Matthew Green to fight South Shropshire again

At the last election Matthew Green and his team in South Shropshire achieved a remarkable 23 per cent swing from the Conservatives, finishing only 1,624 votes short of victory. Matthew was MP for the old Ludlow constituency, which covered much the same area, between 2001 and 2005.

Today comes news that Matthew has been reselected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for South Shropshire. He writes on his Facebook page:

In South Shropshire with the continued rapid collapse of the Conservative Party, at the moment it appears the next general election will be between the Liberal Democrats and Reform. We need to help stop the UK descending into a very dark place. This is the strongest motivation for me to stand and win in South Shropshire. I want to be able to look my children in the eye and say I didn’t stand back, and I played my part, to the fullest extent I could, in helping resist the rise of xenophobic populist nationalism in our country.

Many have already contacted me with messages of support and offers of help in order to fight off the threat of Reform in South Shropshire, and I believe it’s our patriotic duty to do so. If you want to help, please comment on this post or message me.

You can also follow Matthew Green on Bluesky.

And he concludes:

It’s going to be a busy three years but I’m confident I’ll still find the time for walking South Shropshire’s beautiful hills, visiting castles and abbeys, and if my knees permit, still playing a game or two of cricket for Much Wenlock.

Two to share leadership of Lib Dem group on Shropshire council

Shropshire Council's Liberal Democrat group is to have two leaders in the run up to next year's elections, reports the Shropshire Star before its paywall kicks in.

The current group leader Roger Evans, the councillor for Longden, is to share the leadership with Heather Kidd, who represents Chirbury and Worthen.

As well as scoring some remarkable local by-election victories in the last two years, the Lib Dems polled more votes across the county at the general election than any other party.

This saw them hold Helen Morgan's seat in North Shropshire and come close to winning South Shropshire, where Matthew Green was the candidate.

71 Liberal Democrat MPs were elected yesterday

Yesterday was an extraordinary day. We now have the largest Liberal or Liberal Democrat representation in the Commons since the brief revival of 1923-4. A total of 71 Lib Dem MPs were elected, and that could rise to 72, depending on the result of a second recount tomorrow in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire. Only one piece of music will do.

This is a vindication of the party's strategy and general election campaign. I was sceptical of the imaginative use being made of opinion polls, but in the end this still underestimated the hunger of the prosperous South to get rid of the Conservatives.

I voted Labour in Harborough - given our party's pleas to Labour supporters to vote for us in our target seats, it would have felt hypocritical not to - but the Tory held on here. As I suspected, Labour just didn't have enough activists here to win.

Britain's most unpredictable seat - Leicester East - was won by the Conservatives. A year ago, following the gains they made there in Leicester City Council elections, this would have been no great surprise. But, from what I heard, there was a feeling that the Tories had chosen a weak candidate for the parliamentary seat. True or not, this didn't stop her winning.

Labour also lost Leicester South, where Jonathan Ashworth lost to an Independent who stood in protest against the party's policy on Gaza. It is worrying that voting in the city is beginning to reflect religious affiliations, a process perhaps encouraged by the Tories' courting of the Hindu community.

And a word too for Matthew Green, who came close to winning South Shropshire (which is largely the old Ludlow seat that he represented between 2001 and 2005). Next year's county council elections in Shropshire should be interesting.

South Shropshire Lib Dems and the future of England fast bowling

Embed from Getty Images

The England selectors have included the uncapped Nottinghamshire seamer Dillon Pennington.in their 14-man squad for the first two tests against the West Indies this summer.

Pennington joined Notts at the end of last season, having played for Worcestershire before that. And his profile on Cricinfo reveals that he is originally from Shropshire:

Dillon Pennington possesses the natural strength and height to become an imposing fast bowler of international quality. He was part of Worcestershire's satellite academy in Shropshire - coached by Paul Pridgeon - which has been so prolific in producing young players in recent years.

And Matthew Green, who was Liberal Democrat MP for Ludlow between 2001 and 2005 and is fighting South Shropshire in the current election, recently revealed on Twitter:

Thrilled to see Dillon Pennington @DillonPenningt4 called up to the England Test Squad. I had the pleasure of captaining him for his first games in adult cricket, when he played for Much Wenlock CC in 2012.
Always a delight to see others who are #Shropshire born & bred, excel. https://t.co/p6HkQRW89q

— Matthew Green (@MatthewGreen02) June 30, 2024

Shropshire Lib Dems are on such a roll at the moment they're even finding fast bowlers for England.

Matthew Green to fight South Shropshire for the Lib Dems?

There's news of a possible replacement candidate for the Liberal Democrats in the South Shropshire constituency.

Matthew Green, who was Lib Dem for the largely identical Ludlow seat between 2001 and 2005, has tweeted saying he is being asked to stand and asking what people think. The response so far seems enthusiastic.

The unexpected vacancy has been caused by Chris Naylor's decision to stand down from the role for health reasons.

Anyway, it's an excuse for me to post another of my many pictures of the constituency.