Some comfort in a dire night for Labour from my home borough. The results up on the Council website and also via the mysterious blogger Ealing Rambler show that Labour was still out front according to Thursday’s poll. The BNP polled a measly 3% in the “Queen of the Suburbs”- wish this could have been the same elsewhere.
Given the backdrop of Labour’s worst ever performance and that there are all-out Ealing council elections next year, last won by the Tories, it’s not the most brilliant result for Cameron who is angling for at least two parliamentary seats. The third one – Ealing Southall blew a big fat rasberry to him just after Brown took power when his model candidate Tony Lit (who appeared on the balllot-paper as “David Cameron’s Conservatives”) finished a distant third behind the LibDems.
The Tories took the town hall in 2006 by hitching on to the anti-Uxbridge Road tram campaign that was popular at the time. Today’s equivalent is the anti-Heathrow expansion bandwagon. I note the the government has been hinting at rethinking its Royal Mail policy. Labour would do well to look at its Heathrow stance so that the “No Third Runway” posters I see displayed in people’s windows these days are not replaced by “vote Conservative” ones in due course.
Update: It emerges Hilary Benn is on record warning against further Heathrow development too.
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June 11, 2009 at 7:46 am
Freya Van Lessen
Dear Rupa,
I read the wonderful article you wrote for Guarian.co.uk about the cancellation of Rise Festival on 9th April 2009.
I am writing to you because i am one of the organisers of a grass roots campaign called UpRise attempting to get Boris Johnson to reinstate the festival with it’s ani – racism message. I was wondering if you might be interested in writing another article about the festival and the campaign? for more information, have a look at our website: http://www.UpRise.org.uk.
With Kind Regards
Freya Van Lessen