- Elliott Morley did not stand and Labour just held on to Scunthorpe despite a 9.18% swing against.
- David Chaytor did not stand, but Labour lost Bury North anyway.
- Margaret Moran did not stand and Labour held Luton South (see previous post).
- Ben Chapman did not stand and Labour held Wirral South (see previous post).
The other side of the coin is that of the zero expenses claimants who stood for re-election (several did not), only the Lib Dems' Susan Kramer lost Richmond Park - but that was to Zac Goldsmith, who probably won't even claim his salary. Against which another Lib Dem zero claimant, redistricted Sarah Teather, stomped her Labour rival in new Brent Central with a swing of 11%.
Zero claimant Martin Salter, disgusted by the behaviour of his peers, did not stand and Labour lost his seat of Reading West with a massive swing of 12% against.
Mark Oaten, boy renter as well as expenses cheat, did not stand, but the Lib Dems lost Winchester anyway with a 9% swing against. Lembik 'Cheeky Girls' Opik claimed the maximum and lost Montgomeryshire for the Lib Dems with a swing of over 13% against.
Character matters, after all.
Posts
I am sure that character does matter in the ultimate shape and integrity of one's life. However, it is sometimes also, at least for political purposes, a question of what sort of negative 'tag' can be attached to you that brings you down on election day.
ReplyDeleteCertainly 'expenses'claiming was such a tag and I am glad that those who deserved it ended up 'owning' it. However, when the Tories handed out a circular just before election day in Oxford which listed Evan Harris' more left/lib secularist positions and memberships, it created what could be described as a negative 'tag' for some people who might otherwise have voted for him. My wife and I were certainly two such people.
But in this case, perhaps his position-taking and memberships are the result of good character, though it may be in a bad cause or
so.