Bridget Fox refuses to rule out third election bout with Emily Thornberry

Published: 24 September, 2010
by RICHARD OSLEY in LIVERPOOL

BRIDGET Fox, the Liberal Democrat who twice came close to upsetting Labour’s parliamentary stranglehold on Islington, has not ruled out a third election bout with Emily Thornberry.

Ms Fox was widely tipped to unseat the Labour MP at May’s general election but fell short in Islington South by 3,569 votes.

In 2005, she was even closer to victory – defeated by just 484 votes.

Still in the thick of party business at conference in Liverpool this week, she said it was “too ­early” to say whether she would run again, but she not abandoned the idea.

She said that she would not make assumptions about who the local party would want to field in the constituency and added: “There is a lot of things to happen before then – the referendum on electoral reform, the mayoral elections and the local elections. 

“There could be boundary changes so we don’t know how the seat will look. All of these things have to happen before the party thinks about the general election.”

Ms Fox has thrown herself into the campaign for the alternative vote system to replace the first past the post system, attending street stalls in Angel and Camden Town. 

Her old adversary, Ms Thornberry, has already come out in favour of retaining the current system, warning that the alternative vote system – designed to ensure winning candidates capture 50 per cent of the vote – lacked the simplicity of first past the post.

Ms Thornberry argues that if voters only have one vote they take it more seriously and that the current system leads to a better relationship between MPs and constituents.

But Ms Fox said: “We have to get away from a situation where in election campaigns we are going around – and all parties do it – saying: Don’t vote for them, it’s a wasted vote, [and saying] that only two candidates can win’.”

She admitted to voting for Labour in 1983 but said she was angered by the fact that Labour later held significantly more seats in Parliament than the SDP/Liberal alliance – despite attaining a similar share in the vote.

Ms Fox added: “Everybody should get a say at elections. That’s what the campaign for real votes is about.”

Lib Dems ‘are not a diverse party’

ONE of Islington’s most experienced Liberal Democrats has warned her party over its lack of elected members from ethnic minorities and claimed that it is not “connecting” with ­people living on council estates, writes Richard Osley.

Baroness Meral Ece, who spent 16 years at the Town Hall before being made a peer last year, said from the main stage at the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool on Sunday: “We are missing the elephant in the room. We are not a diverse party.”

She threw the onus on local branches to do more to recruit potential councillors from different backgrounds.

She said: “People say to me that they get very angry about this phrase ‘hard to reach group’. They say: ‘I’m not hard to reach. I’m here. I live on this estate. It’s just that your people and other politicians don’t bother to come and ask what matters to me – what would make my life better and my ­children’s lives better’. 

“We need to connect far more to ordinary people.”

Baroness Ece was a key member of the Lib Dem group who until May ran the Town Hall. The party spent several years wooing Labour party members but were shocked to lose their grip on power at this year’s council elections. 

The case of how the Lib Dems managed to shift the political landscape in Islington used to be held up as an example to other branches. At this year’s conference, the party’s experience of retaining control on Sutton Council has instead been used in training workshops. 

Baroness Ece added: “We have no black or ethnic minority elected representatives on any of our assemblies

“It’s not just about tokenism. It’s about sending out a signal that the Lib Dems are representative and we have policies for all the ­communities in the United Kingdom.”

She told the conference that she had never thought about becoming a councillor in Islington until an organiser put the idea in her head by simply asking her.

She added: “We have to show people we are open for business and open to all members of the community. I really want to see this at the heart of our priorities.”