Who’s going to lose votes to Gemma in C&N?
May 14th, 2008
Could Miss Great Britain affect the by election outcome?
One of the “other” candidates who might have an impact on Crewe and Nantwich is Gemma Garrett - Miss Great Britain. On the face of it the move seems like a PR stunt designed to boost her profile but, to her credit, she has started to campaign and has already got into a spat with Labour.
Gemma says she is about “bringing beauty into politics and turning back the tide of sleaze”. She’s furious about stories she says Labour is putting about that she made a spelling mistake when she signed the book of condolences for Gwyneth Dunwoody.
According to the Crewe Guardian she said: “This is precisely the low, petty and underhanded sort of action which contributes to the overall impression that politics is a sleazy and grubby business. It is ironic that Labour, which is supposed to cherish the rights of women, created this cheap, wrong and stereotypical image of me intended to suggest that any girl who happened to be blonde and to look good cannot spell.”
Gemma’s getting a lot of publicity and could easily get a reasonable vote which in a tight contest might affect the outcome - the question is who is she going to hurt most? Given the apparent lower motivation to vote amongst Labour supporters then there is a danger that on the margin more of them could be tempted to switch than Tory supporters.
Latest Crewe betting.
Mike Smithson
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She might beat the LDs!!!!!!
Mike - is posting a pic of her in a thread an attempt to make up for us having to see Andrew Neil on the last thread?
I think the person topping the also rans will probably be.. Paul Thorogood - Cut Tax on Petrol and Diesel
I’d vote for her. She could sit on my back bench any time. etc etc.
There is a track record of this sort of thing in Italy - where the candidates seem to have as much umph as this lady does.
Woof woof !!!!!!!!!!
All about watching the rangers game now!
These sorts of candidacies makes me think we need a Representation of the People’s Bill to up the deposit. It has been stuck at the current level since 1983 IIRC. Surely it is time to up it a bit.
I think she looks like a young Hillary Clinton. What do you think?
9. Off to Specsavers old chap !!
6 - Your far too old for her!
9 - Hillary never looked that good in her youth.
Re 8
What is the motivation for this idea?
Watford FC = Watford Tories = LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
9. Bollocks. Hillary is quite fine-boned and attractive, but in her early days, she made herself look as unappealing as she could.
10 - I think you are out of your peapicking mind.
Wires suggest its kicking off in Manchester. Wait till Rangers lose… I’d be staying in if I was oop north today.
Sorry to re-post this link, but it tells us a few things;
Brown is despised by his own party
Brown would lose a leadership contest by a veritable landslide
the next Labour leadership is between 1 of 5- the obvious lot
Here it again
http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/14/103031/794
Back on thread- do you not think she (Gemma) has something of the Hazel Blears about her? What do you think?
Rangers brave attempt to win the UEFA cup by drawing very game 0-0 seems to be coming unstuck.
12 - Well I happen to think Democracy is a serious business and shouldn’t be used as a means of gaining publicity for yourself. Does anyone seriously think this person is ever likely to be a candidate again?
17 - Well, she’s a woman.
I did wait until the 9pm watershed before putting this thread up.
She’s too common.
The Tory is to posh.
Nice to know the Labour party are devoted to a classless society.
13 hehehe - all about the master plan!
Promotion 2009
Championes May 2010 and the Premier trophy presented to watford by new con watford mp ian oakley!!!!!!!
18 = scottish football = losers as per usual!!!
14 Sean F.
It was rather tawdry of Labour to draw into a spat on this. One would imagine they had better things to do and other candidates to aim fire upon. What next: “the Raving Loony candidate is a Derbyshire toff?”
19. Yes the deposit should go up, preferably to £5000 (from £500), and back to 12.5% of the vote and not 5%. The Government of the country is too important for silly jokers with no hope of getting in or forming a Government wasting our time, and if a £5k deposit deters them, all the better.
26 ‘The Government of the country is too important for silly jokers with no hope of getting in or forming a Government wasting our time’:so you dont think LDs should stand then!
11
Hillary looked even better! :
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1028/1326685086_0703a6a5c3.jpg?v=0
25 I think there are few 60 year old women who look as good as Hillary does. But she was in her prime about 12 years ago. Had she not made herself look hideous, as a young woman, she’d really have been very pretty indeed in those days.
26 - I think that the share of the vote is fine and probably a deposit of £1500. I think that that would be equivalent to £500 in 1983.
The Huff speculates that it’s John Edwards who is the major endorsement to be announced later tonight :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/14/john-edwards-endorsing-ob_n_101749.html
Jordan (Katie Price) was a candidate in Stretford and Urmston in 2001 GE.
Watford = Mark Senior + Gabble LOL!!!!!
Super Hull
This really is silly. Remember Jordan ran in Omskirk (?) in 2001? She was supported by the daily star. Back then she was not so well known, and running as an independent under her real name of Katie Price, she went largely unnoticed.
32, 34 - snap! OK you got the constituency right!
Hopefully all those class warriors that can’t stomach voting for Cameron or the Libs, but don’t want to vote for Brown will vote for Gemma instead.
34 SBS. “.. she went largely unnoticed.”
http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/images/gallery/katie-price-photo.jpg
Mmmhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
26 - over 3 million quid to put up a candidate in every parliamentary seat? Are you mad?
As for the suggestion that she’ll affect the election. Also madness! Any “Labour voters” voting for her would be unlikely to vote Labour otherwise.
OT - John McCain Visit to Seattle
The presumptive GOP nominee was in town yesterday, following a visit to Oregon in the midst of that state’s primary voting.
Here in Washington, McCain
1) Was picketed at Boeing Field by Boeing machinists (old guys in union windbreakers) irrate at McC’s role in killing Boeing’s bid to supply tankers to USAF. Personally think that McC was correct on this issue, but that’s a minority opinion in most of western WA.
2) Hosted an issues forum on the environment in the company of iconic former Republican Gov. & Sen. Dan Evans and leading enviro & corporate honchos. Which would have been great for him EXCEPT the press coverage is all about his advocacy of nuclear energy. Which is a HUGE bugaboo everywhere in WA except for the Tri-Cities, home of the plutonium bomb. Plus am guessing that some of you more mature coupon clippers still remember the WPPS aka “Whoops” debacle? Even GOP conservatives are leery of nukes out here. So naturaly JMcC wants to make him their poster child.
Only other thing that got coverage was when the ceo of REI asked him about a federal subsidy for solar power, and he told her it was a bad idea, like the rush to subsidize ethanol. Now think he’s got a point re: ethanol, but to lump in solar subsidy as strictly a lobbyist boondoggle is way over the top. Plus am sure that moderate GOP country clubbers were a bit offput by his dissing a local ceo, and from REI fer Jaysus sake.
3. Held a fundraiser in affluent Seattle suburb, with proceeds earmarked to help GOP (including JMcC) in “targeted” states, a designation in this case that does NOT include Washington. Despite the fact that the gubernatorial rematch between Gov. Chris Gregoire and GOP challenger Dino Rossi is looking to be one of the most contested races in the entire USA this year.
It weasn’t just Jordan who lost her deposit, etc etc.
My heart’s not in this
Boys night in on PB.com??
Tri-Cities?
Hillary Chokes …. Black Illinois Senator in the frame !! :
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
O/T - Rat leaves sinking ship.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/7401797.stm
It is bizarre that he is receiving death threats from his own constituents. I fear though that he is concerned that his 4,477 majority is too small to survive.
43 - This was posted about yesterday and Nick P said it had been long-planned.
43. Quite a few are Labour MP’s are annoucing their standing down now, aren’t they? I think they know the writings on the wall!
14. She might have fine bones, but she has scary cheeks.
Interesting…
http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/14/103031/794
Darling and Brown at the bottom.
Am getting disturbing rumours (via the filling in my left back molar) that one of the runners in C&N is really a runner for Mebyon Kenow, financed by the extremist Cornish underground economy based on smuggling post-dated pasties to unsuspecting Welsh people.
And now SeanT turns up along the Golden Horn?
Chance? Coincidence? The Luck of the Cornish?
39 Given the way oil prices are soaring, I’d have thought support for nuclear energy makes a lot of sense.
45 - I think it is broadly a good thing for Labour though, it will mean that they will be able to get quite a few candidates battle experience as most of the departees seem to be in seats that are going to go down at the next election.
I can see she’s got her knockers but I think it’s quite a smart way to market herself.
In the Labour Home survey They also asked:
“How do we rebuild support?”
11.20% Winning back the middle classes
33.00% Shoring up the core vote
19.40% Successfully managing the economy
6.10% Attacking the Conservatives
30.00% Something else
Only 19.4% got the right answer!!
Detective Inspector Ambinder is on the case …. Edwards in the frame :
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/hints_hints_hints.php
re 43/5 do you get a better payout if you retire rather than get kicked out by the electorate.
Whichever, I’m sure that the honourable members have ensured that it’s pretty feathered-bedded.
51 - I’m not sure it is the right answer, the Conservatives thought that between 1993-1997 and they still got thumped.
8. 26. What miserable killjoys you both are. I for one find the colourful and ridiculous fringe candidates we get in by-elections one of the most cheering parts of the British political scene. It’s one of the quirky, eccentric things that sets us apart from our more pompous American and European cousins.
You really have to be severly lacking in the sense of humour stakes to want to banish the likes of Bill Boakes, Lord Sutch, the Rainbow Crocodile Tears Party etc. from the stage and limit it only to a handful of self-important characters in cheap suits.
Paul Linford has a poll on his website asking who should lead Labour into the next election. I think Paul’s polls aren’t a bad guide of thinking in the party. And the winner (so far) is Mr G. Brown, albeit with only 20% of the vote. Very interesting to see John Denham 9th out of 10.
http://poll.pollcode.com/KMc_result?v
Clegg getting some stick for his expenses on Guido.
http://www.order-order.com/2008/05/multi-millionaire-clegg-claimstax-free.html
57 - I just think it is demeaning to have to go through 20 joke candidates with nothing to add to the process. Most of them haven’t got the first clue.
57. I wouldn’t mind any amount of ridiculous candidates provided they could show significant support BEFORE standing.
Let them get, say, 1000 constituency voter signatures before standing. And for every vote below that number charge them, say £100. And no voter to sign more than one set of nomination papers.
Elections are not meant to be for cheap publicity for new record albums or whatever.
Is Clegg really a multi-millionare? If so, where did he get his money from?
62 - He milked the Eurocow.
60. Really? who is demeaned by it? The ‘major party’ candidates, I presume? As I said, self-important in (usually) cheap suits…
…and why begrudge people a tiny bit of free publicity when the ’serious’ candidates are trying win themselves a meal ticket for life?
62:
‘Not more than’ 30 very wealthy clients as a high class hooker?
Labour to hold C&N? “Almost certainly not” according to Robinson on News at Ten.
64 - The democratic process is demeaned.
poor Rangers - why did that Jonah GB have to wish them luck -
62. Hmmm five years as a bureaucrat and a politician ever since. Can’t see how you make multiple millions doing that.
It is Edwards say Sky News
John Edwards is endorsing Obama.
67. pompous, pompous, pompous.
Kos reporting that Obama has snagged another SD - Mike Morgan of Oklahoma.
60. But who can tell which is the joke candidate or not? In my village there were about 2800 votes cast on the ‘list’ at the Scottish elections last year. The Scottish Jacobite Party got 6 votes, UKIP got 5.
A senior member of the Nantwich Indepndent Group (a registered political party) was speaking very warmly of her this afternoon …..
Did Labour really attack her because she couldn’t spell? Is that really necessary? It just looks mean spirited.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Labour are running a negative and embarrassing campaign, they should be ashamed.
Scots shame soccer … Sounds like a major ruck on the cards
66 Did you see Brown’s hands at the start. Unless i am mistaken, it looked as tho his fingernails were chewed to the cuticle. I might be wrong as it was just a two sec view , but it dod look like it to me. If so Is it a sign of how its getting to Brown????/
He went to a very expensive public school so presumably his parents are not short of a crust.
@72:
FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT
67 - Politics is about people making decisions about the direction of their community or their country and I think that the candidacies should reflect that. I am just as scathing about councillors who are only elected to councils to supplement their pensions and don’t have the first clue about what they are supposed to do.
79. Aha so it’s inherited wealth. Perfect for the leader of the party aiming to replace Labour.
O/T Former Sen. John Edwards will endorse Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy, Obama’s campaign says.
78 He’s always been nail-biter, but it’s not often you see them that close up. I thought that as fair a reflection of the days events as could have been done by Beeb. Fair play to them on that bulletin.
81. I see. So perhaps you should suss out who they might be before the election and charge them a higher deposit as well. Perhaps equal the full value of their allowances for the next four years.
82 The now infamous incident when he burnt down a German professor’s greenhouse full of prize winning cacti involved the police but I believe his parents paid significant compensation to the angry academic thereby avoiding any further nastiness.
60 Any attempt to make entry to the democratic process more difficult is by definition anti-democratic.
Democracy must be open to all.
If you think there are some joke candidates, you should look at some MPs.
82-He could have claimed someone “spiked” his drink!
85 - That would be counter productive, I think that the council problem is that councils have no realistic powers so they only attract those who have time that they don’t mind being wasted. I think that with regard to national politics we really need it to be taken seriously by the participants before they lecture the rest of us on not taking it seriously by not voting.
71. What are the consequences of this endorsement?
Does it mean the contest is over?
How does it help with the white working class?
87-Labour is a joke, ban all of their candidatures!
New thread - Is it going to be an Obama-Edwards ticket?
74
“The Scottish Jacobite Party got 6 votes”
by Alan J May 14th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
10 minutes since this post and JackW hasn’t claimed the throne.
JackW isn’t JackW and I claim my £5.
84 Yes . Sober reflection seems to have invaded the BBC rather than call it for Gordo and hope!
63 Just out of interest, apart for corrupt expenses, what is Europe for?
They say it is for free trade, services and free movement of people & employment.
Really?
Your car is Japanese. Your TV is Chinese. You Bank call center is in India. non-EU people have no difficulty immigrating to or working in Britain.
So what is the EU for?
93 Robin
…. The Scottish Jacobite Party aren’t !!!! 
I spent the day in Crewe; if I had to call it, it would be Con, LD, with Nu Lab in third.
95-High VAT and unnecessary paperwork
96 JackW
Aren’t Scottish, Jacobite or a Party?
91. Lord Sutch certainly strikes me as having been a far more serious candidate than some current MPs, whose only purpose is to ask obseqious questions of their leaders, endlessly parrot inane party lines, or come up with all manner of idiotic authoritarian proposals.
84/94
I think alot of media commentators have had to come to terms with the fact that noone cares what they say. The opinion polls suggest Cameron is miles ahead without any newspaper or TV channel being wholeheartedly behind him. The so-called opinion formers need to go with the flow if even the illusion of influence is to be maintained.
So we are in the 5th/6th/10th/whatever…. relaunch by Brown zzzzzzz.
The truth is that the country has simply fallen out of love with Labour as they have used up the goodwill that the country had towards them. It has been a long term slide albeit in the form of steps rather than a slope and even brief periods of a step back upwards.
As ever there is the fundamental British attitude of fair play. This fairness extended to giving Brown a chance to show what he could do and then after that chance most judged him and his party as a failure.
Brown attempts to give himself a boost with a £2.7bn giveaway risking the country’s finances and it fails in the court of public opinion.
He then brings forward the Queen’s speech debate and this evening that has clearly failed. Clegg asked if as his next move Brown was going to bring forward Xmas.
A majority of the public and the media have tuned out Labour. They just want a change.
Today a Guardian journalist wrote that it was best if Labour lost in 2010 whilst they still had a party left. Maybe they would be better calling that GE now rather than suffering 2 more years of decline.
Is this Team JackW??
http://jacobites.org/count/img/59.jpg
I think we should be told. My money’s on the one in the middle… nice troos!
re 93 I thought Jack W couldn’t vote for anyone though?
103. Late result in - Scottish Jacobites gain Rockall!
I was very disappointed not to meet her during my trip to C&N, I might have been willing to defect.
62
“Asked about his personal wealth, Mr Clegg revealed that he is a millionaire “in asset terms”.
“Our Sheffield and London homes are worth well over a million but the bank owns most of them - we are mortgaged up to the gills,” he said.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=552370&in_page_id=1770
Someone posted either today or yesterday about an outsider choice for VP who was some southern governor. I can’t find the post now. A little help?
I always thought it was ridiculous to take the threshold for losing your deposit away from 12.5% and would restore that.
It would be sensible to up the monetary figure and £1,500 sounds about right.
But, as anyone who has had to do it knows , running around for signatories for nomination papers for local elections is a real pain, especially if you have to do two sets to cover yourselves against ineligibility of signatories.
If you said a parliamentary constituency is say 15 times a county division then asking for say 150 or 200 signatures would prove a fairly significant hurdle against the more frivolous candidates and the more extreme ones. After all would you want your name to go on a BNP nomination form, or a Lib Dem one for that matter ?
It’s been suggested that the scurrilous Labour campaign based on the Tory Toff might be a test-run for how such an approach would work against Cameron in a General…
Sorry if this has already been mentioned here, but if it hasn’t then I’d like to say that I think it’s a pretty poor basis from which to try and win any election
Do you really think it is that hard to get names on a BNP nomination paper? believe me its easy even if it was 150 for a local election it would still be easy in most areas try getting 150 Labour names in some areas!