Thursday, July 19, 2007
Agro in Ealing Southall by-election
Polling day has arrived in the Ealing Southall by-election and the area is under siege from campaigners. So far today we’ve had a dozen leaflets drop through the letter box and three telephone poll calls. And it's only midday.
My neighbours are so fed up with receiving almost daily newsletters and flyers from the 12 candidates that they have sealed their letter box and stuck a notice on their door telling campaigners to take a hike.
We live roughly in the middle of the Ealing Southall Constituency in an area called Hanwell with middle class and predominantly white Ealing to the east and Muslim and Hindu populations in Southall to the west.
This by-election and the Sedgefield by-election are significant because they are the first elections to take place during the leadership of the new Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The three week lead in to the by-election has been thoroughly depressing. It has been characterised by weak leadership, really poor campaigns and negative, often nasty, canvassing. You have to wonder whether any of the major parties have put together campaign plans and messaging documents ahead of the campaign or whether they are just winging it.
The Conservative Party candidate is Tony Lit, the MD of Sunrise FM in Southall. His catalogue of woe started with the revelation that he lives in neighbouring Chiswick which he should have addressed head-on but which he chose to ignore instead. Then the news that he joined the Conservative party only ten days before the election and then paid £4,800 to attend a Labour fundraiser in June has added to his problems.
The Labour National Executive selected Virendra Sharma who has been a councillor in the area for more than 25 years to fight the seat. The move upset the local party of 1,800 which were expecting an all women shortlist and five councillors have defected to the Tories as a result.
Tom Watson the campaign manager for Labour has made the mistake of becoming part of the story, rather than staying out of sight. I’ve posted a number of comments on his site questioning the rational of some of his postings all of which have been removed. It’s hardly the “end of spin” which Gordon Brown promised.
The Lib Dems are campaigning on the basis that the Conservative party can’t win, and the Lib Dems are the only alternative in a two-horse race with Labour. In the 2005 General Election Labour polled 22,937, Lib Dem 11,497 and the Conservatives 10,147; hardly a two horse race.
The Lib Dem candidate Nigel Bakhai who fought the seat in the last General Election has made a direct assault on Labour for the war, its record on crime and health, and picking fights with Labour councillor Virendra Sharma for his poor attendance at council meetings.
Labour has held the set since 1945 and with its majority of 11,440 at the last election was comfortably expected to hold the seat at the outset of the campaign. But then that’s what everyone thought during the last local elections and the Tories overturned Ealing council after 12-years of Labour rule.
It could have been so different. The area needs a proactive MP who is prepared to roll his sleeves up. Someone that is prepared to tackle over development, local congestion, crime, the tram extension to take the central line to Uxbridge and Cross Rail.
At the moment it looks like voter apathy could well be the clear winner.
Polling day has arrived in the Ealing Southall by-election and the area is under siege from campaigners. So far today we’ve had a dozen leaflets drop through the letter box and three telephone poll calls. And it's only midday.
My neighbours are so fed up with receiving almost daily newsletters and flyers from the 12 candidates that they have sealed their letter box and stuck a notice on their door telling campaigners to take a hike.
We live roughly in the middle of the Ealing Southall Constituency in an area called Hanwell with middle class and predominantly white Ealing to the east and Muslim and Hindu populations in Southall to the west.
This by-election and the Sedgefield by-election are significant because they are the first elections to take place during the leadership of the new Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The three week lead in to the by-election has been thoroughly depressing. It has been characterised by weak leadership, really poor campaigns and negative, often nasty, canvassing. You have to wonder whether any of the major parties have put together campaign plans and messaging documents ahead of the campaign or whether they are just winging it.
The Conservative Party candidate is Tony Lit, the MD of Sunrise FM in Southall. His catalogue of woe started with the revelation that he lives in neighbouring Chiswick which he should have addressed head-on but which he chose to ignore instead. Then the news that he joined the Conservative party only ten days before the election and then paid £4,800 to attend a Labour fundraiser in June has added to his problems.
The Labour National Executive selected Virendra Sharma who has been a councillor in the area for more than 25 years to fight the seat. The move upset the local party of 1,800 which were expecting an all women shortlist and five councillors have defected to the Tories as a result.
Tom Watson the campaign manager for Labour has made the mistake of becoming part of the story, rather than staying out of sight. I’ve posted a number of comments on his site questioning the rational of some of his postings all of which have been removed. It’s hardly the “end of spin” which Gordon Brown promised.
The Lib Dems are campaigning on the basis that the Conservative party can’t win, and the Lib Dems are the only alternative in a two-horse race with Labour. In the 2005 General Election Labour polled 22,937, Lib Dem 11,497 and the Conservatives 10,147; hardly a two horse race.
The Lib Dem candidate Nigel Bakhai who fought the seat in the last General Election has made a direct assault on Labour for the war, its record on crime and health, and picking fights with Labour councillor Virendra Sharma for his poor attendance at council meetings.
Labour has held the set since 1945 and with its majority of 11,440 at the last election was comfortably expected to hold the seat at the outset of the campaign. But then that’s what everyone thought during the last local elections and the Tories overturned Ealing council after 12-years of Labour rule.
It could have been so different. The area needs a proactive MP who is prepared to roll his sleeves up. Someone that is prepared to tackle over development, local congestion, crime, the tram extension to take the central line to Uxbridge and Cross Rail.
At the moment it looks like voter apathy could well be the clear winner.
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Comments:
As PR professional who has worked as a campaign manager in a by-election, it's interesting to read the perceptions of a voter.
One depressing fact about by-elections is despite the massive deluge of leaflets, door knocking and telephone calls, which annoy some voters, many remain oblivious to the fact there is even an election. That's one of the reasons you have to do the deluge. You can survey houses on a road where you know for a fact everyone has had 7 contacts (3 leaflets, 3 visits, 1 phone call) and still find people who claim to have seen or heard nothing.
The deluge does work in terms of increasing awareness and turnout.
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One depressing fact about by-elections is despite the massive deluge of leaflets, door knocking and telephone calls, which annoy some voters, many remain oblivious to the fact there is even an election. That's one of the reasons you have to do the deluge. You can survey houses on a road where you know for a fact everyone has had 7 contacts (3 leaflets, 3 visits, 1 phone call) and still find people who claim to have seen or heard nothing.
The deluge does work in terms of increasing awareness and turnout.
