St Helens Story

I have voted in 10 General Elections, 7 European elections and 20 local elections in my lifetime. In every one I have voted Labour.

On some occasions I was the local candidate so it was easy to vote.

I have voted for hardworking individuals, an MP of impeccable honesty and commitment in Alf Morris, now Lord Morris who bizarrely Militant wanted to de-select and which required me to become Chair of the local constituency party to ensure we could even re-select him as a candidate.

I have also voted for candidates who wanted to make the world a better place. I have also voted on 2 occasions for individuals who should never have been candidates in the first place but because they were the Labour candidate I swallowed my pride and still voted.

But this Thursday will be different. I will go into the polling station and cast my vote in a way I have never done before. For a Tory.

So why am I voting for Ben Gummer In Ipswich.

The following is taken from a New Statesman article encouraging tactical voting.

http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/05/labour-liberal-progressive

“In 1997, Labour had the chance to realign centre-left politics for ever, in alliance with the Liberal Democrats. Central to a common programme would have been constitutional reform, the abolition of the House of Lords and the introduction of proportional representation in order to free us from the tyranny of our two-party system. First-past-the-post, which leaves millions of people – when they can be bothered to cast their vote at all – feeling disenfranchised, is the embodiment of all that has gone wrong with our outdated and dysfunctional model of government.

But Labour tribalism’s scuppered an opportunity for genuine progressive renewal – a reminder that the paladins of reactionary “Labourism” were every bit as committed to the old ways of Westminster and Whitehall as the most traditionalist Tory.”

The early years of the Labour Government offered great opportunity to this country for a progressive shift in both power and representation. Since 2005 that opportunity has disappeared as the Labour Government has lost its way.

I do not believe that they can win the election or even deserve to do so. It seems clear that the Conservatives will win probably with a very small majority.

However whoever wins will be faced with the serious and difficult decisions necessary to deal with the Governments budget deficit.

We will therefore need an MP who can challenge the Government to make sure that during a difficult period the interests of Ipswich are protected.

I could have chosen to vote for the Lib Dems. Nick Clegg has been impressive during this campaign and on a number of policy areas the Lib Dems have policies I endorse. However the Lib Dems have clearly decided they cannot win Ipswich.

They choose a candidate who had little chance of winning the seat. I am no idea why they did not choose a local candidate and I am not convinced that their candidate really understands the needs of Ipswich. In those circumstances I cannot vote Lib Dem no matter how well intentioned the Lib Dem candidate appears to be.

I also think Ipswich reflects the problems of tribalism at its worst and why any attempt to try and achieve a hung parliament by tactical voting is fraught with danger.. Many of the local Labour and Liberals in Ipswich hate each others guts. You can find similar attitudes in places like Manchester where for many years the Lib Dems have been the main alternative to Labour. Its difficult enough holding together the kind of political coalition that is the Labour party. The idea of a Liberal/Labour coalition in Government in a hung parliament is not in my view a realistic alternative especially when their will have to be major reductions in public expenditure.

So I will be voting not with my heart but with my head and through gritted teeth like I have in the past for some Labour candidates and voting for Ben Gummer.

And hoping that he is really is a one nation Tory as he claims to be in the Disraeli mold.

And that he will prove me right and honour his promise that if the Conservatives win he will do what he says and put Ipswich First.

1. Bridge Ward News says:

   May 4, 2010 at 10:30 pm

   Kevan,

   I recognise that this must have been tremendously difficult for you and for that reason it’s highly commendable. It’s easy to support the best candidate if he or she happen’s to be running for your party but it’s very difficult to support the best candidate if he or she’s running for another political party.
2. Scrubber says:

   May 5, 2010 at 9:12 am

   Kevan,

   Brave decision, and I can’t fault your logic, having come from Conservative to UKIP, and now having “outed” myself as voting for Ben, for exactly the same reasons.

   I agree too, about Labour tribalism, a facet of the Party’s character which has blighted it from the top to the bottom, as evidenced by many decisions which are good for Labour, but bad for the country. the postal voting farce which is about to engulf us again is a classic example.

   May I ask, did you read this:

   http://www.panscourer.com/2010/04/21/hung-parliament-can-tactical-voting-save-us/

   and if you did, did it influence your decision at all?
3. Hells Bells says:

   May 5, 2010 at 9:17 am

   Let’s hope there are others in our town who share your informed and open minded attitude. I feel certain that Ben won’t let you down.
4. admin says:

   May 5, 2010 at 1:11 pm

   Scrubber,
   tribalism is not just a facet of Labour. I can think of many thatcher decisions that were purly tribal. I am afraid I hadn’t read your piece and you can’t claim any credit for my decision. Its all my own work
5. Scrubber says:

   May 5, 2010 at 3:15 pm

   Kevan,

   I agree with you on tribalism by all parties, but I have detected a change over the last 10 years or so in hitherto Conservative voters. This, it seems to me, has accelerated in the last 3 years or so, and greatly in the last year. More and more what could once be considered the core Conservative vote is looking elsewhere, highly dissatisfied with the current Party.

   That doesn’t seem to have be happening with Labour, whose core, tribal vote, has held up rather well until the last few weeks.

   I expect Labour to lose the election, for Brown to go in a messy fight, and for the rest to behave like ferrets in a sack fighting for the leadership and patronage. There will be a lot of blood, and I expect some of the less tribal Labour supporters to start asking “What have they ever done for us?”, meaning over the last 80 years or so…

   It is my belief that if Labour were ever to achieve what they purport to want to achieve, they would make themselves redundant. Instead, they need retain an underclass of benefit and welfare dependency as their core vote, piling like sheep into the polling booths when required, blinded and bewildered by the bullshit and spin.

   I wasn’t trying to claim any credit, it’s just that that article has a lot of readers, and is our most googled post. Was just wondering…

   Cheers.