I was rather surprised by a photo that popped up on my Facebook feed recently. The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves was pictured with the North East Mayor Kim McGuinness and Newcastle MP Catherine McKinnell walking along a street in South Jesmond where a council by-election to Newcastle Council is currently being held.
The surprise is not that the Mayor and the MP are out campaigning in Newcastle. They are after all local elected representatives. The surprise is that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been shipped in to give a helping hand to a Labour candidate in a council by-election. So Labour now need cabinet members to shore up their local vote!
Labour are in an appalling mess in Newcastle. They have inflicted splits, walkouts and implosions on their own group. As a result they have now lost overall control of the Council and operate as a minority administration.
Whether or not the appearance of Rachel Reeves on the streets of South Jesmond will assist Labour's by-election campaign is the big unknown. There was a poll out today from Sky News that showed she has the lowest approval rating of any leading Labour member. We wait to see if bringing in the most unpopular Labour cabinet member to help shore up a Labour campaign to a council where Labour have self-detonated is a winning strategy.
Yesterday it was the turn of Pelaw, Heworth and Bill Quay to host a Lib Dem action day in Gateshead. 16 members turned up including some who have recently been approved as candidates and will be standing for the first time in the local elections next year. The aim of the day was to deliver the latest Focus. Most were done by lunchtime. Thanks to chairman Matt for providing lunch.
The Corbyn Party was launched last week. I say "Corbyn Party" because no one has actually given the new "party" a name. "It's Your Party" Corbyn told the media as he relived the old days of being a party leader. It could so easily accidentally be called the "You Party" or the "Ewe Party", hence the inclusion above of a photo of my sheep waiting to be sheared in May.
The absence of a name and the lack of any binding principles simply added to the impression that the "launch" was chaotic and thrown together at the last minute. Corbyn's claim of hundreds of thousands joining the Ewe Party turns out to be people applying via the Ewe Party website to received their newsletter.
Think back to 2015-19 when many Labour MPs spent their time trying to kick Corbyn out of the Labour leadership. Labour had a surge in membership. Don't get me wrong: members, supporters and volunteers are essential to the future of any political party. However I had too many conversation with Labour members in Gateshead to be convinced that this surge of new members, brought in by Corbyn, were largely of no use to Labour whatsoever.
The vast majority of this army of Corbynites were nothing more than leftwing moaners whose time was spent attacking Blair (who had given up the leadership a decade earlier) and Labour, not the Tories. This army of armchair class warriors weren't out delivering Labour leaflets or knocking on doors. They were at home on their ipads and laptops blaming everything wrong on Blair.
So the Ewe Party would be an ideal home for such people. They can follow the Corbyn Cult without any fear they will be thrown out of their party. And, of course, they can help Reform to win seats at the general election due in 2029 under this ludicrous first-past-the-post vosting system.
So, Jeremy Corbyn has announced, sort of, that he may be launching a new leftwing party. As a spectator of the Labour Party, I watched Labour in 2017 sing "Oh Jeremy Corbyn" and get carried away by the Leader's presence at Glastonbury. Oh what a wonderful time Labour members were having as they deluded themselves that Corbyn would lead them to victory and a socialist utopia, unencumbered by reality, would be created. And then in 2019, Labour imploded. The rest, as they say, is history.
This has set me thinking about where Labour members in Gateshead stand about the current state of Labour and the possibility of a new leftwing party appearing on the political landscape. Maybe some Labour members will conclude that a beneficiary of a Corbyn party would be Reform. Best not to give it any support as, by supporting Corbyn, they could be helping Farage to win seats. Others may want to relive 2017, confident that they could ride a tidal wave of socialism into power. They would have a warm feeling of socialist purity in their stomachs, a happy time to be had, whatever the consequences politically, just as was the case a few years ago.
I dispute the suggestion that a Corbyn party would only benefit Reform. In Gateshead the battle for the council is between Lib Dems and Labour and both sides tend, though not exclusively, to represent safe seats. Not many change hands. If Labour's vote were split, the hurdle to winning Labour-held seats would be lowered. The main beneficiary of that in Gateshead would be the Lib Dems.
But, would any Labour councillor be tempted to throw in their lot with the Corbyn Party? That's the big unknown. Nevertheless, in the video above, filmed in 2018 at a Gateshead cabinet meeting, you can hear the then deputy leader of the council, Cllr Catherine Donovan, ranting away about the wonders of Corbyn. There was an exchange with me in which I point out how deluded the Corbynites were. Events proved me right and Catherine wrong.
The question now is, are any of the Labour councillors in Gateshead ready to jump ship and rejoin Corbyn? Pragmatism or principles? I suspect pragmatism will prevail but I also expect quite a few Labour retirements next year.
I was invited to bring along our most recent goat kids to the Whinnies Wanderers, the parent and toddler group based in the Whinnies Community Garden in Sunniside, in my council ward. They went down a treat. I've been invited to come back next week. By then we may have more goat kids. Florence, our boss nanny, is very pregnant and I expect her to give birth on Friday.
On Friday last week, we took a day off to go to Beamish Museum, only a ten minute drive from our house. A new attraction was opened last year though only on weekends - the 1950s hill farm. Now it is open all year round so it was our first opportunity to see it.
On Saturday I underestimated the number of people expected to turn up for the Gateshead Lib Dem action day in Ryton. I only printed 500 survey forms but fortunately, on the same print run on Friday, I also printed 1000 Focuses for Bridges ward, all about the flyover which is due to be demolished later this year. So, Councillors Ian Patterson (pictured above) and Ron Beadle, having turned up to deliver Ryton, instead took the Bridges Focuses and headed back to central Gateshead to start delivering a day early. There are lots more Focuses in the pipeline waiting to be printed and delivered.
On Saturday 12th July, Gateshead Lib Dems held another action day, this time in Ryton. There was a positive response on the doorsteps. And it was also an opportunity to get a few more photos around the ward for Focus newsletters.
At midday we piled into Fed and Watered for lunch. Excellent food.
On Thursday Friends of Sunnisde held their regular meeting. As the ward councillors, Jonathan Mohammed, Marilynn Ord and, I attend to give advice and support. This time we took along with us our neighbourhood officer Sam Laing from the Civic Centre so he could give further advice to the group.
We are running a fair for local voluntary organisations on 6th September at Sunniside Club and I'm currently contacting groups to see if they will attend. I'm pleased that Friends of Sunniside will be there.
Well done Planting Up Sunniside. Their volunteers have been at work maintaining the planters at the Kingsway/Sunniside Road junction in Sunniside. Great work and a great display of flowers.
I was in the Lib Dem office this morning to print surveys for four of our key wards to deliver over the coming days. Two of the wards are not (yet) held by us but as we look to expand our beachheads in Gateshead, we need to take on Labour and beat them. The two other wards are split between Lib Dems and Labour. We are looking for a clean sweep in the all out elections in those wards next year. I am pleased to announce that the printing went without a hitch, something of a strange experience for me!
It was Gateshead Lib Dem group meeting last night. It was held on-line (our usual practice for group meetings). We discussed motions for the next full council. Deadline is later this month.
Whenever Lib Dems in Gateshead meet, we inevitably discuss the next local elections, due in May next year. Candidate selection is going well, Focuses continue to be written, action days planned. All this was reported to the group.
Meanwhile, it was also reported to the group that in neighbouring Co Durham, currently with a Reform majority, a committee meeting was held which was attended by the opposition parties. By the time the Reform councillors turned up, the committee had got through all the business on the agenda. Reform can certainly teach us all how not to run a council!
It doesn't feel like 20 years since the 7/7 London bombings but it is now 2 decades since the worst terrorist incident on UK soil. Much of what happened still feels fresh in my mind.
20 years ago I was working for the Lib Dems in our then HQ, Cowley Street, as a policy officer. The policy areas for which I was responsible included local government. On 6th July, the Local Government Association annual conference opened in Harrogate and I was invited to attend and speak at the Lib Dem group meeting in the afternoon of 7th July. My plan was to get the train from London Kings Cross at around 9am on the 7th and then attend the group meeting. Once the meeting was over I would head north again to go home in Gateshead.
And then things changed. The LGA Lib Dem group office asked me to attend another meeting at the conference, this time on 6th July. At first I was reluctant to attend, largely due to having no office budget for overnight accommodation. This problem was overcome when the Lib Dem LGA group agreed to cover the accommodation costs. So I headed north on the afternoon of 6th, attended the meeting in the evening and had a restful night.
On 7th, while in the main conference, rumours about an incident began to circulate. There was a talk of a power outage on the Tube. We were warned that people due to arrive in the morning from London would be delayed.
It was at the group meeting at lunchtime that people started to talk openly of a terrorist attack and before the meeting ended, it had been confirmed that there had been a bomb attach in London. News was scant so we believed it was only one bomb. It was not long before news of 3 other bomb attacks arrived.
Had I not gone up to the LGA conference on 6th, I would have been in the thick of it when the bombs went off on 7th. I wouldn't have been near any of the bombs as I would have travelled to Kings Cross on the Victoria Line which was untouched by the bombers. But it still would have been uncomfortably close. I would have emerged from Kings Cross tube station just after the bombs had gone off on the Underground.
We should not forget that 52 people died at the hands of terrorists and 770 were injured. They were remembered today at the Commemoration for the 20th Anniversary of the London Bombing. RIP.
I was asked recently by the Whinnies Wanderers, a toddler group based at the Whinnies Community Garden in Sunniside, to bring along one of our goats to their gathering on Thursday last week. I took Nettle and we settled down in the corner of the garden. Shortly afterwards I realised that the choice of a fully grown goat was not so good. Though some children were happy to stand next to Nettle and pet her, many of them kept their distance. It was hardly surprising looking back on it. Nettle is twice the height of some of the children! Next time I will take goat babies rather than goat adults.
There was a by-election in Benfieldshire ward of Durham County Council yesterday. Reform were defending the seat, having taken it from Labour in the May local elections. Back then, Labour had scored a near-death performance in what had, until 4 years ago, been one of their safest councils in the country. Labour were downsized from over 50 members to a miserable 4. The cause of the by-election was a self-inflicted wound for Reform: their candidate was disqualified from standing as he works for the council. It seems that no one in Reform had bothered to check. Vetting candidates was clearly not a priority. The subsequent election of the Reform candidate meant an inevitable by-election.
The result was:
Lib Dem 824
Labour 800
Reform 747
Independent 459
Conservative 76
Green 40
So what can we make of this? Reform's fall from 1st to 3rd place stands out but so does Labour's failure to capitalise on Reform's local difficulties. That benefit has gone to the Lib Dems who shot up from a distant 3rd place to top the poll and seize the seat. Reform's poor performance may be due to local voters having sampled Reform in power and deciding they didn't like it. Afterall, there have been no outstandingly good performances by any Reform controlled council since May. They have nothing positive to show for their 2 months being in charge. People who voted for them may well be feeling disappointed with Reform.
But is this a flash in the pan or a sign of things to come? Was this by-election a one off (or a two off given Reform lost a seat to the Tories in Newark last night) or has the Reform tide started to turn? We can't answer that question for sure now but over the coming months we will get a better view of how things are going.
I journeyed to London on Sunday for a couple of days of history related activities. I'm working on a history talk about John Nash, the Georgian and Regency architect who designed Buckingham Palace, Regent Street and a long list of other buildings. One of his biggest projects outside London was the building of Ravensworth Castle in Gateshead. Nash designed the Marble Arch which was installed as the entrance to Buckingham Palace but which was later moved to Hyde Park.
I had tried to film Marble Arch last year on a visit to London but when I got there, it was covered in tarpaulins. On Monday I was able to film it in all its glory apart from a few heras frames. Some of the footage will feature in my talk.
I was also able to go to the National Liberal Club for a Lib Dem History Group meeting about the Liberal/Lib Dem involvement in both European referendum campaigns.
Sadly, the visit to London was only two days long. Duty called back home.
My attendance at local fairs normally entails the bringing of a goat. I'm regularly asked to take a goat, or other animal, to local fairs. On Saturday last week, I wasn't asked by the organiser of the Dunston fair (Labour Councillor for Dunston and Teams Brenda Clelland) to bring any of my 4 legged friends so I brought a two legged one instead, in the form of Cllr Peter Maughan! Good time had by all. Thanks for the ice cream Peter!
Last week I went to the Gateshead Lib Dem pool night at the Lock and Quay pub on the Gateshead Quays, next to the Swing Bridge. I have not played pool for over 30 years and this was reflected in my one miserable attempt to win a game (I came second, out of 2!) Still, it was quite a fun night out. It showed that being in the Lib Dems was not all about meetings, delivering Focuses and knocking on doors. Nevertheless, it did feel as though I had been dropped into the deep end (that's enough puns on the word 'pool', thank you.)
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