´óÏó´«Ã½

´óÏó´«Ã½ BLOGS - Newsnight: Michael Crick
« Previous | Main | Next »

Glasgow East Verdict

Michael Crick | 19:10 UK time, Wednesday, 23 July 2008

poll_pa_203.jpgIn some ways Glasgow East has been a very old-fashioned by-election.

Contrary to what many people expected (including myself), there haven't been swarms of MPs dragooned up here by the whips, certainly not on the scale of some of the big by-elections I've visited in the past, where party whips sometimes arranged coaches to bring their troops up from Westminster.

Media stunts and photo-opportunities have been fairly limited; few cabinet ministers have been seen, and all parties have concentrated on time-honoured campaigning methods - meeting people out on the streets, leafleting and knocking door-to-door - and this has been such a formidable Labour stronghold for so long that many voters here have probably never been canvassed by a political candidate in decades.

Labour has made much of the personality of their candidate Margaret Curran, whose photo appears 15 times on their main election address, whereas Gordon Brown's features - as you might have guessed - are not shown once.

Nor could I find any mention on Curran's leaflets, or on her website, of her predecessor as Labour candidate, David Marshall, the Labour MP for Glasgow East since 1979. He's become a non-person, it seems, suddenly airbrushed from Labour history.

He's played no role at all in Curran's campaign, and hasn't even got Labour posters up on his house, which, somewhat controversially, used to double up as his constituency office in his days as the MP.

Labour's strategy seems to be working. Several voters have mentioned how they don't think much of Gordon Brown's performance, but admire Margaret Curran and her record as a feisty, tough-talking MSP and minister in Edinburgh, and that's why they'll be voting for her.

What's more, there's little of the anger with Labour which was obvious in Crewe and Nantwich. Labour will lose people to the SNP, but probably not in sufficient numbers to lose the seat.

The SNP candidate John Mason, in contrast, doesn't seem to appear much in public without either his party leader Alex Salmond, or Salmond's deputy Nicola Sturgeon, which rather gives the impression that he can't be let loose on his own.

One voter yesterday described the contest as Margaret Curran against Alex Salmond.

The Tories have an interesting nominee in Davina Rankin, who, unusually for a Conservative candidate, is black (or strictly speaking, half black), and an active trades unionist. And their campaign has been pretty impressive. They know they won't win, of course, but have taken to the streets with gusto, energy and good humour, determined to show Glasgow is no longer a no-go area for them.
I've been impressed by how many voters have told me they will vote Conservative, which means the party may well save its deposit, and may even improve on the 6.9 per cent. I also expect the Conservatives to push the Lib Dems into fourth place.

That's unfortunate for the 30-year old Liberal Democrat contender Ian Robertson, who is a strong candidate and should go far, but his campaign lacks the energy, urgency and imagination we've come to expect from Lib Dems in by-elections.

It's a touch ironic that tomorrow they will probably suffer from the same kind of squeeze on also-ran parties which the Liberal Democrats have been brilliant at inflicting on third and fourth parties in the past.


Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    I think ths thread has been posted too soon, as there's nothing useful to be said without breaking the Special House Rules During Election Periods.

    In fact the story itself is pretty close to breaking them and would have been better published immediately after the polls close.

  • Comment number 2.

    Michael Crick:

    Probably they are not very concern about Glasgow East riding in this by-election.

  • Comment number 3.

    Hi

    I run the By-elections blog



    I also help run the By-election archive website at



    I know you get hold of lots of leaflets from by-elections and that's why we are asking for your help.

    Would it be possible for you to help us archive the leaflets from Glasgow East?

    please contact me via the website or the blog if you can help with scans or by sending us leaflets for us to scan.

    I look forward to your coverage of the result.

    Thanks

  • Comment number 4.

    Well the verdict is in and sadly for New Labour, the votes simply didn't go their way.

    Perhaps following this latest result, hot on the heals of Crewe and Nantwich and others that were disastrous for them, they will finally learn a little humility and stop being dictatorial tyrants imposing a police state on the British public.

    If Scotland does decide in the referrendum that we know is coming within the next two years to become independent and cede from the union, then perhaps those of us who value civil liberties and a Government who works for the people will end up moving up north.

  • Comment number 5.

    Can we have some realism now, please?

    Labour will have to hold a by-election for the Dunfermline SP seat soon. What odds on them retaining that?

    What other by-elections should we be looking forward to?

    Now we really need some scuttlebutt from the Westminster village:
    Do the Labour lemmings want to go into the general election with Brown?
    Will Brown give up?
    Who will stand against him?

  • Comment number 6.

    Who would want yet ANOTHER unelected Prime Minister foisted on them. If Brown goes, and I can't see his position getting better only worse, then the proper course would be to call a general election...

    Sorry, I guess I was dreaming... New Labour do the right thing... Sorry, that is far too much to expect!

  • Comment number 7.

    Labour were comfortably in front ( 52% ) in the Glasgow East opinion polls before Labour revealed their Tory inspired " Corporate Nazi " Welfare Reforms. Failure to mention this important policy factor ( to the working classes )makes ´óÏó´«Ã½ political reporting and analysis look amateur.

  • Comment number 8.

    Michael you got the temperature of the Scots very wrong but Adam Boulton seemed to know the score though !

    Funny that

  • Comment number 9.

    Jolly good. Gordon will listen but carry on the fight.... and on .... and on .... till 2010.

    Then the next Government will have to pick up the pieces of what is becoming a serious mess.

  • Comment number 10.

    Michael your presence on the Newsnight By-Election programme last night, and in recent days, changed the usual format we get from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland when it comes to politics, particularly in this by-election.

    Glenn Campbell is the most biased presenter ever and his treatment of John Mason last week was shameful and completely unprofessional. Neither Campbell, Gordon Brewer or their STV counterparts have possessed between the lot of them the guts to confront Margaret Curran regarding David Marshall's absence from this campaign or the reasons behind it. Curran's clear fury that you departed from the usual soft approach taken with her by Scottish media people was more than obvious the other evening when you interviewed her. Her complete refusal to answer your questions left her stammering and without words. That interview destroyed her. I think you might want to consider setting up crash courses for your fellow journalists on the professional approach to political journalism and the Scottish branch seem to need them more than most. You might want to invite Ms Wark too since she is another one who can't do her job objectively given the clear contempt she showed towards Alex Salmond in an interview last year. She should have been sacked for it. What voters, all voters, need is neutrality in the media. That need grows more urgent by the day but your contribution in the last few days in Scottish politics has been utterly refreshing.

  • Comment number 11.

    Mr. C,

    Good stuff on Newsnight tonight. Everyone is looking distinctly twitchy in Brave New Labour World.

  • Comment number 12.

    6. - HovellingHermit

    I really don’t think that the British public will stand for having yet another Prime Minister foisted upon them by this failing government. This would make three Prime Ministers in a little over two years. It begins to resemble a ‘tin pot’ dictatorship. Zimbabwe’s ‘would be President’ Robert Mugabe encapsulated Gordon Brown’s position when Mr Mugabe was accused of assuming power although no one had voted for him when he said that he was in exactly the same position as Mr Brown. He was right of course.

    If the Labour Party want another new leader they should have the guts to call a General Election to ask their bosses, us, the public, who WE want to be Prime Minister. If we think Labour has got everything right, they will be returned to power with a legitimate leader and Prime Minister, but if the public think that Labour has had long enough to get it right, we will vote for someone else.

    Will they have the guts to gamble on us? I doubt it. Personally, one thing is certain, I will NOT recognise or tolerate yet another ‘Prime Minister’ forced, unelected, onto the British public!

  • Comment number 13.

    If politicians can't even answer a few questions then that speaks volumes :p

  • Comment number 14.

    Whilst Michael Crick's interview with Margaret Curran was excellent, the Friday night Newsnight coverage with Gavin Esler was atrocious: yes he tried to pin down the various Labour MP's on the show but come on! 3 labour MP's and no-one from another party! Free reign to try and explain away another dreadful electoral result, no interview with the SNP due to 'technical problems' - where was Kirsty Wark? Standing by the plug I suspect! Don't tell me there's no telephone link with Scotland any more, or that no SNP spokesman would have been available at the end of a mobile!

    I don't support the Tories but it's outrageous that there wasn't a panel of all 4 major Scottish parties considering the implications of this result in both Westminster and Holyrood. A wholly amateurish attempt by Newsnight and Gavin Esler should be ashamed (maybe someone could forward this to him as he doesn't seem to have a blog?).

  • Comment number 15.

    #14 - 39stepsbrussels

    The programme was about the future of the Labour Party, the Labour government and Brown's leadership of them. What have internal party affairs to do with the Tories or the SNP?

  • Comment number 16.

    #15 threnedio

    A by-election in Scotland, and the ´óÏó´«Ã½ concentrate only on the effect in the Westminster village - says a lot about the relevance to me about the ´óÏó´«Ã½ - and it ain't good!

    I often agree with you, but the ´óÏó´«Ã½ simply intensified the perception that the Scottish dimension isn't important to them.

    Go ´óÏó´«Ã½! You increase the SNP vote with every programme.

  • Comment number 17.

    #15 threnodio

    late response, sorry, but (if anyone's still reading): the programme was described on Friday morning as:

    "In Newsnight Tonight

    We're planning to devote the entire programme to the aftershocks of the Glasgow East result."


    If the aftershocks don't include the effects on Westminster and Holyrood also from the perspective of the other parties then we're already living in a one party state!

    #16 oldnat is spot on - behaviour like this simply reinforces the Scots' (accurate) perception that their opinions scarcely matter in Westminster.

Ìý

´óÏó´«Ã½ iD

´óÏó´«Ã½ navigation

´óÏó´«Ã½ © 2014 The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.