Labour have won the by-elections in Ealing Southall and in Blair's old constituency of Sedgfield.
Ealing Southall - Was a bit messy, i would have gone along to campaign for us, but couldn't as i had school and then was away on Duke of Edinburgh expedition in Scotland, but glad to see we won, as was expected. Was a really good kick in the nuts for good ol' Davie C.Labour's majority was reduced by over 7% with a 5¼% swing to the Lib Dems, with the Tories again in 3rd, God it is good to see the Tories doing badly! The Greens had a decent result, finishing in fourth followed by George Galloway’s Respect Party (hate the man and i am so glad that he has been banned from the Commons for i think it is 17 days), UKIP, the Christian Party, an Independent, the Monster Raving Loony Party, English Democrats and two more Independents.I was slightly surprised that the Fascist BNP didn't do better, as normally in places with a large migrant community, such as Ealing, you get a few racist, disenfranchised bigoted white van men sorts who turn to the far right. Glad to see that such people were in short supply, guess they may have voted for the EDP or some of the independents.
In Balir's old constituency we also won, as was expected, but with a big fall in our majority.Phil Wilson, but Labour saw its majority drop by 14% with an 11% swing towards the Lib Dems who leapfrogged the Tories to take second place with the fascist BNP doing rather well coming in fourth place, rather worrying eh?
What is all this about? Trying to get Lib-Dems in. Seems a bit cunning to me. To be honest i am ill at ease with the idea. Also, if i were a backbench Labour MP I would be so pissed at being overlooked. In fact just as a party member I am annoyed, don't we have good enough MP's?
Whay have we got people like Digby Jones in the cabinet. He is by no strech of the immagination a socialits and as the bias socialist worker point out, he has a history of union abuse (http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=12337) , not unsuprising from a former boss of the CBI. To be so hostile to the unions, and to be a Labour minister is peverse, especially as the Labour party was founded by the trade unions, traditionally having more of a trade unionist ideology than a socialist one. Anyway, this bringing in outsidres all seems a bit odd to me. But if it means we win the next election then I won't complain too much, just so long as it doesn't last too long. How about labour MP's in a labour givernment, not outsiders appointed by Lordships of convenience.