Elected Generals
Yesterday morning Rebecca and I strolled through Stationers Park to the Hornsey Vale Community Centre in order to cast our votes in the general election. Now a veteran of four general elections and countless other local and European polls, I still experience a striking frisson of excitement as I enter the polling station. Yesterday this excitement rapidly gave way to giggles when I noticed that Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat candidate, possesses the absurd middle name of Choona.
In the polling booth I regained sufficient composure to pencil a bold cross adjacent to the name of Barbara Roche, the sitting Labour MP who was defending a majority of around ten thousand. My decision to vote for the Labour Party yesterday was partly rational and partly tactical:
Rational in that as two young professionals, one of whom works in the public sector, and with a burdensome mortgage, Rebecca and I will benefit from further economic stability allied with continued investment in public services. If we start a family we will benefit from a support infrastructure including childcare, maternity and paternity entitlements, and various family-related benefits and credits. Mr Brown's record on domestic social and economic issues is impressive and I can endorse this agenda whilst being utterly repulsed by Mr Blair's arrogance and global swashbuckling.
Tactical in that I sought to prevent the Lynne Choona Featherstone bandwagon from sweeping into power in our Hornsey and Wood Green constituency. Given the result - a massive 14.6% swing gave Ms Featherstone a majority of over two thousand - my attempt to block her advance was even less successful than the efforts of Arthur Dent, our heroic pan-galactic hitchhiker, to prevent his earthly home being demolished.
No doubt several factors enabled Lynne Choona Featherstone to unseat a diligent and previously popular constituency MP. Certainly the Liberal Democrats’ opposition to the war in Iraq, allied with Ms Roche’s staunch support of it, had a major impact. In addition, this constituency, recently described by the Telegraph newspaper as ‘intelligent’, is home to thousands of middle-class, liberal-minded, Guardian-reading intellectual types, many of whom are disappointed in Labour, disgusted with Blair, and disdainful of the Conservatives.
Even before this general election the Liberal Democrats had enjoyed recent political success in this area, including a gargantuan swing in their favour in the Stroud Green ward by-election last year. Indeed, their apparently irresistible momentum could even sweep the Liberal Democrats into power in the Haringey borough elections next May. Esteemed BBC analysts Andrew Marr and Professor Anthony King were clearly oblivious to these events and possibilities, as both expressed astonishment that the Liberal Democrats had won the Hornsey and Wood Green seat.
However, perhaps most significant in Lynne Choona Featherstone’s success is a slick and ruthless public relations machine that ensures she enjoys an extremely high local profile. Anyone with even the remotest interest in local affairs cannot fail to notice Ms Featherstone, whose kitsch publicity photographs portray styled hair and shoulder pads redolent of American television shows like Dallas and Dynasty. Already an elected member of Haringey Council and the London Assembly, she has used these positions to good effect in boosting her standing in the constituency. Moreover, it seems Ms Featherstone has used her personal wealth to bankroll a relentless delivery of glossy leaflets and reasoned letters to local households. As a result of this lavish ‘blitzkreig’ of propaganda there could be few constituents who, upon surveying their ballot paper yesterday, did not recognize the name Lynne Featherstone, even with the distraction of ‘Choona’ sandwiched between forename and surname.
So, much to my chagrin, Lynne Choona Featherstone now represents me in Parliament. Elsewhere last night there were other pockets of personal disappointment. Two of my friends narrowly missed out in Swindon North and Harrow West respectively, and Rebecca’s aunt, Judith Blake, was unsuccessful in defending Leeds North West for the Labour Party. Judith, a successful local politician in Leeds, was a strong candidate chosen to replace the retiring Labour MP. The tension in our Denton Road flat became almost unbearable as the clock ticked on towards three o’clock without any news from the count. Every other Leeds constituency was declared long before finally we learned the terrible news that Leeds North West had fallen to the Liberal Democrats. Despite her personal opposition to the war in Iraq, Judith was the victim of an unprecedented swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats which proved fatal in a three-way marginal.
Despite these personal disappointments I am content with the national outcome. A Labour government with a much reduced but workable majority should allow Mr Brown to pursue his successful social and economic policies whilst not enabling Mr Blair to ignore his party, shun Parliament, and strut around on the global stage. Indeed, the influence of an awkward squad of left-wingers should require Mr Blair to listen more closely to the concerns of his party, rather than those of Mr Bush, and to do more to achieve consensus both in Parliament and in the country as a whole. A return to traditional cabinet and parliamentary approaches to government, rather than the presidential approach that a massive majority allows, would be a welcome boost for democracy.
Dave
In the polling booth I regained sufficient composure to pencil a bold cross adjacent to the name of Barbara Roche, the sitting Labour MP who was defending a majority of around ten thousand. My decision to vote for the Labour Party yesterday was partly rational and partly tactical:
Rational in that as two young professionals, one of whom works in the public sector, and with a burdensome mortgage, Rebecca and I will benefit from further economic stability allied with continued investment in public services. If we start a family we will benefit from a support infrastructure including childcare, maternity and paternity entitlements, and various family-related benefits and credits. Mr Brown's record on domestic social and economic issues is impressive and I can endorse this agenda whilst being utterly repulsed by Mr Blair's arrogance and global swashbuckling.
Tactical in that I sought to prevent the Lynne Choona Featherstone bandwagon from sweeping into power in our Hornsey and Wood Green constituency. Given the result - a massive 14.6% swing gave Ms Featherstone a majority of over two thousand - my attempt to block her advance was even less successful than the efforts of Arthur Dent, our heroic pan-galactic hitchhiker, to prevent his earthly home being demolished.
No doubt several factors enabled Lynne Choona Featherstone to unseat a diligent and previously popular constituency MP. Certainly the Liberal Democrats’ opposition to the war in Iraq, allied with Ms Roche’s staunch support of it, had a major impact. In addition, this constituency, recently described by the Telegraph newspaper as ‘intelligent’, is home to thousands of middle-class, liberal-minded, Guardian-reading intellectual types, many of whom are disappointed in Labour, disgusted with Blair, and disdainful of the Conservatives.
Even before this general election the Liberal Democrats had enjoyed recent political success in this area, including a gargantuan swing in their favour in the Stroud Green ward by-election last year. Indeed, their apparently irresistible momentum could even sweep the Liberal Democrats into power in the Haringey borough elections next May. Esteemed BBC analysts Andrew Marr and Professor Anthony King were clearly oblivious to these events and possibilities, as both expressed astonishment that the Liberal Democrats had won the Hornsey and Wood Green seat.
However, perhaps most significant in Lynne Choona Featherstone’s success is a slick and ruthless public relations machine that ensures she enjoys an extremely high local profile. Anyone with even the remotest interest in local affairs cannot fail to notice Ms Featherstone, whose kitsch publicity photographs portray styled hair and shoulder pads redolent of American television shows like Dallas and Dynasty. Already an elected member of Haringey Council and the London Assembly, she has used these positions to good effect in boosting her standing in the constituency. Moreover, it seems Ms Featherstone has used her personal wealth to bankroll a relentless delivery of glossy leaflets and reasoned letters to local households. As a result of this lavish ‘blitzkreig’ of propaganda there could be few constituents who, upon surveying their ballot paper yesterday, did not recognize the name Lynne Featherstone, even with the distraction of ‘Choona’ sandwiched between forename and surname.
So, much to my chagrin, Lynne Choona Featherstone now represents me in Parliament. Elsewhere last night there were other pockets of personal disappointment. Two of my friends narrowly missed out in Swindon North and Harrow West respectively, and Rebecca’s aunt, Judith Blake, was unsuccessful in defending Leeds North West for the Labour Party. Judith, a successful local politician in Leeds, was a strong candidate chosen to replace the retiring Labour MP. The tension in our Denton Road flat became almost unbearable as the clock ticked on towards three o’clock without any news from the count. Every other Leeds constituency was declared long before finally we learned the terrible news that Leeds North West had fallen to the Liberal Democrats. Despite her personal opposition to the war in Iraq, Judith was the victim of an unprecedented swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats which proved fatal in a three-way marginal.
Despite these personal disappointments I am content with the national outcome. A Labour government with a much reduced but workable majority should allow Mr Brown to pursue his successful social and economic policies whilst not enabling Mr Blair to ignore his party, shun Parliament, and strut around on the global stage. Indeed, the influence of an awkward squad of left-wingers should require Mr Blair to listen more closely to the concerns of his party, rather than those of Mr Bush, and to do more to achieve consensus both in Parliament and in the country as a whole. A return to traditional cabinet and parliamentary approaches to government, rather than the presidential approach that a massive majority allows, would be a welcome boost for democracy.
Dave
posted by Rebecca Dodgson | 2:04 pm
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