political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Iain, go further north. We don't have Tory councils, but we have a goodly number of councillors - nearly 100 even before today's results. There will be more. Even Glasgow now has Tory Councillors.
Out of interest, and I know they aren't comparable, but what is the comparison between Labour's remaining position in the South, versus the Conservative's new position in the north, all compared to their London positions?
Tory vote and Lib Dem vote went down in my council ... Labour up six are still very much entrenched. A complete lack of campaigning by Tory or Lib Dem for some reason.
...Still a coalition is still keeping Labour out of office, so it's not all bad!
Unfortunatley the high turn out of inbred trade union loving muppets here has led to Labour gaining a seat, but glad to see that other places in the North East are not being quite so stupid. Well done to the Tories, it's an absolute Rout, so many labour people acting like its not so bad, but look at the cumulative results over the last three local elections and Labour is just flattened.
Even in the North Labour are falling back to their heartlands, but of course the media are behaving as if only Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester are the North.
Liverpool may be out of range, but the Tories certainly took Lincoln, East Yorkshire, Blackpool and Chester all right. The idea that "The North" is somehow out of reach is looking shaky now, which should be equally worrying for the Labour party and for those among the Tory grass roots who were hoping to give Cameronism a chance to fall short of the mark.
An amazing effort in Blackpool by the candidates, campaigners and all their supporters saw the Council's Labour leader, their deputy and mayor removed.
It's great to see the new Party intake energised and genuinely wanting to do their best for their residents. They've all said that they understand the work is now ahead of them and not behind!
Speaking thru' gritted teeth and clenched buttocks, he could barely mention the word Conservative - and congratulations to Alex Salmond for not clocking him one during his interview!
Enjoy it in the brief time you will have those seats. Plus you still failed to break the No Go areas such as Tyne and Wear and Liverpool. Plus you hardly did much in Durham. In the south you failed to dent Luton, if you did I would have been very concerned. Sour grapes perhaps, but if I were a Tory I would be slightly disapointed and quietly worried about the Party's prospects at the next election. Plus Labour used to do very well in mid-term elections in the 1980s and we got nowhere!
Paul Burgin - out of interest when will Labour break into no-go areas like East Northamptonshire, Aylesbury Valley, Chelmsford, Fenland, Stratford-on-Avon and Mole Valley?
As a Tory I am naturally terribly worried about winning over 875 additional council seats from an already high base.
It's ridiculous. The media cannot seem to utter the words "Labour defeat" or "Tory triumph" or even "SNP triumph". The North looks fairly healthy to me for the Conservatives, healthier than local government in Scotland in which Labour took a real battering.
Labour are now limited to urban areas and the West Coast of Scotland, where the tradition of "pin a red rosette on a donkey and it will get elected" persists, with only minor pockets elsewhere. They will be trounced in a General Election.
I love the bunker mentality of you people paul Burgin.
The conservatives have got..thus far an 875 seat gain, yout own party has LOST 485 seats, enjoy it, damn right we will.
Come the next G.E. you will see the same tale nationwide and no doubt the same sad rhetoric from people like you, @well if only you have had taken manchester, then you might have a mandate", grow up and smell the coffee mate.
1. Most people in the north live in the cities. The Tories have not made any gains there. 2. The Tories control more land area than Labour, but all that means is few people and lots of sheep. 3. Most councils are no overall control, outside the cities. (So even in woolyback land, you cannot win much. 4. Most Tory gains in England came in the south.
Until the Tories start winning seats in Northern England where people actually live, and until they start winning some in Scotland and Wales, they cannot claim to be a national party. THAT is the point at issue.
. The Tories control more land area than Labour, but all that means is few people and lots of sheep.
Nonsense. The Boundary Commission sets constituency boundaries based on population. There is currently an inherent urban advantage to Labour because the seats are smaller and there are more of them - however, this is being redressed.
So, the Tories get over 50% of the vote in England, yet can't be considered a national party, yet Labour get 18% and are to be considered a national party?
Wow, someone's been using Gordon's special calculator again!
Er, since when has this discussion been about the constituencies? The vote in England was for councils. The map clearly shows that: lots of blue with few folk and small red areas where everyone lives.
Another er, share of the vote is not the point, is it? The point is that the Tories did very well and gained lots of council seats in the south. They did less well in the north.
Didn't the Tories do well? No, you did not. Winning back Dover, Rugby, Windsor and Maidenhead, South Norfolk, Chester, and the East Riding only causes people to exclaim, "You mean that there was ever NOT a Tory-controlled council in Dover, Rugby, Windsor and Maidenhead, South Norfolk, Chester, or the East Riding!"
And note how your "Northern Revival" extends no further north than borderlands such as Cheshire and East Yorkshire.
Not that any of this will bother either the Cameron Broadcasting Corporation or those who still use the Tories as a bogeyman with which to frighten Labour MPs, Labour activists (such as there still are) or traditional Labour supporters into line.
When is someone going to ask, "So what if the Tories got back in? What would they actually do that was any different?" Answer would come there none.
28 comments:
Iain, go further north. We don't have Tory councils, but we have a goodly number of councillors - nearly 100 even before today's results. There will be more. Even Glasgow now has Tory Councillors.
Not much blue!
Out of interest, and I know they aren't comparable, but what is the comparison between Labour's remaining position in the South, versus the Conservative's new position in the north, all compared to their London positions?
That's going to be the 2009 ballgame isn't it?
Any chance of a 'before & after'?
Tory vote and Lib Dem vote went down in my council ... Labour up six are still very much entrenched. A complete lack of campaigning by Tory or Lib Dem for some reason.
...Still a coalition is still keeping Labour out of office, so it's not all bad!
Unfortunatley the high turn out of inbred trade union loving muppets here has led to Labour gaining a seat, but glad to see that other places in the North East are not being quite so stupid. Well done to the Tories, it's an absolute Rout, so many labour people acting like its not so bad, but look at the cumulative results over the last three local elections and Labour is just flattened.
Well your new friends in the north are the SNP. Lets see Gordon get out of that!
Even in the North Labour are falling back to their heartlands, but of course the media are behaving as if only Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester are the North.
Going to be a tad hard for all the nulab (soon to be old lab) faces to say that the north's not going blue
TB says it was a disappointing result for the tories. And he is the finest politician of his generation.
TB says that the tories are not nailed-on for the next GE. He is right. Certainly, the tories did not do well where the other parties tried hard.
But what these results show is that for the first time for 15 years, the tories are competitive.
However, the tories are not natural grafters, and must be favourite not win a marginal bye-election.
In England the Tories have over 50% of the councillors and 52% of the councils!
A "spring-board" for Gordon - more like a mouse-trap.
I'd love to see the Tories helping to run Scotland. Part of my deal would be to let fighter planes practice their attack runs over Gordon's house.
I am waiting for True Blue to comment on how the NuCons got on in Liverpool.
Hrm, we were already Con controlled last locals.
Still I suppose it's nice to now be noticed by you people in the smoke. :P
Liverpool may be out of range, but the Tories certainly took Lincoln, East Yorkshire, Blackpool and Chester all right. The idea that "The North" is somehow out of reach is looking shaky now, which should be equally worrying for the Labour party and for those among the Tory grass roots who were hoping to give Cameronism a chance to fall short of the mark.
Even the sea was blue in Blackpool today :)
An amazing effort in Blackpool by the candidates, campaigners and all their supporters saw the Council's Labour leader, their deputy and mayor removed.
It's great to see the new Party intake energised and genuinely wanting to do their best for their residents. They've all said that they understand the work is now ahead of them and not behind!
Did you see Jon Snow on C4 news just now?
Speaking thru' gritted teeth and clenched buttocks, he could barely mention the word Conservative - and congratulations to Alex Salmond for not clocking him one during his interview!
Enjoy it in the brief time you will have those seats. Plus you still failed to break the No Go areas such as Tyne and Wear and Liverpool. Plus you hardly did much in Durham. In the south you failed to dent Luton, if you did I would have been very concerned.
Sour grapes perhaps, but if I were a Tory I would be slightly disapointed and quietly worried about the Party's prospects at the next election. Plus Labour used to do very well in mid-term elections in the 1980s and we got nowhere!
I just want to know when Chad Noble will be popping by to tell us all about the hoarde of new UKIP councillors across the country...
Paul Burgin - out of interest when will Labour break into no-go areas like East Northamptonshire, Aylesbury Valley, Chelmsford, Fenland, Stratford-on-Avon and Mole Valley?
As a Tory I am naturally terribly worried about winning over 875 additional council seats from an already high base.
It's ridiculous. The media cannot seem to utter the words "Labour defeat" or "Tory triumph" or even "SNP triumph". The North looks fairly healthy to me for the Conservatives, healthier than local government in Scotland in which Labour took a real battering.
Labour are now limited to urban areas and the West Coast of Scotland, where the tradition of "pin a red rosette on a donkey and it will get elected" persists, with only minor pockets elsewhere. They will be trounced in a General Election.
I love the bunker mentality of you people paul Burgin.
The conservatives have got..thus far an 875 seat gain, yout own party has LOST 485 seats, enjoy it, damn right we will.
Come the next G.E. you will see the same tale nationwide and no doubt the same sad rhetoric from people like you, @well if only you have had taken manchester, then you might have a mandate", grow up and smell the coffee mate.
OK, let's bring some reality into this:
1. Most people in the north live in the cities. The Tories have not made any gains there.
2. The Tories control more land area than Labour, but all that means is few people and lots of sheep.
3. Most councils are no overall control, outside the cities. (So even in woolyback land, you cannot win much.
4. Most Tory gains in England came in the south.
Until the Tories start winning seats in Northern England where people actually live, and until they start winning some in Scotland and Wales, they cannot claim to be a national party. THAT is the point at issue.
. The Tories control more land area than Labour, but all that means is few people and lots of sheep.
Nonsense. The Boundary Commission sets constituency boundaries based on population. There is currently an inherent urban advantage to Labour because the seats are smaller and there are more of them - however, this is being redressed.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/default.asp
So, the Tories get over 50% of the vote in England, yet can't be considered a national party, yet Labour get 18% and are to be considered a national party?
Wow, someone's been using Gordon's special calculator again!
Er, since when has this discussion been about the constituencies? The vote in England was for councils. The map clearly shows that: lots of blue with few folk and small red areas where everyone lives.
Another er, share of the vote is not the point, is it? The point is that the Tories did very well and gained lots of council seats in the south. They did less well in the north.
My error. The Boundary Commission sets constituency and ward boundaries based on population.
Didn't the Tories do well?
No, you did not. Winning back Dover, Rugby, Windsor and Maidenhead, South Norfolk, Chester, and the East Riding only causes people to exclaim, "You mean that there was ever NOT a Tory-controlled council in Dover, Rugby, Windsor and Maidenhead, South Norfolk, Chester, or the East Riding!"
And note how your "Northern Revival" extends no further north than borderlands such as Cheshire and East Yorkshire.
Not that any of this will bother either the Cameron Broadcasting Corporation or those who still use the Tories as a bogeyman with which to frighten Labour MPs, Labour activists (such as there still are) or traditional Labour supporters into line.
When is someone going to ask, "So what if the Tories got back in? What would they actually do that was any different?" Answer would come there none.
Lots of sheep live in those blue areas. not many people (relatively) with votes in General Elections.
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