Labour leader of Camden quits Fortune Green in fear of Lib Dems

Richard Olszewski, the Labour leader of the London Borough of Camden, is quitting his Fortune Green ward next May to fight what he hopes will be a safer seat.

Fortune Green is already split between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, and a crushing Lib Dem victory in a recent by-election in neighbouring West Hampstead suggests he would have trouble holding on there.

Of course, it wasn't Olszewski's idea, you understand, He told the Camden New Journal:

"Over recent months, several colleagues approached me to raise their concerns that, as Leader of Camden Council, I am likely to be especially targeted at the forthcoming London elections in the ward I currently represent, which is one of the most marginal wards in the borough,” said Cllr Olszewski.

"I have proudly represented Fortune Green Ward through three successive elections, and although I have secured an increase in my vote at every election, my seat remains very marginal.

"I was urged by colleagues to consider that my role as leader places significant responsibilities on me and demands on my time, both in dealing with council business and within the Camden Labour Group I lead, which would prevent me from spending the time I would need to campaign in Fortune Green, not just during the election period itself, but in the months beforehand. Therefore, with encouragement and support locally, I stood for selection in Holborn and Covent Garden Ward."

No doubt he thinks the costermongers and sopranos of Covent Garden won't mind being used in this way.

But cunning plans don't always work out. In 1983 the Conservative minister Iain Sproat decided to leave his seat of Aberdeen South to fight the newly formed Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency in the Scottish Borders.

He was beaten there by the Liberal Archy Kirkwood. Meanwhile, the new Tory candidate held Aberdeen South.

Archy Kirkwood and the Average White Band

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Alwyn Turner's masterly survey of the UK singles charts of my early teenage years for Lion & Unicorn has reached March 1975.

One of the top ten in the week he chooses was Pick Up the Pieces by the Average White Band. Alwsyn rightly describes them as "Britain’s best-ever funk band".

When I chose Pick Up the Pieces as one of my Sunday music videos I repeated some lines from Norman Baker's Against the Grain where he remembered an unsuccessful gig by his band The Reform Club:

As well as members of the band, we had roped in Archy Kirkwood, the Lib Dem MP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, on guitar, and Chris Berry, our Eastbourne candidate, on keyboards. 

Archy was a competent rhythm guitarist and had been in a Scottish band in the 1960s, half of which went on to be the Average White Band, though not Archy's half.

This morning I sent the link to this post to Alwyn, and of course he knows more than I do.

It turns out Archy was a member of a band called The Kingpins and only one of its members, Onnie McIntyre, later joined the Average White Band.

Googling The Kingpins does not get you far, but it does lead you to the site of another band member, Lex Gibson, and reveals that this history got scrambled so there was once a rumour that Archy had been in the Average White Band himself.

My own first involvement with Archy Kirkwood was at my first Liberal Assembly at Bournemouth in 1984.

This was the era of big debates on nuclear weapons and we radicals wanted people with clout on the platform so they would be seen voting against David Steel's support for cruise missiles.

So I got there early and took a seat on the platform, only to give it up to Archy just before the debate began.

Jenny Marr chosen to fight Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk

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Liberal Democrats in the Scottish Borders have chosen Jenny Marr as their prospective parliamentary candidate.

She told the Border Telegraph:

"I’m thrilled to have been chosen to represent my home constituency. 

"Growing up in the Borders I always felt that the Liberal Democrats put my community first in everything they did and I want to bring that sort of public service and commitment back to Borders politics on the big stage and here at home. 

"On the national stage I want to be the pro-UK and pro-EU voice that reflects the dominant view here."

The Borders were once an area of strength for the Liberal Party, returning both David Steel and Archy Kirkwood to parliament.

I don't want to depress anyone, but at the last general election we finished fourth in Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk with 4.7 per cent of the vote.

The only way is up, baby.

Average White Band: Pick Up the Pieces

In Against the Grain Norman Baker remembers an unsuccessful gig by his band The Reform Club:

As well as members of the band, we had roped in Archy Kirkwood, the Lib Dem MP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, on guitar, and Chris Berry, our Eastbourne candidate, on keyboards. 

Archy was a competent rhythm guitarist and had been in a Scottish band in the 1960s, half of which went on to be the Average White Band, though not Archy's half.

In 1974 the Average White Band reached no. 1 in America with this single.

That was a rare feat for a British band in that era, perhaps because our charts were dominated by trashy glam rock.

The funky Pick Up the Pieces is a class above all that. Here is the AWB playing it a few years later at the Montreux Jazz Festival.