Well done Elwyn!

Posted By: Dale Mulgrew
Date Posted: 14/01/2011

Browsers of RO may first of all recognise that this is my second diary entry in quick succession! Well, quick for me. So perhaps I am slipping? Or maybe just trying to use this very good facility more often.

Naturally there will be many conclusions drawn from the result of the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election.

The LibDem candidate, Elwyn Watkins, was a former local Rochdale councillor. His plucky courage to right a very electoral wrong has to be admired. During the campaign he showed a commitment to the cause that would be difficult to match, he has been a very good candidate.

I, like many colleagues from the Rochdale team, visited the campaign to lend a hand.

My first observation is that I can see why by-elections do not usually occur in January. It has been cold; not just the weather, but the atmosphere among voters has been also. I guess this is not difficult to expect. There has been a blizzard of political activity and the stakes were high. 

So in the end the party in opposition won the seat that they were defending and expected to win. Not such a big news story after all.

The headline that everyone wanted to write, and probably had virtually inked in, was a humiliating result and back in third place for the yellow team. The soothsayers were forecasting it, the cynics were assuming it, and our opponents were hoping for it.

This did not happen. In fact, Elwyn managed to increase his vote from last May, and a share of 31% is satisfying.

This means no meltdown. Government is difficult, and the backdrop to this election was a tough one.

A duff result could have led to the faint crackling of noise doubting the future of the party and of the liberal movement. But maybe the public this time did not want to kick the third party in the way some had hoped for?

Could it be that increasingly there is less of an appetite for the narrow and tired offering associated with a two party system? Is there a desire for political choice and pluralism that an alternative provides? More reflective not of the homogeneous but diverse society that the UK is becoming?

However, let us not detract from a fine result for Elwyn. Despite the political climate you found yourself in, you did a job well done!