Elections 2008
Newstatesman.com's unrivalled analysis of the key local and London mayoral elections 2008
Is this what a police state looks like?
- 21 comments
- Posted by Claire Provost
- 03 May 2008
Claire Provost, reporting on a demonstration outside City Hall on the night of the London mayoral count, finds herself put in a pen in by police. A case of democracy in action?
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Life after Ken
- 8 comments
- Posted by Ben Davies
- 03 May 2008
Terrible results are capped off by Boris Johnson taking the mayoralty of London and with just a couple of years to the next election where does Labour go from here?
It's probably not going to be a John F Kennedy 'remember where you were?' moment but the day Boris Johnson ousted Ken Livingstone and became the first Tory mayor of London is extremely significant.
David Cameron's Conservatives now have something high profile to run. They've got a fair amount of time on their hands so they can concentrate a lot of effort - and people - on the job.
[...]Allegiances are fluid after a decade of Labour
- 0 comments
- Posted by Nick Clegg
- 02 May 2008
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg hails his party's performance in the 1 May elections when they pushed Labour into third place
This year’s elections were a real success for the Liberal Democrats. We beat Labour into third place for only the second time in our history. Not all the results are in yet – but it’s almost certain we’ll have won more councillors and control of more councils. And that’s even though we’re fighting the same set of seats as we did in 2004, at the height of public anger about [...]
On course for a Green MP...
- 5 comments
- Posted by Caroline Lucas
- 02 May 2008
The Green Party's Caroline Lucas responds to their performance in the 1 May local elections
Any election count is a rollercoaster ride, and this one has been no different. But as the final results come in, the Greens are five seats up, and have gained enough firsts and new records in Norwich to make Charles Clarke extremely nervous.
Norwich City Council is the first in the country to have a Green opposition, with parliamentary candidate Adrian Ramsay leading the second-biggest group on the council, two [...]
Covering the coverage
- 6 comments
- Posted by Paul Evans
- 02 May 2008
Our Best of the Politics blog blogger Paul Evans looks at the way the web affected coverage of the local and London mayoral elections
Labour pains
Cliches about the Beatles and miniskirts were being wheeled out, as Labour suffered its worst hammering at the polls since the 1960s - slipping to third place nationally, on just 24% of the vote. The Tories surged to 44%, while the Lib Dems experienced neither great gains or losses. Some blogs, including Guido Fawkes decided to host Live Chats, while the BBC co-opted citizen journalists [...]
Alun Michael: a concession was painted as a climbdown
- 0 comments
- Posted by Ben Davies
- 02 May 2008
Former Welsh Secretary and first minister Alun Michael says the 10p tax issue played very badly with voters and in the end concessions from Gordon Brown came too late
Labour's Alun Michael says the 10p tax debacle was a big issue on the doorstep in the run up to the 1 May elections and by the time concessions came from Number 10 people felt it was too little, too late.
Michael, who represents Cardiff South and Penarth, said the prime minister's reaction to concerns that the abolition of the tax band would hit the poorest in our society was [...]
Smith: London could fall to Boris
- 3 comments
- Posted by Ben Davies
- 02 May 2008
The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith tells newstatesman.com she fears Boris Johnson could be the next mayor of London
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has told newstatesman.com she believes Boris Johnson looks likely to succeed Ken Livingstone as the next mayor of London.
Counting is underway in the battle to decide who will govern the UK capital - one of the most prominent jobs in UK politics - with the result due to be announced later on Friday 2 May.
Over the phone from her Redditch constituency, where the Tories [...]
'It's not all doom and gloom'
- 3 comments
- Posted by Ben Davies
- 02 May 2008
Labour MPs are curiously hard to find today not surprisingly after they've had such gloomy news but we managed to track down Ann Clwyd and Martin Salter
I've spent most of the morning ringing round Labour MPs trying to get their reactions. Strangely today they're rather hard to come by. But I caught up with Ann Clwyd by phone at Bristol airport to get her reaction to the results particularly the ones in Wales where her Cynon Valley constituency is.
She told me: "Don't worry, I’m not leaving the country permanently - I’m going to Rome for [...]
No good news for Labour in Liverpool
- 3 comments
- Posted by Warren Bradley
- 02 May 2008
Lib Dem Warren Bradley, who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in Liverpool after securing the surprise support of an ex-Labour councillor who'd turned independent, argues his party deprived Labour of its number one target on 1 May
It was disappointing night for Labour. They had made Liverpool their number one target in the country but they failed to gain the City Council. Labour had hoped that taking Liverpool would be the one good news story on May 2nd against a background of losses across the UK and Wales.
The Liberal Democrats held onto Liverpool against a background of 12 months of bad news stories. Poor financial settlements [...]
Were You Up For Webcameron?
- 19 comments
- Posted by Martin Bright
- 02 May 2008
It's even worse than the worst Labour imagined. Martin Bright warns that if the Tories are smug about these results imagine how they will be after they win a general election
I was sitting on a panel in the Sky News studios at 2.30am this morning when something horrible flashed up on the giant screen in front of us. Not the tally of lost seats or the projections of what the night's results would mean if reproduced at a general election - though these were bad enough.
No. It was the sight of the Tory leader and Francis Maude enjoying [...]
Tories now the favourites
- 2 comments
- Posted by Sunder Katwala
- 02 May 2008
Fabian Society general secretary Sunder Katwala argues Gordon Brown and his cabinet need set out a distinctively Labour agenda because at the next election, they will have to make the case
At least Labour has got the first thing right – not trying to talk up the result. The mood in the Labour Party has been very choppy after the 10p tax row. These results should persuade MPs that they can not afford the indulgence of a headless chicken tailspin.
Everybody knows there will be no change of leadership. Nobody serious wants to reopen the question, and the party’s big hitters [...]
Labour's worst results in 40 years
- 6 comments
- Posted by Ben Davies
- 02 May 2008
Labour is badly hit in local elections in England and Wales pushed into third place by Tories and Lib Dems
Labour is in “listening and learning” mode after suffering what are widely predicted to be its worst election results in 40 years - beaten by Tories and Lib Dems into third place.
Across England and Wales the Tories made gains hitting hard into areas traditionally seen as Labour’s heartlands.
Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman got the dubious honour of trekking around the studios on Friday morning as the party licked [...]
