Bridges action day

 

Gateshead Lib Dems held an action day in Bridges ward today. Once a Labour stronghold, last year they clung on by only 65 votes over us in a by-election in the ward. Our aim today was to deliver the latest Focus - and other than a handful of streets, we achieved what we set out to do, thanks to 15 members turning up to help. Lunch at the Tesco Cafe afterwards!

Labour councillor missing in action

 

This is the latest video from Lib Dem Leader of the Opposition in Gateshead, Cllr Ron Beadle, talking about the Labour councillor elected in September last year and who, due to his health, has not attended any meetings. Labour have voted to let him avoid attending any meetings until May next year, rather than hold a by-election.

What's going on in Newcastle?

Until recently, Labour had a commanding majority on Newcastle City Council. Now, they are a minority administration which, this week, lost a key vote on plans for the city in the years ahead. Though they have lost some seats in recent local elections, the biggest wrecking ball applied to Labour's majority has actually come from within Labour itself.

Over the river in Gateshead, we are rather used to a bipolar political system in the council chamber. Labour and the Lib Dems hold all the seats other than one councillor who was elected as Labour but went independent in September last year. No other parties are represented on the council. Indeed, the last time there was a Conservative on Gateshead Council was back in 1996. His seat went Lib Dem in that year.

Back over the Tyne to Newcastle and there is a kaleidoscope of parties on the council including Labour, Lib Dems (the official opposition), one Conservative, Greens, Newcastle Independents and the East End and Associates Independent Party. This latter group is made up of the former Labour Leader Nick Kemp and six former Labour councillors. It is all something of a mess as Labour tries to run the authority without a majority while their former comrades are taking shots at them.

There are all-out local elections next year in the city under new boundaries which are probably not favourable to Labour. Whether or not the Labour administration can survive the next 11 months without collapsing is the big unanswered question.

Saltwell sandwiches

 

We had a Lib Dem action day in Saltwell ward on Sunday. The aim was to get most of the ward delivered with the latest Focus newsletter (achieved). And the other aim, of course, was to eat lots of sandwiches! (Achieved.)

Canvassing in Whickham

 

Last week we headed out as a group to canvass my ward of Whickham South and Sunniside in Gateshead. We chose the area that used to be the most Conservative area of the ward. We found only one person voting Conservative locally. No one was voting for Reform in the local elections though we identified some who will vote Reform at the next general election though I suspect the don't knows and won't says contained some Reform voters.

Labour got a pasting from voters. Those few Labour voters we identified all fell into the "soft" Labour category. We have worked this patch hard over the years which probably explains why the Lib Dem vote was considerable for the forthcoming local elections.

So, a good morning's work.

Flying the flag

 

I was passing through Gateshead Civic Centre today and was pleased to see Gateshead flying the flag for our country, for our friend Ukraine, and for diversity. Let's hope no one stops us from continuing to fly the flag.

This is why fair votes are needed

There was a by-election in Severn ward of Stroud Council recently. Congratulations to the winning Green candidate who took the seat from Labour - they collapsed from first to fourth place. That is not the only interesting feature of this by-election. The winning Green got just over a quarter of the votes cast. In recent elections, many winning candidates got in with a miniscule share of the vote. In Severn ward, compared to some elections, the Green did respectably well with just over a quarter of the votes. In other results I've seen, the winning candidate scraped in with only a fifth of the vote, meaning that four out of five voters did not vote for the winner.

Given the rise of multi-party politics in Britain, the first past the post system is generating results that are wildly out of kilter with the electorate's wishes. And the system also wipes out parties with significant vote shares while giving other parties absurdly large majorities based on a share of the vote which a few years ago would have seen that same party defeated heavily.

We need fair votes now more than ever before.

Planting Up Whickham returns to Church Green

 

I joined up with Planting Up Whickham volunteers to help sort the flowerbeds on Church Green in Whickham last Sunday. My job - as usual - was to take away all the stripped out plants to my farm where they were put into compost bins. Sadly I wasn't able to join in the planting of the summer flowers today as I was in Saltwell instead. Hopefully the volunteers have created some great displays in the heart of the village.

Cllr Peter Craig was also on hand to help out.

Helping out at the Chase Park fair

 

The community fair at Whickham Chase Park was held today and despite the rain, the crowds still turned up. Lots of Lib Dem councillors and campaigners were there as stewards or, as in my case, running a fundraising stall. My stall was a pen for Penny, one of our goats, who had a donation box strategically positioned next to the pen. Thanks to everyone who donated. Here are a few photos.

Happy birthday Ian and Paul

 

On Sunday 1st June, Lib Dem members gathered at Valley Farm on the Team Valley to celebrate two birthdays: Cllr Ian Patterson's 60th and Cllr Paul Diston's 65th. A combined 125 years was definitely something to be celebrated. Both represent Pelaw and Heworth ward on Gateshead Council. Happy birthday Ian and Paul!

Gateshead Lib Dem meeting

Gateshead Lib Dems met up last week to discuss planning for the local elections next year. The meeting was divided into 2 working groups to discuss issues relevant to the campaign. Good progress was made and we are looking forward to the battle ahead. Here are a few pics from the meeting.

Printing for tomorrow

 

I was in the office this afternoon to print a calling leaflet for a canvass session in my ward tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to getting out onto the doorsteps again.

Light Up Whickham race night

 

Light Up Whickham held a fundraising race night on Saturday 24th May which raised a good sum of money that will pay towards Whickham's Christmas tree. A good time was had by all.

Sunniside Focus delivery completed

 

A few days ago I finished delivering our latest Focus in my ward. It covered the villages of Sunniside Streetgate, Marley Hill and Byermoor and the private rural estate of Ravensworth. The delivery patch for the latter has only 15 houses in it but it takes quite some time to do given the rural nature. Back home and I'm already writing the next Focus, though it's not for my ward.

Johnson's hurdles to power

 A comeback by Boris Johnson? Don't make me laugh! The suggestion that the disgraced former PM could come back as Conservative leader to save them from oblivion are doing the rounds at the moment. Such stories are a measure of how far the Conservatives have sunk but for Johnson to come back, he needs to overcome some very high hurdles.

Firstly, he needs to get back into Parliament. A current Conservative MP would have to step down to create a vacancy. It is impossible to imagine Badenoch willingly letting an MP go just so that a person gunning for her job could be returned to Parliament.

Secondly, Johnson would have to win the nomination. That is not a foregone conclusion though admittedly, given the febrile state of the Conservative membership, he would probably win selection were he to throw his hat in the ring.

Thirdly, Johnson would have to win the by-election. This is probably the biggest hurdle for him to leap. Given the paucity of safe Conservative seats, it is likely that any by-election in a Conservative constituency will see an opposition win.

But let's suppose these hurdles are overcome and Boris is back! His 4th hurdle would be to engineer a coup to get rid of Badenoch. I doubt she will be a pushover but it is possible to remove her as Leader.

Which brings me to the 5th hurdle - winning the leadership election. Would Conservative MPs really take a punt on Johnson when they are in the middle of an existential crisis?

Okay, so let's suppose the impossible has happened and Johnson has become Conservative Leader. Would he be an asset to the Conservatives or would he repel the voters? In 2019, he was arguably an asset and led his party to its biggest election win since 1987. The tide of public opinion however turned against him in 2022. Hurdle no. 6 is the general election due by 2029. If the Conservatives believe they can win an election led by Johnson, they must be living in cloud cuckoo land.

But stranger things have happened.....!

Beaten by Labour's one-party state

Earlier in May, the Lib Dem group decided to nominate me as deputy mayor for Gateshead. The council has been Labour run since its creation in 1974 and 100% of mayors and deputy mayors have been Labour despite their never having 100% of the vote or 100% of the seats. The days of Labour's one-party state in Gateshead may be numbered but they are fighting to the bitter end to prevent anyone other than Labour from taking on the ceremonial role of mayor or deputy.

A common practice of Labour is to appoint a mayor or deputy who has only recently been elected. The new deputy mayor falls into that category. Cllr Sharron Potts was first elected in 2022, so her wait from election to deputy mayoral appointment was just 3 years.

I always knew that being elected deputy mayor would be something of a longshot! Alas, despite lovely speeches by my 2 ward colleagues, Marilynn Ord and Jonathan Mohammed, and 38 years' experience of serving as a councillor, I was defeated.

The deputy mayor has lots to do so I have been saved from this additional workload. That leaves me more time, as one of Gateshead Lib Dems' leading campaigners, to take the battle to Labour throughout the borough. For that, I must thank Labour!

There's been a coup!

Gateshead's annual council meeting was held earlier this month and we saw at it the results of what could be a coup on the Labour benches. Deputy Leader Catherine Donovan was spotted sitting in the second row of the council chamber. This is the area for those who hold no office other than being on the cabinet. Her seat of the past 9 years on the front bench was occupied by Cllr Gary Haley. Well, isn't this a bit of a turn up for the books!?

Cllr Donovan is something of a leftwinger, more at home with socialism than capitalism. She was a fan of Jeremy Corbyn when he was Labour Leader. Cllr Haley on the other hand had previously posed as the bloke who it was safe for Conservatives to vote for in my ward of Whickham South and Sunniside. 20 years ago he took on the challenge - and lost spectacularly - of being Labour candidate in my ward. He claimed that Conservatives could safely vote for him to beat those pesky leftwing Liberals! And though his claim of being safe for Tories may well be true, not many followed his suggestion of voting for him. His campaign crashed and he came nowhere near winning.

Tory Boy then ran away to another Lib Dem ward where his persuasive powers worked as well as they did in my ward. After a few unsuccessful attempts, he went on another rubber chicken run. Tory Boy eventually washed up in a ward which was strongly Labour and was elected in a byelection.

We all know that Starmer is moving Labour to the right as he tries to out-Reform Reform. I just didn't expect Labour in Gateshead to be moving so enthusiastically in that direction as well!

Closing the doors after the defector has bolted

 A few months ago, a rare event took place in Gateshead. A Labour Councillor, Jane McCoid left Labour to go independent. Changes of allegiances are few and far between in Gateshead so the local newspaper, The Chronicle, carried the story and included quotes direct from Jane herself.

Angry about the direction of Labour in government, she told The Chronicle, "Enough is enough", "all hope is gone" and the reduction in winter fuel allowance was "impossible to defend". Read the full article on this link.

At the time I thought Jane was quite brave. Defectors in Gateshead tend to disappear rapidly from view. In the meantime, Gateshead Lib Dems have worked hard to raise Jane's profile by including her resignation and her comments in our Focus leaflets.

Yesterday, Jane sent me the following email:

Hi Johnathon.

I am formally asking you respectfully not to use my resignation in your leaflets. This is disrespectful to me . 

I do not want to take further action but I will if you don't respect my wishes.

Kind regards 

Cllr Jane McCoid

Jane, if you don't want to be quoted as a defector saying lots of negative things about the party you have just left, I recommend not defecting in the first place but if you do defect, don't give your former colleagues a mauling by speaking to the media!

Gateshead Lib Dems will of course continue to exercise our democratic freedom to quote material that is in the public domain.

In the meantime Jane, closing the doors after you've already defected is probably not going to produce the results for which you are hoping.

How the war impacted on Ravensworth

 

Earlier this month I gave a talk to the Sunniside History Society about locations in the area which have a link to the 2nd World War. Included in the talk was a section about Ravensworth Castle in Gateshead. It wasn't not a real castle. Instead, it was a stately home built in the later Victorian period. By the later 1930s it was empty and suffering from mining subsidence. Lord Ravensworth had taken the decision in 1938 to have the house demolished. The stone and timber would be used to build a model village near the site of the castle. 3 houses were built by the time war was declared, at which point all house building was stopped. The foundations of the 4th house had been dug but after the war, the remaining houses were never built.

In this video which I produced for the History Society talk, I explain how the war stopped the demolition and building plans in their tracks while the partially demolished castle was taken over by the army for billeting soldiers.

Sunniside Focus

 

Hooray! I recently delivered my last patch but one for the current Focus on Sunniside. What is left to do is one very small bundle of 15 for Ravensworth. This is a large country estate so in terms of walking, it is the biggest patch. In terms of actual numbers to be delivered, it is the smallest. I will deliver the patch later this week.

Lead story in the Focus is the need to restore Kindred Wood, on the edge of Sunniside, which was damaged by diggers and spoil dumping in the autumn.

Wartime talk

 

I will be doing a talk on local locations with a wartime connection at 7pm on Wednesday 7th May at Sunniside Social Club. All welcome.

Whickham street surgery

 

Whickham Lib Dem councillors held a street surgery outside the Library today. It was a good chance to meet residents and talk about issues important to them. Conversations were wide and varied!

Taking a goat to the library

 

Okay, so taking a goat to the local library may seem a bit odd but for us it is an annual event. Whickham Voluntary Library held their Easter fair on Saturday 12th April and we took Nettle and Dandelion to the fair to drum up support and encourage people though the doors. Thanks to everyone who made donations in the collecting tin next to the pen in which the goats were placed. I've no idea how much the goats raised but a number of notes and coins were parted with!

Re-opening The Whinnies

 

The Whinnies Community Garden in Sunniside reopened earlier this month. I was there with camcorder ready to film the opening event.

Photo gallery

Gateshead Lib Dems have set up a photo gallery page on the party's website. Photos included range from members campaigning across Gateshead to councillors attending party or council meetings. You can see the March photos on this link.

Low Fell action day

 

On Sunday I was in Low Fell to help with the ward's action day. I delivered 2 patches before returning to HQ (the home of Cllr Dawn Welsh).

Lunch was a lovely way to put back on the calories that had just been burnt off through delivering Focus around the streets of Low Fell. Not visible in the photo, but I caught site of the delivery bundles being prepared for Chowdene.

Whickham Focus delivery

 

I am pleased to report that the most recent Whickham Focus has now been delivered. This edition has been delivered across the three Whickham wards of Gateshead, minus Sunniside, Swalwell and Dunston which get their own editions (I'm working on the Sunniside version now.) The lead story was about changes to boundaries and proposals to set up a banking hub in Whickham.

Down the drain

 

Quite a few people in Sunniside have asked me what's going on at the bottom of Metal Bank between Whickham and Sunniside. I checked what's happening and it turns out that Northumbrian Water are relaying the sewer, not houses being built, which is what some feared.

Gateshead West meetng

 

Gateshead West Lib Dem branch meeting met last week at Cllr Peter Maughan's house in Whickham. Campaigning for the local elections next year was the main item on the agenda. Social events were also discussed. After all, you have to have some fun after delivering thousands of Focus newsletters!

Whickham Library fair

 

On Saturday morning I headed to Whickham Voluntary Library to visit the Easter fair being held there. As usual I was asked to bring an assortment of animals to help raise funds so I brought Nettle and Dandelion, two of my goats. Thank you to everyone who donated to the library via the collecting box next to the pen which contained the goats.

Meanwhile, Cllr Marilynn Ord took a shine to Nettle and walked her around St Mary's Green! This turned out to be a bit of a mobile photo opportunity for parents and their children to utilise.