11/27/2006

Charles Clarke will stand again in marginal Norwich South

Charles Clarke has said he will stand again in his Nowich South seat which became a top Lib Dem target aftre the last general election. The EDP reports on this HERE.

Interesting that Mr Clarke also believes he can remain a big hitter withinthe Labour Party. I didn't think Mr Clarke was even in the Gordon Brown camp, so presumably he is going to be a dissident in the future, we will have to wait and see.

The next general election should be interesting in Norwich South. Boundary changs certainly help Mr Clarke and Labour, but the Lib Dems vote jumped considerably last time and they overtook the Tories who slipped to third place in what was once a seat the Tories won in the early 1980's. A tight fight next time between the Lib Dems and Labour should see lots of media interest in this seat and TV cameras at the count come election night.

4 comments:

Antony said...

You might expect me to be controversial but...

If the Greens continue to slice through the LibDem vote and the Tories put up a strong candidate/campaign you have to ask WHICH party will be the one to oust Clarke.

Nich Starling said...

But the Green vote is only at a local level and does not transfer to them at general elections. Just see how the Green vote in the County elections on general election day was just a fraction of their general election vote was.

The Tories also last time were able to promote the tactical voe in their favour. no doubt some people, keen to be rid of Labour, simply looked at the vote in 2001 and decided to vote Tory wrongly thinking they were the best chance to get rid of Labour. The Torie would have this added advantage next time.

If Norwich South were so winnable for the Tories, I wouldn't expect their Parliamentary candidate to be so keen to stand in Great Yarmouth.

Lets leave it at that Antony. I didn't want to be overtly political on this subject so let's let it lie there. I know you will disagree with me, but I guess we'll find out at the next general election who is right.

Anonymous said...

I can't say I'm surprised, what else would he do if he wasn't a politician? It must be very lonely and strange to give up your seat after so many years unless you genuinely want to and have other interests and a family you want to spend time with.

I've just written up about our local health services planning to send consultants to patients home, very strange, I think.

Do you fancy being an MP?

Nich Starling said...

Elee, I used to dream about being an MP. I thought it was something I would be good at and had the aptitude for. I never thought that I would get the chance (wrong party) when I first considered it in the mid 1990's, but since then the options for aspiting Lib Dems in Norfolk has widened considerably.

I sought parliamentary approval from the Lib Dems in December 2004, passed my assessment with flying colours, then thought I'd wait for the opportunity to stand in my home seat of Broadland, now a target Lib Dem seat. Them I had the sudden realisation that I didn't want it anymore. I had simply had enough of politics. I was fed up with the sniping from people with a grudge (usually people I have helped defeat), the endless organising of leaflets and leafletters, the canvassing, the surveys, when in fact, all I wanted to do was spend as much time as I could with my then fiancee, not wife, and genuinely wanting a life.

Perhaps I needed to know that I "could" have been an MP, and chose to turn down the chance.

So in short, I did want to be an MP, but not now, not ever.

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