Victory Six

This was not my biggest majority but it is by far the best victory.

Labour lost 'Newport West' in the recent Euro and local elections. Eighteen months ago, we had fewer votes and councillors than the Tories in the election for the city council. In the Euro Elections the total of votes cast here was below the numbers the Tories had. There was room for gloom on Thursday with a poll rating of 28% and a possible desertion of an unknown number of Labour voters to LibDems.

The Tory candidate said it was 'foregone conclusion.' Having 16,000 pledges he said he was certain to become the new MP for Newport West. That would have peeved me because he is not  very impressive advocate for what is best for the city. The total of votes I had was higher than in 2005. The swing against Labour was the second lowest in Wales and half the national average. Had the swing means more than 8%, I would have lost. It was 15% in Merthyr.

It's the best victory because of the odds against us. The Tories had a bottomless pit of cash. Their leaflets outnumbered ours by three to one. Happily they were insultingly patronising and poor quality. Ours were smarter and prettier. The Murdoch microphone left in Gordon's pocket did not help. The daily Cameronian lies on every other  billboards in the city were disconcerting and paid for by  Lord Ashcroft's tax evasion cash. Only the Daily Mirror supported us among the national press. Even the broadcast media were glued into a Brown disaster narrative. A single three second heckle got more coverages than a brilliant half an hour speech.

There was a media fascination with a Clegg bounce that flattened and no interest in the collapse  of the two year certainty that Cameron was bound for 10 Downing Street. Labour was accused of responsibility for everything that has gone wrong over the past 13 years.

In the circumstances Labour's results nationally and in Newport West were triumphs.

Comments

[Elaine]

Hi

Congratulations - so glad you won. What influences votes? I have always voted Labour but for some people I know it was due to the help you and councillors gave in a local school campaign.

[HuwOS]

Yvette Cooper?
Seriously dave?

Ed Balls wife?
A big supporter of the Iraq war?
In favour of ID cards?
That Yvette Cooper?

[dave]

the best news that could bring labour back from the dead. "GORDON BROWN to resign".

if the left of centre can take back control of the party and put in place a leader like yvette cooper, you might win the next election.

i think the liberals will now join with labour's rainbow coalition and destroy camerons hopes of getting into 10 downing st.
after a 12 month with the new leadership inplace a new election and labour could be back in power.

it wont work though if mandelson is pulling the strings or if david/ed milliband or ed balls are thrust upon us.
they are liked as much as gordon nationally.

labour need to move all the bad apples out of the cabinet and get some new trusted faces in the front line.

time to cull the neo-cons from the labour party and get back to labour's true values.

what do you think about yvette cooper?

[Kay Tie]

"Elections are cruel irrational beasts devouring the good."

And vice versa.

[LRC]

congratulations on your very good election result in Newport West – increasing your vote by more than any other Labour MP in Wales!

[Paul Flynn]

I was sorry to hear that Gordon Prentice, David Drew, Nick Ainger, Julie Morgan and Roger Berry lost. They are all great people, splendid MPs, friends and comrades. There were alos MPs of integrity. Elections are cruel irrational beasts devouring the good.

[Kay Tie]

"You are blessed with a spirited , dedicated , and hard working team that yet again put their hearts and souls into this campaign."

You forgot the bit where you salute his indefatigability.

[Patrick]

Thursday's result in Newport West really is a triumph (for you personally and your whole team) considering the national unpopularity of Labour.

You are blessed with a spirited , dedicated , and hard working team that yet again put their hearts and souls into this campaign.

I spoke to a lady at the count who said
" If paul loses it will be a disaster for Newport West"
She was wearing a blue rosette.

Congratulations.

[Paul Flynn]

You were pessimistic Dave in a previous e-mail you said that no-one you knew in Newport West would vote Labour. What happened?

You may be right about a strong local candidate. Herbie Thomas is Labour. If there is a second election the Tories may stick with their losing candidate. Recycling their signs would be cheaper than finding another candidate to challenge a 3,500 majority.

[Kay Tie]

I doubt campaigns make much difference. I certainly threw straight in the bin the leaflets from all parties. Vacuous tosh at odds with what they would really do in government. Maybe we are about to see my thesis proved with the Liberal Democrats this weekend.

[Chris Carter]

Congratulations again Paul!
This was my first election and I enjoyed every minute of it, you won a great victory, with a swing to the tories well below national average, a fantastic achievement!

I'd also like to say that your speech afterwards was exactly what the Tories and Lib Dems needed a strong dose of: Reality. It was challenging, provocative and true, lets hope we get to hear more of them!

[Paul Flynn]

Thanks for the congratulations. They are appreciated. It's impossible to know what influences voters. I wish I knew. There were lots of friendly message about election address. It certainly had a beneficial effect. the Tory worked his socks off and they bust with telephone canvassing. they claimed to have contacted 16,000.
We had a great hard working team. They did more canvassing and deliveries than ever before. The Western Mail was friendly but we had almost the entire media booting the boot in. In the circumstances it was great resuly nationally and in Newport.

[dave]

who are you trying to kid.get real paul.

people voted on a local basis for the person they trusted rather than for a president as the media thought.

the council and euro elections were fought by local candidates which made the fights close.
you only had 1 local candidate to fight against and most of the parties had no money to fight the labour/conservative political machines.

you know if you were up against a popular newport candidate like a herbie thomas figure you would have had a fight for the seat.
herbie will probably be the next newport west labour candidate when you retire.

the tories were the only party that tried to win the seat and their fight was weak.

you have to admit you may be safe but your party needs a massive change in leadership and direction to ever win another election.

your party failed miserably with the economy,immigration,defence,education, healthcare etc .
they didnt listen to the people, ignored us and acted like dictators.
"just like the torie government did in the 80's.

your party allowed a minority of neo-cons to ride shot gun over us all.

gordon brown has to go now,he has been a disaster for the party and country.

peter mandelson,ed balls,david/ed milliband,peter haine,douglas alexander,harriet harman all need to go.
these people are neo-cons not labour people and are only interested in their own interests not the country.

here's hoping labour people like your self run the party and bring the party back on track.
you have to admit left of centre mp's like yourself have been a minority in your party which has made you a lone wolf [maverick] and inaffective as an mp.

dont forget " high tech jobs for newport"

stop newport turning into a town of part time workers mainly working in low paid jobs in call centres.

[Chris]

Congratulations Paul!

So sorry that we lost David Drew in Stroud who I worked very hard for during the campaign.

[John]

As an aside I wrote 4 weeks ago to the 4 main candidates in my constituency on Drug Policy.

The green candidate replied within 2 hours agreeing with me. The Lib/Dem candidate took 11 days to reply, commiting to science based policy and ceasing to criminalise users but cracking down on dealers.

Neither the Labour candidate or Tory bothered to reply. I can only presume that my arguments against prohibition were so strong that they had no answer.

Seeing as the Lib/dem candidate in his previous role as head of council had shut my daughters school down against huge local feeling the green candidate got my vote.

I am of an age where I care more about my vote reflecting my beliefs than worrying about it being wasted so until Labour gets a candidate of your calibre in my constituency I can see me voting green for the foreseeable future.

[John]

congratulations Paul a worthy winner

You may have gathered from my previous posts that you aren't actually my MP I live up north but you are one of the very few MP's that represents my views hence me popping in now and again.

The collapse of the Lib dems wasn't a good thing to see particuar;y the loss of Evan Harris who like you is very close to my beliefs. It seems h was unseated by an inexperinced 26 year old christian Tory with the backing of the christians. They stooped as low as to describe Evan as Dr Death in their pamphlets because of his pronouncements on euthanasia. He lost by only a few hundred votes. Very sad to see a principalled man with integrity and a liking for science rather than dogma and fairy tales. I really hope we haven't seen the last of Mr Harris.Like you he would get my vote if he was my MP.

[Jonna Nyman]

Congratulations Paul, I have to admit I didn't for a second actually think you would lose..and now I can keep following your updates!

[Josh]

Congratulations!! I also think that the result of the election for Labour was fairly good, considering. I hope Labour come back stronger next time round.

[Mark]

I would just like to offer my congratulations on your victory. The next few months will have a profound impact on the future of our nation, and I'm pleased that the people of Newport have you to represent them during this time.