Byline Times has an eye-widening article about Festus Akinbusoye, the Conservative candidate in the Mid Bedfordshire by-election.
It's worth reading the whole thing, but let me draw your attention to this comment about a newspaper delivered on his behalf:
Akinbysoye’s paper also describes a "close two-horse race between Labour and local Conservatives".
If the Tories are talking up the Labour vote, you can be damn sure it the Lib Dems they're more afraid of.
5 comments:
That is precisely what Matthew Parris, the outgoing Conservative MP, said in the last few days of the West Derbyshire by election in 1986. He talked up the Labour campaign, the press slavishly reported it, and the Tory beat the Liberal by a hundred votes.
Exactly. Matthew Parris admitted to me that the hint of a Labour victory was a lie to deter Labour supporters from switching to us.
In 1986 the Labour party was still seen as socialist - or at least democratic socialist. Traditional Labour voters in mid-Beds. will surely have a different view of Starmer's Labour party.
Yes,divide and conquer.Tell Labour voters they are the challengers. Take votes off us .Splits the opposition vote and Tories win.
NOT NEW. In my area the Lib cllr was retiring.LABOUR campaigned that it was a 2 horse race between Cons and Lab.(we were nowhere.Was a lie).Took votes off us and Lab won..Splitting the opposition vote is DANGEROUS for it allows the incumbant (Tory) 2 win.It has to be ALWAYS stressed WE are the winning opposition party.
In May Labour pollsters and pundits were extremely excited by their victory in Olney ward, Milton Keynes, even though they scraped home by 46 votes. Why? Because this is one of the extremely few places with significant rural hinterland that Labour have won in, even down to ward level, south of the Mersey - Humber line. While I don't want to urinate on Labour's bonfire, party officials need to admit that when they win in the countryside it's very rare and possibly down to a niche set of circumstances. The same Labour figures are taking that isolated result and bolting it onto Mid Beds, they really think they can roll out that success across multiple small towns and villages across the South.
How will this play out for Labour? I say the same to those wondering if Milli Vanilli will come up with a 2nd album or not - only time will tell ;)
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