WHEN you already have a pain in your knee and are suffering from back spasms you could do without a leafleting session with Stephen Stoddart, the BNP's candidate for St John's in Workington.
The former Workington Reds under 18s player is a human dynamo and I joined him yesterday for five hours of what was a 12 hour stint he was putting in.
Todd, as he's known locally, wanted to hit his voters with their candidate cards as late as possible so he gave himself two days to cover the large St John's Electoral Division and by yesterday's performance he will do it with time to spare.
Me, I'm shattered, and will just about make the finishing line with our campaigning. I can't wait for some office time to work on the next issue of Freedom.
But for now, back to St John's ward and I'm predicting a BNP GAIN on Thursday.
That's not my heart ruling my head, it's the reality of the number-crunching, the popularity of our candidate and of the political temperature in Workington.
We fought a very good campaign, laying the groundwork, in St John's back in November of last year and this was the result.
Allerdale Borough Council
St John's Ward by-election
November 2008:
Gerald Humes (Lab) 452
Simon Collins (Con) 394
Clive Jefferson (BNP) 257
John Bracken (Ind) 113
Alistair Grey (Green) 55.
With no Independent or Green this time, and most of John Bracken's vote going to Todd, that makes it almost a level playing field. 70% of people spoken to yesterday were voting or thinking of voting BNP and we heard from just a couple of Labour supporters all day.
There's a fair size Tory area and they could take second place but I think we have enough momentum here to win the ward by a whisker and return Stephen Stoddart as Workington's first ever BNP councillor.
This is my prediction:
Cumbria County Council
St Johns Electoral Division
Stephen Stoddart (British National Party) 35%
Michael Davidson (Conservative) 33%
Joe Holliday (Labour) 32%
The news from the weekend was that all Labour councillors from Workington and Maryport and the local MP Tony Cunningham were out campaigning in Moorclose ward.
Apparently they received a hostile reception and there was a lot of bad language in the air. Quite why they should focus on this ward is up for debate, but the word on the street is that it's personal - a feud between Labour and the Independents.
Whatever the reason, it was a strange way to use your resources on the final Saturday of an election campaign. Maybe they went for safety in numbers.
Just 48 hours to go, and in a moment I'm off to help finish our wards in Maryport.
Tuesday 2 June 2009
Labour falls back on safety in numbers
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According to a comment http://umbrellog.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1000250&p=83486#p83486 at eureferendum.com, Labour MEP has smade the following request, which reads in part :
... I am therefore writing to ask if you could help in a simple but potentially effective way: simply to remind everyone on your personal email mailing list, and if possible your work email mailing list, to urge them to use their right to vote.
I am therefore suggesting that you might consider something along the following lines which you can cut and paste and adapt to send to as many people as you feel appropriate:
Dear XXXX
I am sending this round-robin to urge you to vote in the European elections later this week –Thursday 4th June.
Many people think that European elections don’t matter. They do. ...
In addition there is a real threat, under this proportional representation election, that the BNP might win a seat and gain the platform and legitimacy of being among Britain’s elected representatives in the European Parliament. In Yorkshire & Humber, they will take a seat off Labour if they get more than half of Labour’s share of the vote. That seat is held by Richard Corbett, one of the most hard working and committed MEPs.[emphasis added] The thought of him being replaced by Andrew Brons, a former leader of the National Front and an open admirer of Hitler, is truly appalling.
I would urge you to vote and to pass on this message to family. Friends, neighbours and colleagues at work, urging them to do likewise, either by word of mouth, or by forwarding this message to them by email.
Best wishes.
XXXXXXX
If you feel able to do this, I would be most grateful. Please do not hesitate to give me a call if you want to discuss it and please feel free to adapt the text as you feel necessary.
Best wishes,
Richard Corbett
Labour Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire & Humber"
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