Planting Up Whickham

 

I was in Whickham yesterday with other volunteers from Planting Up Whickham to help plant up the flowerbeds on Front Street and Church Green. The group raises the money for the flowers and looks after the beds after the council stopped doing this about a decade ago. 2 hours of planting on a Sunday morning and the job was done.

Virtue out of necessity

I guess that Keir Starmer must be regretting that beer and curry in the office of Mary Foy, Labour MP for Durham City and former member of Gateshead Council. While not on the level of the Downing Street party factory, the fact it happened does not read well for Labour. Starmer has been forced to make a virtue out of necessity. If he is fined, there was no way he could remain at the top of Labour given his previous hardline position on Boris Johnson's party going activities. So he is making his offer to resign if fined a position of virtue. If he is then found not to have broken covid restrictions (and my guess is that he won't be fined), he can then portray himself as the good guy who offered to do the right thing before the police had reached a conclusion. All, of course, in contrast to Boris Johnson.

Meanwhile, time to spend a bit of time reading about the government's attempts to address the cost of living crisis. £15 billion and a uturn just to keep the Sue Gray report out of the headlines!

Back again

We had our Lib Dem Council group annual meeting in Gateshead last night. 3  new members and we are now a group of 15, up 2. I was reelected as Leader and Ron Beadle was reelected Deputy Leader. Just when I had nearly finished digging the escape tunnel to spend more time with my new farm! Thanks for your confidence in me, colleagues. 

Live from the goathouse

 

After 35 years on Gateshead Council, this was a first for me, and probably a first for Gateshead as well. Last week I attended a council meeting from my goathouse! Fortunately it was online and it meant for a few moments that the Director of Public Health was competing with one of my cockerels to be heard over the ipad! I then put him on mute!

Forget bitcoin, the currency of the future is duck eggs!

 

On Saturday a craft market was held in Sunniside so I popped in to have a look around. Stalls selling cakes are a magnet to me. There was one there tempting me to part with my cash. I bought 5 cakes. They cost me 4 boxes of duck eggs laid in the previous few days on my allotment. Forget bitcoin, the currency of the future is duck eggs!

Tales from the campaign trail no.9 - I have been targeted

I was reliably informed on Friday at the count that the Conservatives are to target me personally in the local elections next year! "You are targeted" sounds as though it's come straight from a Terminator film! But far from being angry that I am to be the Tories' target, I welcome it! But let's put everything into perspective. By May next year I will have represented Whickham South and Sunniside for 36 years. I gained the seat from the Conservatives in 1987 and have taken over 50% of the vote in every election since then. The good people of the ward have chosen me to be their councillor 10 times. Apart from 1987, the Conservative have had a name on the ballot paper but no campaign. Last week, in the ward, the Conservatives were in 3rd place with 346 votes compared to our vote of 1770

Last week, the Conservatives failed to win their only target seat in Gateshead (Winlaton and High Spen). If their strategy is to use resources to fight one of their most unwinnable seats, and therefore using up valuable resources that could go to the better prospect of Winlaton and High Spen, then it is hardly surprising the Conservatives have failed to win a single seat in Gateshead in 30 years.

So let the battle commence!

Congratulations Marilynn

 

Congratulations to my ward colleague Marilynn Ord who was re-elected last week to Gateshead Council in Whickham South and Sunniside ward. She took 60% of the vote and had a majority of 1075.

The details are:

• Marilynn Ord (Lib Dem) 1770 (60.1%)
• Labour 695 (23.6%)
• Conservative 346 (11.7%)
• Green 136 (4.6%).

Tales from the campaign trail no 8 - predictions

 

On the way to the count this morning, I made my predictions for the Gateshead local elections. But how close were they?

Tales from the Campaign Trail no. 7 - The heat is on in High Spen

Winlaton and High Spen ward continues to attract attention in the local elections in Gateshead. It seems the Conservatives are pouring in the resources. There have been two visits by cabinet members and I am informed that there have been visits by MPs recently.

From having been rather complacent a few weeks ago, Labour may now be awake to the danger of losing to the Conservatives in the ward. There was a group of Labour members working the ward today and thanks to the wonders of social media (in this case Liz Twist MP's Twitter feed) we now know who was there - 11 Councillors, 2 members, the candidate and the MP. But who is this I see? John Adams? The beleaguered member for Saltwell? Does this mean he is complacent about being re-elected again for Saltwell? Or are Labour giving up in Saltwell?

So, what is the final result to be? I remain to be convinced the Conservatives can pull off victory in the ward. It will be close however, but Labour members must surely be feeling it is a little too close for comfort, hence the reason for shipping in their councillors.

Tales from the campaign trail no. 6 - the Administrative Error Party standing in Saltwell

In previous years there were 2 wards in Gateshead in which the Green Party was thought to have an interest: Saltwell and Crawcrook and Greenside. This year we saw an interesting development in Saltwell. The Green Party candidate of the previous year, Rachel Mary Cabral, is standing again, but without a party description. Somehow, the nomination forms have been handed in without being fully completed. Anyone looking to vote for the Green Party will be disappointed though the Green Party vote is being squeezed heavily by the Lib Dems in Saltwell as the battle to beat Labour hots up.

So what went so wrong for the Greens? Well, I am reliably informed that the candidate went on holiday in late March, coinciding with the opening of nominations. My suspicion is that the form for the party description and logo were not completed before Rachel left the country. Without that form being signed by a party's designation nominating officer, a candidate cannot use the Party description and logo.

When challenged in April about the lack of a description, Rachel explained there was an "administrative error" though quite what that error is has not been explained.

Never mind Rachel, there is a silver lining in the cloud. The Greens got 185 votes in Saltwell last year and they will be looking for a new home. They could help swing the ward away from Labour by voting Lib Dem instead.

Tales from the campaign trail no.5 - pact up and ready to go

I was rather amused by the absurdity of Oliver Dowden's claims of an electoral pact between Lib Dems and Labour. The Tory Party chairman based his fantasy story on Labour standing more candidates in the North while the Lib Dems are standing more candidates in the South. Perhaps Mr Dowden should visit Gateshead where, incidentally, Labour, Conservatives and Lib Dems are each fielding full slates of candidates. The actual battle is between Labour and Lib Dems slugging it out in a number of wards with the Conservatives running a small sideshow in Winlaton and High Spen. Even in this one target ward, the Conservatives are more likely to be runners up rather than winners though this is, for them, a major advance on decades in the electoral wilderness in Gateshead.

But anyone looking for evidence of a non-existent Lib-Lab pact should visit Saltwell, Birtley, Pelaw and Heworth, High Fell and Dunston Hill and Whickham East wards in Gateshead. Labour are defending the first four against a Lib Dem onslaught. The 5th ward is a marginal Lib Dem held ward (but with one independent who is not  defending his seat.) The ward has a recent Labour history and Labour would love to recover it. No one visiting those wards could possibly believe Dowden's story.

Still, it makes for an interesting distraction from an MP viewing porn, Partygate and the cost of living crisis.

Tales from the campaign trail no. 4 - the wanderer returns

Gateshead Labour Councillor Anne Wheeler is on a bit of a journey. She arrived on the council in 2010, winning back a seat from the Lib Dems in Pelaw and Heworth ward which we had held since taking it from Labour in 2000. Having served 2 terms Anne moved ward to Wardley and Leam Lane in 2018. Whether this was a voluntary switch of ward or imposed on her I do not know. Either way, it was for her a good move as Wardley and Leam Lane was one of the strongest Labour wards in the borough. Pelaw and Heworth on the other hand was moving back towards to Lib Dems. In 2016 we took one of the three seats by only 20 votes. Labour clung on by around 100 votes in the ward in 2018 but Anne was safe with a majority of 868 in the next door ward.

Alas, things don't look so comfortable for her now. She is no longer Labour candidate in the Labour fortress of Wardley and Leam Lane. Instead, she is back in Pelaw and Heworth facing a Lib Dem majority of 648 from 2021. The sitting Labour councillor has decided to retire and retirement for Anne is now looking likely as well. The ward is a top target for the Lib Dems and Labour's campaign has been rather minimal.

A ward to watch on Friday 6th May.

Tales from the campaign trail no. 3 - eat your Greens

For the last couple of local elections, the Greens in Gateshead have fancied their chances in Crawcrook and Greenside ward. Labour's majority over the Greens last year was 321, bringing the ward into the realm of the marginal. The Greens last year were disappointed by the result but it was their best chance of winning a seat on Gateshead Council. Since then a change of candidate has probably not helped their cause. Though it seems the Greens are continuing to do battle in the ward, I suspect they blew their chances last year. Expect a Labour hold next week though don't expect the majority to be comfortable.

Tales from the campaign trail no. 2: Labour forget they run the council

 

It's that time of year - Labour leaflets pop through local letterboxes. There must be an election! Labour's candidate for Whickham South and Sunniside (who lives in Blaydon) has been issued with a map of where to go and the success of this can be shown by the fact I walked past him last week in Sunniside. His election leaflet, which he was delivering at the time, seems almost to have come from a parallel universe. Anyone reading it would be forgiven for thinking Labour do not run the council! According to the Labour leaflet, Lib Dems are responsible for the cost of living crisis! 

The leaflet then claims that "There are no outdoor play areas for children in Sunniside." This may be a bit of a surprise to the Whinnies Community Garden where volunteers provide an outdoor play area! There is also Sunniside Park, Marley Hill Park, Frosterley Walk field and Kingsway community orchard. How about Kindred's Wood and Lotties Wood? All outdoor spaces and accessible. What Sunniside lacks (which the leaflet does not refer to) is play equipment, other than what is available at the Whinnies and at Marley Hill. But the Labour-run council withdrew the funding some years ago for play equipment for Sunniside.

The leaflet then claims that we should "not see other areas of the council benefit at the cost of families in Whickham and Sunniside." Are Labour admitting they are using my constituents as a cash cow for other areas of Gateshead.

I just want to remind Labour that they run the council, and have done so for nearly 50 years! Labour are ultimately responsible.

Anyway, good luck with your campaign Mr Hall. I will see you at the count.

Tales from the campaign trail: is the 30 year electoral famine to end?

It's something we haven't seen in Gateshead for 30 years: the Conservatives winning a seat on the council. Sadly, the chances of this happening this May are now higher than they have been for 30 years. You have to go back to 1992 to find the last Conservative win when they topped the poll in Low Fell. Since then Gateshead has been an electoral desert for the Conservatives. Are we about to see an end to this electoral famine?

We could well be for there is one ward where the Conservatives stand a modest chance of winning. Winlaton and High Spen was a Labour hold last year but their majority was slashed to 396 over the Conservatives. I am reliably informed that the Conservatives' young candidate and raising star Lewis Ormston is running a strong local campaign, with the help of his party colleagues from across the border in Co Durham. I hear on the grapevine that there were lots of Tories in High Spen yesterday knocking on doors.

Young Lewis has been helped by the retirement of the Labour Councillor and her replacement by a candidate from the other end of the Borough. And the Conservatives could be the beneficiary of Labour complacency. My friends in the Labour Party seem to think Winlaton and High Spen ward is safe for Labour and they've got it in the bag. They could be in for an uncomfortable surprise. 

Labour asks for advice on how to listen

Consultants have been drafted in by Labour-run Gateshead Council to tell them how to listen to the people! A "Resident Influence Strategy" will be "designed" by TPAS, a "not-for-profit" organisation  which will work with council tenants, leaseholders and employees. It would be interesting to know how much this exercise in explaining democracy to the Council has cost local council tax payers. And it will be interesting to know just how far the Labour party is prepared to act on what the people say. If for example residents said, "Stop spending our cash on consultants," would Labour listen?

Unlucky thirteen

The high flying political career of Newcastle City Council's leader Nick Forbes could be about to come crashing down. With local elections looming in May, Labour selections are taking place and Nick seems to have run into a sticky problem - his ward branch in Arthur's Hill have opted for a different candidate. According to local sources, Cllr Forbes was beaten by a "landslide". It turns out that 4 people at the branch meeting voted for Nick and 13 voted for the other candidate, Abdul Samad. Hardly a landslide and you have to have some sympathy for Cllr Forbes, given that his career has been put in doubt by the actions of a tiny number of Labour activists who turned up on a cold evening for a meeting. Nevertheless, that's the Labour rule book in operation though there is talk of official complaints and challenges to the results.

Speaking as someone in politics who prefers to go when I want to, I wish Nick well. Maybe he will be parachuted into another ward in Newcastle or perhaps given a seat in the House of Lords! (He's a big mate of Sir Keir.) And if he wants time to contemplate his future, he can pop over to my smallholding and help me muck out the goats and chickens. You never know, it could give him ideas on how to sort out the Labour Party!

Goat superstars

Last year we donated two goats - Sooty and Sweep - to Birkheads Wild Community Interest Company (CIC) which works with children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The goats are brother and sister and were born two years ago. I hand raised them as their mum rejected them. I first encountered Birkheads Wild at a school fair in 2019. I had 2 other goats there (and a stall selling homemade jam) and the CIC were there as well. I got on chatting to Fiona, who runs the organisation, and I was invited to see their facilities.

Sooty and Sweep are now TV stars! They were featured on BBC Look North and Tyne Tees TV news last week. Journalists had picked up on the CIC's appeal for Christmas trees to feed to the goats. Camera teams went in and got some fab footage of Sooty and Sweep chomping their way through trees that would otherwise have ended up in the waste system.

I need to pay them a visit. I'll take my autograph book in the hope of getting some hoof prints!

You can see the BBC news story on this link.

Revival?

 I decided not to stay up all night to await the result of the Shropshire North by-election but I waited until 1.30am to get an indication of how the count was going before heading to bed. That's when the Lib Dem prediction of a comfortable gain came through. Presumably, our people had finished crunching the numbers and were able to project the result. By then, a result much closer to home had come through: a council by-election in Hexham East in Northumberland saw a Lib Dem gain from the Conservatives. So off to bed I went and awoke this morning to news of a Lib Dem majority of over 5000.

My usual preference for 24 hour news coverage is Sky News over the BBC but the former was rather disappointing this morning. Much of their focus was on giving Labour lots of airtime while one of their shadow cabinet members waffled on for ages avoiding questions about why Labour failed to capitalise on their 2nd place in 2019. Meanwhile the BBC had a much more interesting angle - the danger to the Conservatives of a revived Lib Dems.

Those of us who were politically active in the 1980s and 1990s will remember the big swings in by-elections to the Lib Dems. A long running revival of the Lib Dems (and the predecessor Liberals and SDP) was underway which eventually led to the electoral breakthrough in 1997 and government in 2010. Obviously this did not last and we went back to a position similar to the Liberals in the early 1970s.

I've been in politics for so long that I've learnt not to get overly excited about an individual result. But are the BBC right to suggest there is a Lib Dem revival underway? Include the local elections from earlier this year, the Chesham by-election in the summer and local by-election results and there is more than a hint of a national Lib Dem revival.

Here in Gateshead in May this year, the higher than usual Conservative vote saved Labour's bacon in a number of wards. We had some near misses which would have been Lib Dem gains if the Conservative vote had not been so vibrant. Well, that vibrancy has now gone. And that means Labour council seats in Gateshead are up for grabs.

Interesting times ahead.

The gifted champagne socialist

 

Gateshead Council's Labour leader, Martin Gannon, had an interesting Facebook post recently (see above). For once it wasn't a post that attacked me but rather it was a barbed assault on MPs who accept free gifts, such as trips to sports events, dinners, tickets to the Brit Awards and so on. In a 6 month period, MPs had clocked up a range of gifts with a total value of £197,000. Martin wrote, "The words noses, pigs and trough spring to mind."

Let's just hope Martin himself couldn't have the same words applied to him. Well, it was easy enough to check on Gateshead Council's website. There all gifts received in connection with a member's role as a councillor must be declared. I decided to take a look.

So how many free gifts has Martin enjoyed since he became leader in 2016? 5? 10?, 20?

No! The answer is 49.

A bottle of champagne, flowers, trips to the races, tickets to the theatre and lots and lots of dinners (including some abroad)! 

I added up the total value. It came to £3235.

If you would like to read all about Martin's gifts, click on the following link. Just be warned that it is a very long list and you may want to turn your nose up at it! But don't pig out on it!

http://democracy.gateshead.gov.uk/mgListGifts.aspx?UID=160&DR=24%2f07%2f2019-03%2f08%2f2020