Thursday, April 27, 2023

Blue Wall latest: Lib Dems turn their fire on Eton

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Sup up your beer and collect your fags,
There's a poll going on down near Slough.

i News is getting excited about one ward in particular:

The Eton and Castle ward in Windsor - which covers the college - is a key target for the Liberal Democrats who believe that if things go their way they could wipe out all three conservative councillors there. Such a move would certainly lead to some schadenfreude, but it would also point to a wider problem for the Conservative party: the threat to the blue wall.

BBC News has been in Berkshire too:

All 43 seats on West Berkshire Council are up for election. The Conservatives currently have 24, Lib Dems 16 and Greens hold three. The Lib Dems think they've got a strong chance of seizing control.

The article is full of vox pops gathered at a Newbury race meeting, an event at which you're more likely to find Conservative voters. So let's hear it for Eddie Campbell:

Round the corner from the stands, we meet Eddie Campbell who is more firmly enthusiastic about the Liberal Democrats.

"They are more aligned with what my sort of beliefs are politically."

He's also impressed by their "ground game". "I've seen more of them, you know, just walking down the high street. I know we have Conservative at the moment, but I haven't seen any Conservative activity," he says.

For Eddie, the cost of living, cuts to public services and the environment are major voting issues.

5 comments:

nigel hunter said...

Any chance of absorbing Eton school into the state section.?

Anonymous said...

But would the state pay the money that is instrumental in making Eton a decent school?

Matt Pennell said...

I look forward to the BBC asking 'random members of the public' about Lib Dem prospects at the local shooting range, bowls club, golf club and specifically the Monday Club in the near future.

Unknown said...

Yes, I'm with Matt on this. The short snippet on the Ten o'Clock News was bad enough, but earlier in the day I heard the longer piece on Radio 4. It was dire. OK, the Great British Public is not the group one goes to for incisive political analysis, but this piece didn't tell me anything about the local elections in general or the Lib Dems in particular. More to the point, people who can take a day off to go to the races, presumably with full wallets, really are not typical of the average Berkshire voter at the moment.

Matt Pennell said...

Thank you for your kind words Unknown. I'm optimistic about our prospects in West Berkshire, South Gloucestershire, Cherwell and Stratford-on-Avon councils. If we flip those councils it will be part of a winding ribbon of gold that starts in Devon and meanders all the way to London along the Thames Valley.