ELECTION 2010: Lib Dem local candidates say they are ready to ‘make history’
Published: 30 April 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM
THERE is a joke that the only way for a Liberal Democrat to get inside Marylebone Town Hall’s council chamber is to get married there.
In almost a century of Westminster politics, the party has never had an elected representative – a fact usually attributed to the polarised nature of the borough which houses some of the country’s wealthiest and poorest families in its eight square miles.
As one candidate put it: “We don’t get much joy from council houses and castles.”
But on May 6 history could be made. Conservative complacency and what looks to be a mini-meltdown within the Labour Party is there to be exploited – an administrative bungle at association headquarters means Labour will not be fielding a full set of candidates for the first time since the 1960s.
Lib Dem candidates, party members and supporters have been aggressively targeting two former Tory strongholds: Bayswater, where they won 33 per cent of the vote in 2006, and Churchill ward in Pimlico.
They have been leading a registration drive to mobilise hundreds of younger residents in the two areas. In July last year Carol Caruana became the first Lib Dem to win a seat in Notting Hill on the neighbouring Kensington and Chelsea Council. They hope an effective doorstep campaign, bolstered by the so-called “Clegg effect”, will help them replicate the success.
“People are saying this is a Lib Dem area now, which is very promising,” said Mark Blackburn, St John’s Wood resident and candidate in Bayswater, as well as the parliamentary candidate in the marginal Westminster North seat.
He added: “We haven’t got the Tory money, so we’ve been breaking our necks, but the reaction has been very positive.”
In total the party is fielding a record 43 candidates across 18 of the 20 wards in Westminster. Their campaign is being run on a ticket of fairness, claiming the council has been run “for the rich few rather than for the many” citing parking regulations as a major battleground, especially its impact on small businesses.
Naomi Smith is standing in Churchill ward as well as the safe Tory parliamentary seat held by Mark Field in the Cities of London and Westminster. Her father is Trevor Smith, Baron Smith of Clifton, the Lib Dem spokesman on Northern Ireland in the House of Lords. Ms Smith, 28, said: “Lib Dem posters have been going up without even asking. It’s been amazing. What I think we are seeing is a total collapse of the Labour vote around here. But also people realised that the Tory candidates don’t live round here.”
She added: “I think we will could be making history on May 6. There are lots of people living here who weren’t here in 2005 and who didn’t vote for Mark Field. I think we can surprise people there as well.”
To achieve that feat, she will need to overturn Mr Field’s 8,000 majority.
In total there are 178 candidates standing made up of 60 Conservatives, 51 Labour, 43 Liberal Democrats, 17 Green, four from the UK Indpendence Party, one from the English Democrats and two independents.