Brief, rushed thoughts on the by-election
Briefly: Labour’s thrashing in Crewe and Natnwich was to be expected. The combination of their atrocious campaign and national blunders (Ahem. 10p tax.) killed them. When you’ve parachuted in a candidate of questionable political competence on the basis of her name, to run a campaign fusing (poor) personal invective with virtually fascistic views on young people and immigration, following a series of policy changes that have hit people nationwide painfully (Ahem. 10p tax.), you really must be hoping for a sick electorate to support you.
The people of Crewe and Nantwich seem healthy in that regard.
The Lib Dems stood a chance of gaining here. Crewe and Nantwich simply isn’t a Tory area, at all, and the LDs are fairly skilled at picking those up. But they almost suffered the same problems as Labour. The national party isn’t in so dire a situation as Labour is - but it’s hardly coming off well. Since the Lisbon Treaty debates at the least, Clegg has looked weak and inconsistent. People don’t know what the LDs really think (do they really think?). The local campaign was scarcely better than Labour’s. It ran class war leaflets too, and substituted vile policies with a silence on policies. Add to that the squeeze of such a high-profile contest, and they got squashed. They needed to shout even louder than usual - so they whispered.
So, voters had no positive option in Labour, and no positive alternative in the Lib Dems. And the constituency went Tory.
Labour is sliding towards electoral apocalypse fast. If they learn from this defeat - not to target the needy they exist to help, and not to run hypocritical, shallow campaigns - it might be stopped.
If not - 4 years of Tory government loom, possibly more. Although I increasingly question how much worse that would be, given Labour’s current state. It’s bloody painful as it is…
