third

i would just like to congratulate the conservative party for their success in the two recent by-elections.
third in sedgefield.
third in southall.
new labour held both and the liberal democrats came second in both.

about the southall result cameron said, “our vote held up.” which might be a sensible approach to take – except that the conservatives went out of their way to win the seat: cameron on the ground campaigning for the local candidate, a local candidate who was put in place not because he was the best the local party had to offer, but he was a respected local businessman who joined the conservatives in order to stand. (it later transpired that his company gave money to new labour… ooops). when you go to that much effort you just have to be disappointed with third place.

about sedgefield graham robb says, “we are still in business in the north-east and as we regenerate our party, we will be back in business even more”.
while i think robb has mangled english in a way that prescott would have been proud of, i think he would have been better served with the following assessment would have been “we are still hanging on”.
robb’s complacency makes you wonder whether or not the conservatives are ready for power.

considering their success at the local elections these two by-elections have to be a major disappointment for cameron and the conservatives.
it seemed like cameron had it made blair had left a bad taste in the mouth of the electorate, while brown was just not as nice as cameron.
not only has brown managed to appear both personable and competent but he has also drawn a line under much of the blair years while outlining a new(ish) direction for the government. all of this means that there is a brown honeymoon period.
result of this?
cameron’s conservatives came third.

cheers all round.