Originally published @ 8:47 am, Sat 8th May 2010
Friday night, and Radio Derby were inviting all the elected MPs in or on the phone to be interviewed. For a bit of contrast would I mind coming in? OK, but it was the third of 3 interviews at which, as the campaign began, I was asked how would I feel during the count, after the declaration I was asked how I felt and then I was asked how did I feel at the count.
All this concern for my feelings. See how Radio Derby care for me!
But can it really boost audience share?
So going on live, I made the point that it might have been nice to talk about issues, not cos of some throw-back to the Tony Benn mantra on "ishoos", but really because there were issues to talk through. How do we get local firms to employ local people rather than agency staff employed at lower cost and with agencies taking a slice of the pay? What more do we do to assure people about their safety and reduce the nuisance of anti-social behaviour at a time when crime is down a third? What action do we take on trespass on public land? Could more be done to assure people on availability of housing, public or otherwise?
The message from the 3 or 4 of the Conservative MPs that I heard was consistent and revealing.
* They won because people wanted change.
* They'd won because people wanted to get rid of Gordon Brown.
No subtlety really, or variation. No-one said people had bought into their big vision of a big society. No-one said there was an overwhelming desire to reduce the debt.
Another reason for listening to Radio Derby was hearing the local council results come in. Good for Labour with 2 gains and now the largest party.
I was invited on the radio to suggest that the South Derbyshire result was down to national factors. I didn't feel I could take the easy option of saying yes (easy, cos no local causes means no local blame). Further, I could have cited the apparent trend in the results that incumbent MPs did well despite all that was said about expenses.
The results were similar in Erewash, Burton and North-West Leicestershire, and I think there is something to determine about why the swing away from Labour was what is was in our part of the Midlands.
My Conservative opponent settles for no such sophistication. In her first use of her mandate to speak for the people of South Derbyshire, she said it was because of my lack of character. This is not a new point from South Derbyshire Conservatives, they said it about Mark Todd when he was defeated in 1992. It says everything about my opponent that she has neither the wit to think of something original nor the judgement (and she is lacking in judgment) to not use a "repeat" when it doesn't apply.
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