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Ed Fordham, Linda Chnug and
Cllr Keith Moffitt at the Town Hall |
Is Linda’s win a step towards ousting Labour’s Glenda?
Déjà vu as the Town Hall welcomes another Lib Dem and Conservatives lose again
BIG smiles. Triumphant cheers. A crowd of Liberal Democrats huddled around a ballot box. Anybody feeling a bit of déjà vu here?
This was the all-so-familiar scene at the Town Hall on Thursday night as Linda Chung became the latest Lib Dem to win a seat on the council through a by-election.
In a 10 per cent swing away from the Conservatives in the Hampstead Town ward, Ms Chung’s victory was the fifth for the Lib Dems from the last six council by-elections held in Camden.
The result cuts the Tory contingent at the Town Hall to just 12 councillors – not enough to change the way the council is run but a blow for team morale in what has become a key battleground.
The Conservatives’ record in by-elections is miserable and they must also now kick on to future elections without the experience of former environment chief Mike Greene, whose move to Bournemouth triggered the latest poll.
Group leader Councillor Andrew Marshall said: “We have to communicate what we are doing to voters. Most fair-minded people would say that we have had a positive effect on people’s lives.”
Some Conservative and Labour members tried to play down this soaring Lib Dem triumph as little more than a personality contest, which Ms Chung won on the grounds of her local fame as an in-your-face community campaigner.
But the Lib Dems insist their triumph should be read as another clue they are genuine, and indeed the best-placed contenders to unseat Labour MP Glenda Jackson in the Hampstead and Kilburn at the next general election.
It has certainly been the perfect tonic to the less encouraging results of a recent opinion poll across the wider parliamentary constituency which appeared to show the Tories edging ahead.
Ms Chung said: “I think there has been a general disappointment with the Conservatives in Hampstead since they got in last time. There was hope at first but there has been disappointment since.”
It is a source of frustration for rival parties that they have struggled for the past six years to make any real impression on by-election results in the face of meticulous planning and highly organised campaigns by the Lib Dems, which often involve drawing in helpers from beyond the borough boundaries.
Voters were bombarded with leaflets, and the catchy poster slogan Love Hampstead Vote Linda was pasted into front windows.
Ms Chung, the first Chinese-born councillor to be elected in Camden and one of only a handful across the country, added: “We have had Liberal Democrats in Hampstead before. We had Margaret Little, and when she died it left a big hole for us. I want to be a councillor like her.”
Ed Fordham, the parliamentary candidate, said: “This was an election called on the Conservatives’ choice of timing and they still couldn’t win. When it comes to elections, people vote for the Lib Dems.”
He added it was “an insult to their own candidate” Stephen Phillips and “a damned cheek” to describe the poll as a personality contest.
On that score, the Conservatives are treading carefully. They don’t want to upset Mr Phillips, who is still considered as a future councillor and has already offered to meet with Ms Chung to discuss local issues that have cropped up over the campaign.
But Chris Philp, the Tory parliamentary candidate, has his own battle on his mind.
“This has no relevance to the wider campaign because it was just a personality contest,” he said. “In the big elections, people don’t vote for the Lib Dems.”
Others believe it has been an acid test of an election, albeit riddled with different nuances that set it apart from other polls.
For starters, the BNP fielded candidate Stephen Dorman, who collected 29 votes. It led to demonstrations in the street as papers were being counted and heckles when the results were announced.
If Labour are to hold on to Ms Jackson’s seat, realistic members know that victory is unlikely to be summoned from the leafy streets of South End Green.
Instead, they have invested more thought into the upcoming Kentish Town by-election – the area is a genuine target, as before the party’s wipeout in 2006 the ward was a stronghold.
Labour councillor Theo Blackwell said: “This result is a bad result for the Conservatives. It amounts to a large swing. They have been the losers here.” |
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