Friday, May 09, 2008

Whatever Happened to By Election Reporting?

I can't remember reading much about the Crewe & Nantwich by-election in the papers this week beyond the general view that a Conservative victory is a foregone conclusion (not a view I share, incidentally). So I was interested to read this in Charles Moore's Spectator diary, as it really chimed with me...

It would be nice if the interest in electoral contests, renewed by last week’s events, would revive the reporting of by-elections. By-election campaigns were well reported by newspapers in the past. They would send star journalists to the constituency for two or three weeks before polling. Their dispatches were a readable way of interleaving national concerns with local issues, which is how voters think about things. They taught the reader a great deal about the texture of the nation. In recent years, these reports have died away, partly because, thanks to better medicine, there are far fewer by-elections than in the past, and partly because the results had become much more predictable than in the days of the great upsets of the Sixties and Seventies. Two by-elections are now pending. One result — in Boris Johnson’s Henley — is almost a foregone conclusion, but the other, and more imminent — in the late Gwyneth Dunwoody’s Crewe and Nantwich — will be exciting. Please let us read the story as it unfolds.
Come back Vincent Hanna!

UPDATE: As if on cue Jonathan Isaby has a series of reports from Crewe on THREE LINE WHIP.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am always cautious about memories of years ago when everything was fine & dandy.

Anyway, isn't this something bloggers could do? Are you intending to visit either constituency, Iain, to report back?

Anonymous said...

Apparently, if the Conservatives win at Crewe and Nantwich, it will be the first time they have gained a seat in a by-election since 1982.

Iain Dale said...

I am going up there next Friday.

Anonymous said...

Jolly good, Iain. I look forward to the report back. See, bloggers are the answer to Charles Moore's complaint.

Anonymous said...

I was in Crewe last Friday, Iain.

I hadn't intended to be there, but the bloody "dynamic" sat nav in my car re-routed me through the centre of the town because of a bad hold up on the M6.

Let's just say, it's a different part of Cheshire to the bit where Man Utd players tend to live.

If Edward Timpson wins, he'll lose the seat at the next General Election. Not a great career move for an ambitious young politician, eh?

For his sake, I hope that horse-face Tamsin wins. He can then find something more win-able + hold-able, closer to home. He seems like a candidate with something to offer.

Anonymous said...

This has been noticed.

It's potential bad news, like the Teacher's Strike or Stop The War marches. The BBC may or may not later report that 10 people turned up - and being out by a few hundred thousand is OK.

In future, by-elections will be decided by the BBC's 'Have Your Say'.

Peter Black said...

Is that the Vincent Hanna who died in 1997?

Anonymous said...

Yes I read Isaby's pieces which I thought were a bit fluffy. Better than nothing I guess as it hasn't really had any meaningful coverage in the paper itself.

Also it's about time someone got into Dunwoody over her description of Timpson as "a little, rich kid" (and I think you pointed this out didn't you Ia?) as she was also privately educated.

Anonymous said...

peter black - yes, but while Vincent Hanna is gone, he is most certainly not forgotten...

Anonymous said...

Interesting, the local paper does not appear to recognise the Conservatives...

have a peek

http://www.creweandnantwichguardian.co.uk/search/display.var.2256531.0.crewe_and_nantwich_byelection_candidates.php



As usual Iain, your assumption that the mainstream media is everything is misguided.
Don't forget the locals...

Carl Eve