From the public house to the House of the Lord, I am greeted as a conquering hero for having taken all of 414 votes, 0.9 per cent, the bottom of the poll, and a lost deposit. Anyone would think that I had won. Largely because of who lost.
But even if everyone who had voted for me had voted for her, then she would still have lost. Some of my voters were sitting Labour Councillors, but others had never voted Labour in their lives and they never will.
Come to that, few, if any, of Watts Stelling's voters this time might otherwise have voted Labour at a General Election. Since the Conservative vote more than held up, then it must have been the Brexit Party's voters who were mostly former Labour voters. Here as nationally, this was about Brexit.
I am already a declared candidate for 2024, so any other candidate of the Left, although it is wildly unlikely that this Constituency Labour Party would now select one (it never selected Laura Pidcock on either occasion), would in fact be splitting my vote, not the other way round.
You either know, or you are too young ever to know, that, even though I voted proudly for Pat Glass and Ed Miliband in 2015, I have waited a long time for Labour to lose North West Durham, and while I do not in principle begrudge it any other seat, it will never win back this one while there is breath in my body.
By the next General Election, that will be more than 20 years in the past. But it is current to me every moment of every day, the defining experience of my life. In the early hours of Friday morning, I had the counting staff in stitches as, while the votes piled up, I danced around my walking stick like Charlie Chaplin.
Yes, Laura, this is personal. But not against you. In fact, since your posters are still up outside your house, I suggest that there is still a political future for you in Lanchester. My late father's friend, and my own colleague over many years as a Parish Councillor and a school governor, Ossie Johnson, is certainly retiring from Durham County Council in 2021. Right when, having won three parliamentary seats in County Durham, the Conservative Party doubtless intended to start putting serious skin in its municipal game here.
I will be standing for Parliament again here at North West Durham next time, so please give generously. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
But even if everyone who had voted for me had voted for her, then she would still have lost. Some of my voters were sitting Labour Councillors, but others had never voted Labour in their lives and they never will.
Come to that, few, if any, of Watts Stelling's voters this time might otherwise have voted Labour at a General Election. Since the Conservative vote more than held up, then it must have been the Brexit Party's voters who were mostly former Labour voters. Here as nationally, this was about Brexit.
I am already a declared candidate for 2024, so any other candidate of the Left, although it is wildly unlikely that this Constituency Labour Party would now select one (it never selected Laura Pidcock on either occasion), would in fact be splitting my vote, not the other way round.
You either know, or you are too young ever to know, that, even though I voted proudly for Pat Glass and Ed Miliband in 2015, I have waited a long time for Labour to lose North West Durham, and while I do not in principle begrudge it any other seat, it will never win back this one while there is breath in my body.
By the next General Election, that will be more than 20 years in the past. But it is current to me every moment of every day, the defining experience of my life. In the early hours of Friday morning, I had the counting staff in stitches as, while the votes piled up, I danced around my walking stick like Charlie Chaplin.
Yes, Laura, this is personal. But not against you. In fact, since your posters are still up outside your house, I suggest that there is still a political future for you in Lanchester. My late father's friend, and my own colleague over many years as a Parish Councillor and a school governor, Ossie Johnson, is certainly retiring from Durham County Council in 2021. Right when, having won three parliamentary seats in County Durham, the Conservative Party doubtless intended to start putting serious skin in its municipal game here.
I will be standing for Parliament again here at North West Durham next time, so please give generously. In any event, please email davidaslindsay@hotmail.com. Very many thanks.
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