Friday, April 10, 2009

Manchester Moston By-Election: Labour Hold; Conservatives Fold


Manchester Labour have held the Moston Ward through Cllr! Rita Tavernor. The story of the night has to be Tories slipping from a strong and unchallenged second to fourth, just about managing to hold off the Green Party. I'm genuinely pleased to see the Lib Dems finally showing up and pushing out paper and getting on the knocker in a BNP threat seat. It took the Bishop to get them on board. But better late than never. The story is: Labour hold, Tories slump from a strong second by right to virtually nowhere. Also quite a shock for Labour activists from centre and south, most of whom have never seen a Tory out on the knocker.

BY THE WAY: If you happen to see Tory blond bombshell John Kershaw stalking about the place do ask him why he happened to resign the leadership of the Tory Group. Those were the days! These days, like Cyril Smith for his boy smacking and fondling, the former conservative leader in this City would have ended up in jail for a couple of years.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

LAST night, the British National Party pulled off one of its best results of 2009 when it came from nowhere to take second place

Chris Paul said...

You think anonymous? Less than 25% and therefore at or below par for such a by-election in this neck of the woods. We'll need to ask Iain Dale where the fascist vote came from won't we? He'll have the answers.

It is of course disgraceful that so many people voted "Nazi Hater" in any election. But I had them down for 25% and they failed to achieve that. Even after hateful tactics.

Anonymous said...

I suspect that last night was down to the continued incompetence of Rob Adlard....

Chris Paul said...

That thought had crossed a few minds. Out on the knocker in numbers, spending a fortune on smudgy leaflets with ridiculous wank, vote still melting down. Cameron's finest Adlard does not have a clue how to win an election. It may be the case that Cameron himself has the same limited abilities. So much for Dale and his C2-Cameron love in.

Paul Ankers said...

Chris, We did a fair bit in Charlestown too. I don't think the bishop changed our anti-BNP views. And we led the way in the by election in terms of impetus and literature.
Depressing that they came second, but like you said the tories came second by default previously.
Very bad night for the Tories, but one of those rare occasions when I am happy for a Labour Councillor
to be elected.
On a side note, was Maundy Thursday chosen by accident or design

Martin Miller said...

I wonder if the timing of the high profile terror arrests was a factor. It would have played into the BNP message. They had to be done so this is no criticism just an observation.

Anonymous said...

I live in the Moston Ward and I voted for the BNP and not ashamed to say so. I am sick of the way Labour ignore Moston and the way they have turned parts of it into looking like downtown Mogadishu, with boarded up houses and ramshackle shops. I'm sick of seeing African hairdressers everywhere too and also the fact Labour used vital leaflet space rubbishing the BNP inspead of concentrating on their own policies.

I suppose the terror raids in Cheetham Hill, not too far away, the day before pushed up the BNP vote too.

I'll vote for the BNP again in the Euro elections to send a meassge out to the complacent bunch in Goverment.

Martin Miller said...

Whatever the failings, real or imagined, of the mainstream parties how can that justify a vote for a fascist Party? Is Anonymous really saying that fascism is ok?

And the BNP is fascist; a racial analysis as a core philosophy, authoritarian structures within its own party and a very clear association between its members and political violence. These are the historic characteristics of fascism.

Every vote for the BNP is a rejection of the sacrifice made by all the members of Allied armed forces who died protecting us from the very tyranny the BNP represents.

Get A Grip said...

I have heard some bizarre reasons for voting BNP and some very creepy ones, but I haven't until now heard "I'm sick of seeing African hairdressers everywhere".

And well said, Martin.

Anonymous said...

You are calling the BNP fascist as if you think Labour has been the protector of liberty over the past 12 years.

Hmmm.. ID card propsosals.. 2 wars.. DNA database. .. Mass CCTV.. Net immigration of 200k/ year.

You are using the term fascist to mean something which you deem as undesireable. The BNP is not fascist. The establishment is fascist.

BTW.. Labour's support fell by 10% whilst the BNP's support rose by over 23%

Get A Grip said...

Have to agree with you there actually.

There was nothing intrinsically racist or racialist in the Fascist movement when it was first set up.

So, the BNP is not a fascist movement, it is a Nazi one. Well pointed out, Anonymous.

Chris Paul said...

The BNP brand of fascism is racist scapegoatery and hateful nonsense. So much so that while you are willing to speak your daft brains anonymous you won't even use a pen name ...

BNP fascism is certainly not "liberal" except in terms of liberalising hate and cant. It is utterly illiberal.

But your little list is a bit curious really now isn't it? CCTV, iD or entitlement cards, DNA databases ... these are not essentially of any particular ideology. The biggest worry about them is that such tools could fall into the hands of nasties - such as the BNP.

Wars ditto. To be avoided at (almost) all costs but not essentially right or left or liberal or conservative.

And your lumpen line about the alleged net immigration figure is baffling.

The statistics at the end are bollocks. We had no idea what the BNP's support was in 2008. The 23% "increase" figure is meaningless drivel.

If you want to compare 2008 and this by-election you need to take the fascists out and compare like with like. In my view - as in other instances - most of the BNP vote is from habitual non-voters.

If anyone has previous marked registers and looks at this week's marked register they will - I believe - find a very significant number of deeply habitual non voters showing up.

Some of these may be decent anti-BNP votes though most of these will at least have voted in 05, but IMO the majority will be misguided fash who don't usually vote.

They're All Bastards said...

Paul Ankers is crazy. The Lib Dems hardly even tried in the Charlestown case. Seriously. "Hardly tried" is in fact an unwarranted boost. And there was the Higher Blackley - Newton Heath trade. "Impetus and literature" - WTF? And not only has SAshley refused to stand up to the BNP over and over again (three times?) but there are countless cases of Fibs standing up for BNP right to be heard and all that liberal shit. They are poison. And Chris is right for once. The Fibblers have only just come to the party on the coat tails of the bishops and priests.

benchilltory said...

i would have to say that this was quite a good result for Labour.Another very disappointing performance from the tories.we need a few older bruisers rather than nice young things as candidates.
The sort of swing that the tories need to win an overall majority in a general election is huge and it is likely that we will need 2 elections to win power.its very likely that the result of the next general election will be lib/lab coalition.this i think will enable the manchester tories to start taking votes back of the liberals and could provide a route to get some seats again.
with regard to the bnp, far right parties always do better during a labour government and fall back under a tory government. perhaps the bishop should be calling for people to vote tory!

Chris Paul said...

Actually BHT ... I would suspect that the good bishop of Mcr wouldn't mind your scenario ... though the Hulme bishop boy is a rampant Trot if ever I saw one ... bit of a ligger with it though I've heard ... likes fine dining but tends to leave before the bill is presented ... allegedly.

Martin Miller said...

Thanks Get a Grip. Happy to accept that the Italian facsist party (the commonly identified progenitor of modern fascism) was more state nationalist than race nationalist (which the Nazis clearly were)but Mussolini did write:
"There were seers who saw in the European conflict not only national advantages but the possibility of a supremacy of race".

So I am happy to accept the Nazi or fascist tag for the BNP - they are equally loathesome in my view.

Anonymous - I disagree with certain policies of the current government though I openly admit to supporting the Labour Party. The point is that in the current system I am allowed to do so. The BNP would not allow this to happen. I suggest you look at the BNP's own constitution which gives ultimate authority on everything (appointment of party officers, organisational structure, adminsitration and tactics and policy)to the national chairman himself - it looks remarkably like the fuhrer principle of leadership.

http://www.bnp.org.uk/Constitution%209th%20Ed%20Sep%202005.