Friday, May 05, 2006

Council Elections: So Far So Good

So far so good. Sky reporting +4.7% in share of the vote for the Conservatives so far. 20 councillor gains. Gained one council, Shrewsbury & Atcham. We held a County Council by election on the outskirts of Norwich which the LibDems had been confident of taking.

00.10The BBC website election coverage is lamentable. The BBC1 programme isn't a lot better. Skhy winning the statistics battle by a mile.

00.15 Great Yarmouth is a bit worrying. We lost four seats there - 3 to Labour, one to Independent. The council is a Tory council, so maybe its the incumbency factor counting against them.

00.20 Someone has asked for my predictions on the imminent reshuffle. I'll be doing that early in the morning - between 9 and 10... that's if I have got out of bed by then...

00.26 I didn't see this, but I've had an email about Blunkett's performance on BBC. He was "crowing about how great he was and how it was all clarkes fault. Dimbleby then said well "what about what happened on your watch" then blunkett "said sorry i cant hear you." Dimbleby tried two more times and Blunkett claims he couldnt hear a thing. It was hilarious and shocking."

00.35 Watching Sky News. Am I wrong to think Tessa Jowell looks a bit demob happy?

00.53 Big blow for LibDems in Eastbourne, which they had been expecting to win from Tories. Instead Tories gained one seat from LibDems. Another Tory gain in Tunbridge Wells. LibDems lost three of the four seats they had held.

01.12 Tories win second seat on Norwich City Council. Well done Antony Little - your years of hard work have paid off. We haven't had two councillors there since about 1985! It may seem over dramatic, but this is a breakthrough. Bowthorpe Ward, which Antony won, is mostly council housing - not natural Tory territory. He's won it by doing LibDem pavement politics. Tremendous.

01.18 Sarah Teather totally out of her depth and all over the place on BBC1.

01.26 Remember that Newsnight prediction that the Tories would lose seats tonight? Huh!!!

01.35 Conservatives take Harefield ward in Hillingdon by a landslide from Labour. I think it has been Labour previously. Result was something like Tory 1200 Lab 300. An indication of things to come, or not?

01.49 Jowell's throwing a hissy fit at Dimbleby becasue he had the temerity to mention her mortgage

02.45 Cons will gain Hillingdon. LibDems go down from 8 councillors to either 1 or 2. Labour leader loses his seat by 300 votes.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blunkett's pantomine performance really was funny, especially when he gave a response to Dimbelby's question "Can you hear me?"
He answered "No I can't"

Anonymous said...

Blunkett was lecturing on New Labour at the University of Sheffield earlier today - he was crowing there too.

Anonymous said...

Looks to be a very good night indeed, this is the beginning of the end for the Labour regime.

Sky has the best coverage i feel, i always try to avoid the EUBC.

Iain Dale said...

Greg, you're wrong. When I started this post, that's exactly what they were saying.

Anonymous said...

llknmf:

Start of what?

Twat.

Iain - please block this troll.

Anonymous said...

Iain, post a very little comment on the reshuffle, so everyone can make predictions in the comments section.

Anonymous said...

A worrying result that the BBC don't seem to have picked up on is BNP gaining 3 seats from Labour in Epping Forest, to take their total to 6.

Tories just missed out on taking control leaving it 29 Tories v. 29 Others-of-All-Descriptions, with a Lib Dem Council Chairman holding the casting vote.

Anonymous said...

Skye News quite impressive on the digi-thingy.Best thing to come out of the Hebrides since Harris tweed.

Anonymous said...

hilariously inept is how I'd describe Dimbleby's exhange with N Brown - left him baffled by going back and asking exactly the same question about the letter twice.

Nick Robinson's face was a picture of scorn.

Is he senile?

Anonymous said...

llkmf:

I don't need a blog. I'm read by millions every day. And get paid for it. I suspect the only writing you get paid for is when you're doing a stock check at the branch of McDonalds you work for.

Anonymous said...

Geoff Hoon had the same 'earpiece' problem when asked why he was going to Downing St in the morning.
"Sorry, I can't hear you" was his answer.

I tried to scribble down the Blunkett exchange:
The discussion had moved on to John Prescott...

Nick Robinson - You fell foul of the ministerial code.

Blunkett - Sorry, you're breaking up...

Nick Robinson - Can you hear me?

Blunkett - No, No I can't hear you at all...


At which point I fell off my chair laughing. Priceless;)

James at eParliament.tv said...

As LLKMF says... if you want to have a go... de-anonify yourself.

Otherwise Iain, yes Tether was a joke.

Poor old Dimbleby is so past it.

kStyle said...

Could I ask a question, as it seems you are all English conservatives? What do you think of American conservatives? Do they seem all nutty and religious to you?

Thanks and best of luck,
k

Richard Bailey said...

We've just GAINED me!!!

I won my ward in Huntingdonshire, taking it from the Lib Dems. I reduced a 450 majority to 90 in 2004 and have just gained a 250 majority tonight.

What a day!

Jonathan Sheppard said...

Just back from Bassetlaw. What a night. In Tory hands for first time since the 70s. Four gains - and a remarkable result!

James at eParliament.tv said...

Iain, I think Simon Hughes' shirt deserves a special mention

Yak40 said...

Country folk can breathe a bit easier it seems, ol' Chipolata can't mess with them any more.

Anonymous said...

Good old Nicholas Bowes aka "Northern Monkey" was elected for Labour in Wandsworth by 27 votes and interestingly the leader of the Labour group lost his seat in the same ward. An opportunity for Dr. Nick?