Leicester Mercury political correspondent
General Election 2010
Mandelson’s phone farce
Jul 28th
Remember when city councillor Manish Sood stuck the knife into Gordon Brown back in April?
With just 45 hours to go until the polls opened, Sood slammed the leader of his own party. As every media outlet in the country picked up the story, Peter Mandelson picked up the phone – and gave Manish an ear-bashing.
The phonecall ended on bad terms, and one of them hung up. Mandelson then toured the TV channels, making some questionable slurs on Sood’s character.
We all thought that was the end of the matter.
However word reaches me that Lord Mandelson, in his rage, forgot to withhold his mobile telephone number when he made the call.
Suddenly, the hyperactive councillor had a personal hotline to the Labour Party’s chief strategist. And, predictably, he’s been using it.
Lord Mandelson will presumably dial 141 before calling off-message candidates in future.
Where’s the money from?
Jun 8th
Liz Kendall managed to distance herself from Patricia Hewitt during the Leicester West election campaign.
As the lobbying scandal exploded Liz emphasised that she’d worked with Patricia ‘in the past’ and that she wanted to focus on her own record.
On another occasion she said:
“I don’t think people closely associate me with Patricia Hewitt. I’m the new candidate. Judge me, on me.”
But figures from the Electoral Commission that the all-new candidate’s campaign was funded by the controversial old one – at least in part.
The most recent published figures show that Patricia Hewitt herself donated £3,100 to the Leicester West constituency Labour party on March 1 this year.
It was the only donation made to the constituency party in the first quarter of this year, and the first in at least a decade from Ms Hewitt to the local party.
£3,100 is, of course, slightly more than Ms Hewitt’s claimed daily rate…
Twitter speculation is spot-on
May 12th
At noon today I tweeted: Ed Garnier didn’t sound too happy on the telephone to me just now. Is he still in line for attorney general?
At 1pm today it was revealed that the former shadow attorney general had been pipped to the post by Dominic Grieve.
Gordon Brown has given me a lie-in
May 11th
One obvious upside of the Prime Minister’s big announcement.
I was preparing to discuss Tory gains in Leicestershire with Nick Ferrari on LBC radio in London at the crack of dawn. I’d already set my alarm clock for 6am.
But when the biggest story of the week broke yesterday afternoon, the station’s news schedule rapidly had to change.
I managed to have a snooze until 8am after all…
“Big beast Dorrell” helps out David Cameron
May 10th
Sounds like the Leicestershire MP has been drafted in to help settle party nerves over the latest Tory promises on electoral reform.
“Accounts of the reaction of this evening’s Parliamentary Party meeting to one of the most sensational about-turns in the Party’s history are starting to trickle out.
One might have expected the newly-elected Conservative MPs to rise up in revolt against Team Cameron’s astounding about-turn on the alternative vote.
However, it appears that those present didn’t want to do anything that would make it more difficult for David Cameron to cross the threshold of Number 10 – a possibility that seemed tantalisingly close earlier today.
I understand that “big beasts” were called earlier to back the leadership’s position, including ex-Cabinet Minister Stephen Dorrell and former Shadow Cabinet Minister Oliver Heald.
John Whittingdale, a key player on the right of the Party, was also broadly supportive. John Hayes agreed with Stephen Dorrell.”
So what took them so long?
May 9th
Forget the meat of election night, I’ve got a bone to pick.
Why did the counts in the city take so long on Thursday?
While rural seats – some of them originally predicting 6am finishes – managed to announce the outcome of tight races as early as 1.30am, in the city we were left hanging around until 5am for official outcomes.
The original estimates were between 2.30am and 5am. But that still means they only just hit their most pessimistic target by a few minutes.
A pointless phased system of checking questionable ballot papers seemed to be at fault, but I’m not an expert in electoral procedure.
However, I admit that my anger is mainly down to the fact that I was affected by the delay more than most, and was left frantically filing copy with just minutes to spare until the paper went to print.
I was so tired that I managed to spell my own name wrong on the Leicester South results article.
The tightest campaign for decades
Apr 27th
There are eight days until polls open here in Leicestershire after the most unpredictable General Election campaign for decades.
Challengers in the county’s marginals don’t look quite so confident of victory, while incumbents in safe seats across the city and beyond are beginning to think the unthinkable: “Could I lose on May 6?” One or two seats which were seen as untouchable at the start of the campaign now look dead-heat marginals.
The polls say Britain has a Labour Party with falling support, a Conservative Party unable to seal the deal with the British public, and an unexpected Liberal Democrat surge which is either the dawn of three party politics, or a bubble waiting to pop.
There’ll be no clarity before next Thursday, but one thing is already guaranteed:
There won’t be a single candidate who can sleep soundly on May 5.
Upstairs Downstairs
Apr 25th
The talk is that the Liberal Democrats will team up with the Tories for a coalition government in the event of a hung parliament.
So if the two parties are happy to share government, then it’s no surprise that they’re happy to share advertising space on the same building here in Harborough.
Zuffar Haq’s way ahead of the game on the coalition front…
Oh Balls!
Apr 21st
Schools secretary Ed Balls launched the Labour Party’s East Midlands manifesto on Monday at a city factory.
The man who many say has ambitions to be Prime Minister arrived in a humble Ford Focus – the era of austerity has already begun.
Before mounting a serious challenge to be a future occupier of Number 10 – and a smart new chauffeur-driven Jaguar – he might want to work on his image.
As he slowly walked up the steps while snappers snapped away, a local Labour councillor turned to her friend inside and said: “Which one is Ed Balls?”
Leaked Lib Dem email: It’s a goldrush!
Apr 19th
The party’s message to candidates:
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We are seen as serious players for the first time
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Our popularity surge may not last
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Now is a good time to cash in…
Subject: SUNDAY POLLS.
Dear all,
Remember the following:
- The Tories probably have a very narrow lead.
- Labour and Lib Dems are too close to separate.
- The Lib Dem surge is statistically very significant but may not last. It may be a short term response to the manifesto launch and the leaders debate, similar to post party conference rises that all parties benefit from but disappear quickly.
- The Lib Dems are taking support off both parties but more from the Tories than from Labour.
- There is evidence that perhaps a majority of voters would like to see a hung parliament.
- There must be a chance that Lib Dem support will take off because we are seen to be serious players for the first time and a vehicle for the deep disillusionment with traditional party politics.
- NOW IS A VERY GOOD TIME TO APPROACH BUSINESS PEOPLE FOR MONEY. WE NEED TO ACT AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE TO CASH IN ON THE HIGH LEVEL OF INTEREST IN NICK AND THE PARTY. Candidates won’t necessarily have the time to do it. They need to appoint someone to do it for them.
Insta-pinion
Apr 15th
This may not have been the much-anticipated “internet election”, but it has changed the job of political correspondent.
Unlike the old days, you can get instant opinions from candidates on the day’s issues – as well as their opinions on the stories you’ve written about them.
Yesterday, I interviewed Pirate Party candidate Shaun Dyer over a glass of orange juice down at Braunstone Gate. While I didn’t agree with all of his policies – those on legalised file-sharing, for example – I liked his enthusiasm and commitment.
I remarked to a reporter on my return to the office that I’d like to see more fresh faces like him in Parliament, who hadn’t been jaded by the cynical party politics game.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t too keen on my story. I had focused too much on his national policies, apparently, rather than his local ones.
Top tip: You should have told me what they were.
Russ is not Ross
Apr 14th
Jack Straw took to the airwaves on BBC Radio Leicester on Wednesday in an attempt to bolster the chances of the Labour candidates in marginals Loughborough and North West Leicestershire.
After praising Andy Reed, the Justice Secretary told the 6pm news programme how Ross Willmott was a “worthy successor” to David Taylor. He also said it was “quite remarkable” how well-known Ross had become as the Labour candidate.
Unfortunately, the fact that Straw repeatedly referred to the former council leader as ‘Russ’ during the anecdote slightly undermined his weighty seal of approval…
Listen here (14 minutes in)
