Last weekend the Greens held their “biggest ever” ‘action day’ in Ipswich and claim to have drawn almost 250 people from across the country to the Ipswich Waterfront. It is possible that the event might not have been wholly unconnected with the present absence from the Commons of local Conservative MP, Patrick Spencer, who represents Central Suffolk and North Ipswich. He is under police investigation for alleged sexual assault, so we must say no more, except that it could lead to a byelection.
Now until last July it was a safe Tory seat. Mr Spencer won with a halved vote of 15,144, and the Greens came fourth, with 5,652 – in itself hardly a promising starting point. But Greens leader Adrian Ramsay won the new Waveney Valley seat just to the north, the Greens control Mid Suffolk Council to the west, and to the east and south are East Suffolk and Babergh district councils, on both of which the Greens are the largest group. So it seems they have the place surrounded.
In fact, they have their sights on “at least two more” seats in Suffolk. The party has shown (as in Waveney Valley) that it can put in an impressive force of volunteers when required, and there is one other factor: ambition. Every weekend committed councillors of every party schlep around the streets talking up their particular brand of politics. But the Greens set out, on that one day, to leaflet every single residence in the constituency. That’s reckoned to be 44,600. In one day?
The party admits it didn’t quite do it, but that isn’t really the point. Pecksniff becomes exasperated at how little ambition is shown by political parties, how little drive or committed purpose. Whereas, dear reader, even the very idea of turning up exuberantly with the ambition of covering 44,600 houses before the pubs close is impressive, if somewhat reckless.
Watch the Greens. In Suffolk at least, they have the big mo’.
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There are other factors at play in Central Suffolk too. There is no more enthusiasm for the Conservatives there than elsewhere. Labour put in a good shift last July, but the government’s present unpopularity looks likely to keep them out of contention. There is Reform, of course, who will certainly mop up part of the frustrated Labour and Tory vote. But they are vulgarians, my dears, decidedly below the salt, and it is difficult seeing some of the county Tory set putting their cross there. The Liberal Democrats hardly exist anywhere in Suffolk, so might not many Greens’ policies and their very style appeal to the more fragrant of the disaffected vote?
It would still need a deal though. Labour rarely does deals with anybody unless it’s understood they can be boss – it’s all part of their charm – which leaves the LibDems. Always ticklish, but who knows?
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That Green momentum was demonstrated last week in a Mid Suffolk Council byelection in the Haughley, Stowupland and Wetherden ward, in which with 901 votes Greens candidate Agnes Watson won over 60% of those cast. Second were the Tories with 444, but our interest lies in Tim Glenton for the Liberal Democrats, in third place with only 61 votes.
This is no poor reflection on the estimable Mr Glenton, or his party. Far from it. No mainstream party gets that low a vote unless it was deliberate. Politics nerds may think this gentleman’s name rings a bell, and indeed it might. Mr Glenton is a serial last placer for his party. As a matter of honour, they like to have their name on the ballot, but on occasions such as this they make it their business not to get in the way. No canvassing, probably no leafleting. So the Greens get on with a seat they were always likely to win, the Tories are kept out, the LibDem name is on the ticket and honour is satisfied.
Parties will always deny any kind of deal between them, and indeed there may not have been one here. It is more of an understanding between gentlemen, and it seems very much in keeping with the tactical voting wishes of the voters. So whether they admit it or not, we owe a discreet round of applause to Mr Glenton and the LibDems. There are still fortunately some grown-ups around.
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There are certainly vast shoals of itinerant voters washing around on the sluggish tides of political indifference at the moment. But there are two ways of looking at this: Labour’s, and everybody else’s. Every poll tells us that Reform votes are mostly from disaffected Tories, most of whom wouldn’t dream of voting Labour, whereas Labour is losing theirs to the Greens and the Liberal Democrats.
Polls continually show many of those who backed them last July are reluctant to vote for them again, because they are not left-wing enough. So it is surely perverse, then, for Labour to insist instead that all emphasis must be put on winning over potential Reform voters.
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A thoughtful piece in last week’s New Statesman, a report on a series of interviews with Keir Starmer, certainly gave the impression that the PM would much rather put right what has gone wrong with the existing system rather than try to change it. But this shows up an important gap. Sir Keir believes if he can just mend some important things then we can return to what was once considered normal. But all the evidence is that the country yearns for national renewal.
Keir Starmer has many of the attributes necessary to make a good prime minister. The considerable doubt lies in whether he can prevail in transforming the country, since he really isn’t at heart a transformer. It is always tempting to hark back to recent history to make a point, but your diarist was struck by a speech by Aneurin Bevan to the Commons in 1942, on the Beveridge Report. The Conservatives had in mind a return after the war to what had gone before, empire and all. Mr Bevan told the House that the country was “not fighting for the old world. If honourable members opposite think we are going through this in order to keep their Malayan swamps, they are making a mistake”.
They really had no idea the country was desperate for radical change. But we had moved on and had our eyes on a world that looked forward, not back. Mr Bevan was proved right. For those who would rather trust the status quo, it is easy (and much more comforting) to look at whatever we have left after the decade and a half of depredations by the Tories and try to nurse it back to health. Whereas a majority of voters (and including those on the right) tell themselves there must be something different.
It seems fair to suggest that the Britain to be restored which is treasured in the PM’s plans has been abandoned, outflanked and over-run by much of the country years ago. The country has moved on, and it seems possible the prime minister has not.
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Keir Starmer is now using those clumsy and idiotic phrases politicians drum into us because their focus groups tell them they ‘resonate’. “In an era of global instability,” he wrote, “I will do everything in my power to deliver safety and security for working people in Britain”.
As somebody points out, half the population aren’t working. They are children, sick, disabled, in education, retired… Do we let them go to the wall? Losers!
Wouldn’t we feel happier with a PM who sounds less as though his words are generated by AI? Wouldn’t the prime minister be happier too? His advisers have a lot to answer for.
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Other parties have noticed with trepidation Reform’s present ability to attract major financial donations: £1.5 million in the first three months of this year. Does this mean the world of big money is taking them seriously?
No. This week the Financial Times reveals that a large part of that money was the conversion of previous loans into donations, and from one donor, the man who has been stumping up for the Farage revels since the outset: Richard Tice. The party is still struggling to find new backers beyond its original headbangers.
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Last week Pecksniff had planned to include a diary entry on one Councillor Andy Osborn of Reform, elected to that office by the voters of the Roman Bank and Peckover division of Cambridgeshire County Council. It concerned Cllr Osborn’s observation – as a member of the children’s and young people committee – that some children in the council’s care are “downright evil”.
The remarks were disowned by his own party, who called them “clumsy and regrettable”. But this week Cllr Osborn is in the news again, this time because he is under police investigation over comments he allegedly made during the run-up to last May’s elections. The police statement says: “We were contacted on May 1 with an allegation that a man had published false information online about a woman from Wisbech. A malicious communications investigation is ongoing.”
Councillor Hoy confirmed she was the woman to have made the complaint and has published a social media entry allegedly from Cllr Osborn, which claimed: “Samantha Hoy worked in the care industry, but allegedly was sacked for fraud. No wonder Wisbech is in such a state. Reform UK will fix it.”
“I have never been sacked from any job in my life,” says Cllr Hoy. “I have never committed a crime, never been arrested, and have never and would never commit any sort of fraud.”
Pecksniff is rather Old Testament about these things. People should be held accountable for their actions, and that includes the voters of Roman Bank and Peckover. Your actions in electing an ignorant old fool have repercussions for you – and frankly you deserve everything you get – but also for everyone else in Cambridgeshire. Do try to get a grip.
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Readers will no doubt recall that Rupert Lowe (Gt Yarmouth) stalked out of the Reform Party after some almighty dust-up with Nigel Farage (Clacton), so he now sits as an independent MP. One of the predictable bees in his bonnet has been the chance to try to portray Muslims as sexual predators, so since there was an important ministerial statement on the subject of grooming gangs this week, we might have expected Mr Lowe to be present.
But no. One of his Reform gripes is that a couple of his mates dobbed him in over some issue involving firearms, so instead of being in the Commons, he had to be at home to welcome the police “to conduct checks” over guns they have apparently seized – and Mr Lowe implies without good reason.
It would be a splendid thing if, just once, Mr Lowe was ever involved in an issue which doesn’t appear to the casual observer as being sordid.
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With thanks this week to Karl Whiteman, Mary Marshall, Liz Crosbie and Malcolm Lynn.
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