Green Party abandons internal election over dirty tricks

Yesterday I wrote about the contest to become the Green Party's external communications officer and the increasingly nasty tone it has been taking. Most of the nastiness seems to have come from supporters of Rupert Read, would-be Mr Clean of the recent Norwich by-election, and his running mate.

This morning comes news this statement from the party's electoral returning officer (ERO):

A contractor working with the party overstepped their authority by sending a message to all local parties making allegations against one of the candidates for External Communications Co-ordinator without that candidate having any possibility of a right to reply. I am treating this as illegal canvassing by that contractor.

This situation is so serious that it has prejudiced the fairness of the postal ballot for External Communications Co-ordinator.

I refer all members to the following section in the Election rules:

5 Conduct of other party members
5.1 Rules of conduct

The ERO has no redress against members who are not candidates in the election. A candidate should not be disqualified due to the actions of another member, unless it is clear that member has acted with the approval of the candidate. However, if, in the opinion of the ERO, the actions of a third party may have materially affected the result of the election, the ERO may declare the election void.

As ERO, with the support of the Standing Orders Committee (SOC), I have taken the decision to call off the postal ballot for the position of External Communications Co-ordinator.

This was not a decision taken lightly.

The election for Chair of the Green party executive is not affected and will continue as normal.

Nominations for the position of External Communications Co-ordinator will re-open at conference, as for other GPEx positions where there were one or zero nominations.

There will be no campaigning allowed for the position of External Communications Co-ordinator until nominations close at conference.Valid candidates' nominations already submitted will still stand, unless they withdraw, but will be treated in the same way as valid nominations for any other position being re-opened at conference.

These decisions were made with the support of SOC.

The party's executive says it is taking legal advice over allegations made in the email.

So much for the Green Party representing a clean new form of politics.

Norwich North was a triumph for Rennardism

There has been a lot of debate in the Lib Dem blogosphere about the our performance in the Norwich North and whether it represents the end of the road for Rennardism. By Rennardism is meant our traditional way of fighting by-elections: delivering colossal quantities of leaflets, playing up local causes and grievances... you know the sort of thing.

What the participants in that debate are missing is the fact that Norwich North was a triumph for Rennardism: it's just that it was not the Liberal Democrats who were using the technique.

First there was the quantity of paper delivered. On the day before polling Norfolk Blogger reported his estimate of how many pieces of literature the parties had delivered. Yes, the Liberal Democrats were leading, having put out 14 leaflets (with two of them being delivered by Freepost). But the Tories were only one leaflet behind (again with two going out by Freepost).

Then there was the content of the leaflets. Take a look at this polling day leaflet - again from the recently indispensable Norfolk Blogger...

Does it look familiar? I am sure I have delivered Liberal Democrat leaflets that are almost identical to this.

For years Liberals have talked of "community politics" as though it were a distinct ideology, but I wonder if we weren't kidding ourselves. Wasn't it just a set of techniques that any party can use?

Years ago I served on some cross-county committee with a Conservative councillor from Charnwood. In those days Charnwood Tories tended to be young, bright and hard-line Thatcherites. He told me that they all used the campaign guides from the Association of Liberal Councillors because they were the best.

And then there is localism. Political Betting has an informative posting and debate on the Liberal Democrats' recent performances in Westminster by-elections.

One comment from Ted is particularly to the point here:

One of the lessons the Conservatives took from Liberal/Lib Dem successes was to select early and get candidates to develop their constituency presence, supported by the noble Lord’s target seats financing. So Chloe had been campaigning already for 18 months. 

Oddly though the LDs have a policy of re-selecting for by-elections (in itself appearing as judgement on their poor original choice) while also making a point of localism, always attacking the likely rival on residence, job or something that will make them appear “other”. In April Pond they selected a candidate with Norwich connections but who was new to the constituency and open to the very attacks that usually mark a Lib Dem campaign. 

In Henley they selected Stephen Kearney, who had been very active as a Plymouth Lib Dem and kicked out a local woman candidate. In Crewe Elizabeth Shenton, a councillor ion Newcastle Under Lyme was chosen but yet the LDs attacked Timpson for living outside the constituency. 

The standard playbook does seem exhausted now - the rivals have learnt the lessons and how to counter-attack, there are alternative vehicles for protest.

So it is not that Rennardism was tried in Norwich and found wanting. It is more that the Tories implemented it more effectively than we did.

The truth is that the traditional Lib Dem by-election techniques are a necessary but not a sufficient condition for success. I have met candidates who believe that if you deliver enough leaflets and enough newspapers then you are bound to win a constituency. Yes, you do need to make that sort of effort, particularly as we are the third party nationally, but you also need a high profile in the press and in the community.

We also need some clear, distinctive and popular policies, which brings us back to the problems with A Fresh Start for Britain.

Random thoughts on the Norwich North result

First of all, the result suggests that the scandal over MPs' expenses is already fading into memory.

The Conservatives, despite being as deeply mired as anyone else, had no difficulty winning the seat. More than that, Ian Gibson (who was deselected over his own claims) emerged as a popular hero amid widespread claims that he would have won if he had stood as an independent. And the most plausible anti-party candidate, Craig Murray, failed to make much of an impact.

The result was a triumph for the Conservatives, but it is hard to be too enthusiastic about their candidate. Chloe Smith, though she did her best to hide it, is a wonk from Conservative head office. She is a female Miliband. She even looks like a female Miliband.

Labour's performance was a disaster, reminding them uncomfortably of the days when they hardly held a seat south and east of that mythical line from the Severn to the Wash. By succumbing to swine flu their candidate made himself the embodiment of this government's decline.

The Liberal Democrats worked incredibly hard and could not quite manage to stand still. No doubt a longer campaign would have suited them and enabled them to overtake Labour, but we still need to have a long, hard think about what we now offer that could possibly excite the voters. A Fresh Start for Britain does not promise to be much help.

It was a good result for UKIP, suggesting that they will now be a presence in elections at all levels. I suspect they are mopping up a lot of disaffected traditional Labour voters at present, but in the long run this may pose a threat to the Conservatives.

The Greens will be disappointed by their showing. Could it be that, though everyone feels warm to them, being presented with Green policies in an election campaign puts people off them? Still they did win an impressive local by-election in Hove yesterday.

And the Libertarian Party put up an 18-year-old and got 36 votes. The revolution may have to be postponed.

Iain Dale and Nich Starling on the Norwich North by-election

The By-Elections blog will take you to a recording of their joint interview on Radio 5 Live from Tuesday.

Those Norwich North candidates in full

BBC News has the list of candidates in the by-election (polling is on 23 July):

• Peter Baggs (Independent)
• Thomas Burridge (Libertarian Party)
• Anne Fryatt (None of The Above Party)
• Bill Holden (Independent)
• Laud Howling (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party)
• Craig Murray (Put An Honest Man into Parliament)
• Chris Ostrowski (Labour)
• April Pond (Liberal Democrat)
• Rupert Read (Green)
• Chloe Smith (Conservative)
• Glenn Tingle (UK Independence Party)
• Robert West (British National Party)

Note that Ian Gibson is not standing.

Tories talking up the Greens in Norwich North by-election

Norfolk Blogger reports:

I had two emails at the weekend from Tories trying to convince me that the Greens were doing well despite the evidence on the streets being clearly the opposite. It was clear that these Tories wanted me to believe something that as a local, living and working in the constituency, was obviously untrue.

What is going on? His analysis is that:

It has been clear for some time that the Tory campaign in Norwich North has been to "play it safe", and hope that their core vote turns out over as evenly split an opposition as possible. However, it seems that their plans are becoming unravelled.

From what I have been told the Lib Dems have got clear traction in this campaign, clearly evident from the number of leaflets being delivered and the number of Lib Dem posters going up, and this has clearly got the Tories worried. One party breaking clear from the pack behind them is their greatest threat. So what is their response ? To talk up the Greens.

Iain Dale and political morailty

Iain Dale has written the Commons Confidential column in this week's New Statesman. I don't know what the magazine's readers will make of his mundane Tory views, but after Kevin Maguire anyone would read like Proust.

There is one oddity. Iain positions himself as an arbiter of political morality - in Norwich North particularly:

I was up in my old stomping ground of Norwich at the weekend, sniffing the by-election air. The Lib Dems had achieved the remarkable feat on the same day of writing to the Tory candidate, Chloe Smith, saying they wanted a good clean campaign and, in the next breath, smearing the Green candidate, Rupert Read, as an “extremist”. How did they get a reputation as the nice guys of British politics?

This is the same Iain Dale who is still happily accusing the Lib Dem candidate, April Pond, of "whoring herself across Norfolk" on his blog.

Strange.

Norwich North by-election to he held on 23 July

More from the BBC.

All the news from Norwich North

The By-Elections blog has all the latest news from the campaign.

This includes an estimate of how Norwich North voted in the recent county elections:

Con 11357 41.3%
Lab 5059 18.4%
LD 4682 17.0%
Grn 4465 16.2%
UKIP 1704 6.2%
BNP 228 0.8%

Iain Dale should apologise to April Pond

There is a bizarre post on Iain Dale's Diary at the moment.

In it, Iain reports the decision of Norwich North Liberal Democrats to adopt April Pond, currently PPC for the Broadlands constituency, as candidate for the forthcoming by-election.

He writes:

I always thought the LibDems could be a bit dim, but they've really gone and done it now. April Pond is their candidate for the new Norfolk seat of Broadland. Or she was. Today Norwich North LibDems have selected her as their candidate for the Norwich North by-election.

Let's make an assumption that she loses - after all, the LibDems have never really done anything in Norwich North in the past and always come third, so it's a reasonable assumption. What does she do then? Go crawling back to Broadland LibDems and beg for them to have her back? What on earth will Broadland voters make of her whoring herself across Norfolk?

As more than one of the commenter on the post points out, Broadlands is a constituency drawn up under the new Parliamentary boundaries and will be contested for the first time at the next general election. It contains wards that are in the current Norwich North. It is therefore entirely reasonable for April Pond to fight the by-election.

And even if Iain thinks that April should not fight the seat, what possible justification is there for describing her as "whoring herself across Norfolk"?

It is rude and sexist. Iain should withdraw it and apologise.

In an attempt at a defence, Iain writes elsewhere in the posting:

It's an unwritten rule in politics that once you are selected for a seat, you stick with it. Imagine in 2004 if I had abandoned North Norfolk to apply for the then vacant seat of Tunbridge Wells.

But there was no by-election in Tunbridge Wells, and Tunbridge Wells and North Norfolk have no wards in common. So the parallel is simply invalid.

And, given the result Iain achieved in Norfolk, I imagine many people would have been glad if he had gone off to Kent.

Nick Clegg interviewed in Norwich Evening News

The Liberal Democrat leader was in Norwich last night for a question and answer session with a public audience:

Mr Clegg spoke for about 90 minutes and took about 30 questions from the audience ranging from withdrawal from the European Union to how to prevent another financial crisis.

The biggest cheer came when Mr Clegg responded to a question from a man who called for the nationalisation of the city's rail and bus service.

Mr Clegg said that “50pc of train journeys” he had travelled on from Norwich to London had been delayed, while Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk, who chaired the meeting, suggested he had been lucky.

Mr Clegg called for both services to be brought back into public control, but warned of the costs of renegotiating the contracts to do it.

He was also interviewed by the Norwich Evening News.