Elections, elections, elections

ELECTIONS have always motivated me. It's my favourite part of politics - when you take your policies to the public and voters give their judgement on whether they are deemed relevant to the current political climate.

Even in the bad old days when nationalist parties were receiving derisory votes, I would still get excited when it was decided to contest an election. In Brighton in the late seventies and early eighties we were on the end of some shocking results. I remember one election when we received 23 votes (about 1%) and we knew exactly the people who had voted for us. Then there was another when we polled 6% (three times what we had expected), we were as bemused as the opposition in the rise in our vote but later, after a Labour Party inquest, they reported that a number of their voters had got confused over the candidates and cast their vote for our Taylor instead of their Turner.

So if I got excited about contesting elections back then, you can imagine how I feel now when we are scaling the heights with an average vote of 14% (that's according to the BBC2's Politics Show last Friday). And as there's such a lot going on over the next few weeks I thought I would use my blog this morning just to give you a run down of what elections are coming up where we have a candidate standing.

Thursday 12th February 2008

CROYDON COUNCIL
Waddon Ward
John CARTWRIGHT (Loony)
Mary DAVEY (Green)
Kathleen GARNER (UKIP)
Patricia GAUGE (Lib-Dem)
Clare HILLEY (Con)
Charlotte LEWIS (BNP)
Ian PAYNE (Lab)
Mark SAMUEL (Ind)
May 2008 GLA LIST:CON 1353, LAB 893, LD 323, GRN 234, BNP 211, UKIP 103.

Thursday 19th February 2008

HARROGATE COUNCIL
Bilton Ward
Sharon BENTLEY (Con)
Steven GILL (BNP)
Andrew GRAY (Lab)
Clare McKENZIE (Lib-Dem)
May 2007: LD 974, CON 877, BNP 122.

LEWISHAM COUNCIL
Downham Ward
Christine ALLISON (Con)
Duwayne BROOKS (Lib-Dem)
Jenni CLUTTEN (Lib-Dem)
Tess CULNANE (BNP)
Damien EGAN (Lab)
Andrew LEE (Con)
Cath MILLER (Green)
Pauline Morrison (Lab)
Lee ROACH (Green
May 2006 result LD 2230/1117/1106 LAB 590/586/554 CON 403/330/326 GRN 153/149/137.

NORTH WEST LEICS COUNCIL
Thringstone Ward
Tony DANDY (Con)
Roy HARBAN (BNP)
Terence MORRELL (Lib-Dem)
Ray WOODWARD (Lab)
May 2007: LAB 634/564, CON 501/376, LD 355/331.

SEVENOAKS COUNCIL
Swanley St Mary's Ward
Paul GOLDING (BNP)
Mike HOGG (Lab)
Tony Searles (Con)
May 2007: LAB 462/420, CON 208/197, UKIP 165.

Thursday 26th February 2008

BROXTOWE COUNCIL
Greaseley Giltbrook & Newthorpe Ward
Edward JACOBS (Lab)
Keith MARRIOTT (UKIP)
Gwen ROBB (Lib-Dem)
Wayne SHELBOURN (BNP)
Penny SPENCELEY-STEVENS (Con)
May 2007: CON 1232/1136/1129, LAB 624/474/448, BNP 396, LD 280/243/205.

Thursday 5th March 2008

CARLISLE COUNCIL
Belah Ward
Hazel BOWMAKER (Green)
Tony CARVELL (BNP)
Gareth ELLIS (Con)
Paul IM THURN (Lab)
David Miller (Ind)
James Osler (Lib-Dem)
May 2008: CON 1212, LAB 431, ED 176.

CARLISLE COUNCIL
Castle Ward
Alistair BARBOUR (BNP)
Steven BOWDITCH (Lab)
Colin FARMER (Lib-Dem)
John REARDON (Green)
Allan STEVENSON (Con)
May 2008: LD 652, LAB 299, CON 206, IND 202.

NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME COUNCIL
Ravenscliffe Ward
Sarah BARNES (BNP)
Stephen BLAIR (Con)
Gillian BURNETT (Lab)
Geoffrey LOCKE (UKIP)
John PARSONS (Lib-Dem)
May 2008: CON 399, LAB 224, LD 189, UKIP 189.

NORTH WARWICKSHIRE COUNCIL
Atherstone Central Ward
Gill DAVIS (Con)
Neil DIRVEIKS (Lab)
Ray JARVIS (Ind)
Matthew MASON (BNP)
May 2007: CON 449/386, LAB 433/331, LD 151.

These are the ones that I can find. If you know of any more then please let me know.

Allerdale meeting tonight, Freedom arrived in Cumbria last night and I've just signed up for leafleting again on Saturday although I will have to finish at one o'clock as Workington Reds entertain Telford at Borough Park and that's a game that can't be missed.