A lot of tosh has been written today about Labour’s loss of deposit for coming in under 5% in Richmond Park. That its vote total of 1,515 was lower than the 1,600 party members it has in the constituency has provided fuel for those wanting to attack the leadership on this. What people haven’t appreciated…
It wasn’t just in Richmond Park where the yellows had success Richmond Park (Ind defence, elected as Conservative) to Westminster Parliament Result: Liberal Democrat 20,510 (50% +31%), Independent 18,638 (45% -13% on Conservative), Labour 1,515 (4% -8%), Loony Party 184 (0%, no candidate in 2015), Independent Conservative 173 (0%, no candidate in 2015), Christian People’s Alliance 164 (0%, no candidate in 2015), One Love Party 67 (0%, no candidate in 2015), Non Party Independent 32 (0%, no candidate in 2015)…
https://twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/804510012672536576 Sarah Olney (LD) 20,510 (49.68%, +30.41%) Zac Goldsmith (Ind) 18,638 (45.15%) Christian Wolmar (Lab) 1,515 (3.67%, -8.68%) Howling Laud Hope (Loony) 184 (0.45%) Fiona Syms (Ind) 173 (0.42%) Dominic Stockford (CPA) 164 (0.40%) Maharaja Jammu and Kashmir (Love) 67 (0.16%) David Powell (ND) 32 (0.08%) LD maj 1,872 (4.53%) Zac’s gamble fails That’s a fantastic result for the yellows and a tragic result for Zac Goldsmith who, of course, was beaten in the London Mayoral race last May. The…
Markets stabilising (for now) giving #SarahOlney a 75% chance of victory. #RichmondPark by-election https://t.co/LidXUB3ynz pic.twitter.com/c5Um8xrhu3 — BetData (@betdatapolitics) December 2, 2016
Richmond Park (Ind defence, elected as Conservative) to Westminster Parliament Result of Parliament at last election (2015): Conservatives 331, Labour 232, Scottish National Party 56, Northern Ireland Parties 18, Liberal Democrats 8, Plaid Cymru 3, Green Party 1, United Kingdom Independence Party 1 (Conservative majority of 12) Result of constituency at last election (2015): Conservative 34,404 (58%), Liberal Democrat 11,389 (19%), Labour 7,296 (12%), Green Party 3,548 (6%), United Kingdom Independence Party 2,464 (4%) EU Referendum Result (Borough): REMAIN 75,396…
Both Theresa May & Corbyn see drops Here they are – the latest YouGov favourability ratings, the polling where the site has chosen who/what should be included. The first time we did this was in August and since then all the UK politicians have seen net drops. Ed Balls, included after his Strictly successes, was not part of the August list. In the summer TMay was still enjoying her honeymoon and had a net +12%. That’s now down to +5%…