Welcome to my blog. I am a former local journalist who now works in PR and a Conservative and community activist in Woking and Horsell. This blog will keep updated on local issues as well as my interests and quirky news stories.
She’s done it – Chloe Smith is the next MP for Norwich North following her victory today, which has already been covered by others. I have to say that I didn’t expect the majority to be nearly 7,500 but neither did anyone else.
This result was interesting to me purely because of the scale of the
victory – no one can possibly say that Project DC has stalled, or is not on track to pummel Labour in May (for I think it will be May) next year. What has been interesting is the reactions of the opposition parties.
After sending Exeter fop Ben Bradshaw out into the storm first (it couldn’t happen to a less deserving guy), Gordon Brown kicked off with:
“I don’t think any party can take a great deal of cheer from this, the
Conservative vote went down, the Liberal vote when down – only the fringe
parties saw their votes going up.”
The more I listen to Gordon, the more I worry about him. I suspect that if Labour had won by 7,500, he would have taken more than a “great deal of cheer” from the result. The funny smile he gave before and while he was talking (someone should tell him about that) seemed to indicate the opposite of what he was saying. A PM who willfully lies to the camera is bad enough – one betrayed so obviously by his body language gives serious cause for concern.
The Lib Dems have gone for Chloe herself. Lib Dem blogger Liberal England goes with:
“The result was a triumph for the Conservatives, but it is hard to be too
enthusiastic about their candidate. Chloe Smith, though she did her best to
hide it, is a wonk from Conservative head office. She is a female Miliband.
She even looks like a female Miliband.”
I beg to differ. Not only does Chloe look many times more pleasant than the instectule Milliband pair, she has displayed a confidence, presence and unflappability that marks her out as a future star. I strongly believe that the Norwich North by-election win will spawn a mythology about it that could propel her to the party leadership. But she needs to hold the seat in 2010.
