My belated congratulations to Bexley's newest councillor Steven Hall, who won the East Wickham by election on Thursday. The by-election was called because of the sad death of Cllr Alf Catterall, Alf was a lovely man and worked hard as a councillor and in the community as a whole. Steven has already shown himself to be willing to work hard for local people.
East Wickham is a tight marginal ward and has been held by Labour, the Lib Dems and us in recent years so the fact that the result was tight was not a surprise, the fact that it was the BNP that came second was. The relentlessly negative campaigning of some parties does nothing but damage the credibility of politics and drive voters into the arms of parties with little to say other than "we're not them".
Still, a win is a win and Steven will work hard and make a good name for himself between now and the main elections next year. We shouldn't ignore the fact that a lot of people voted for the BNP, but we shouldn't obsess about it either.
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You are quite right about the negative campaigning, it is appalling when parties just try to smear their opponents and their supporters. A good example can be found at: http://jamescleverly.blogspot.com/2008/12/lib-dems-east-wickham-campaigner-voted.html
You have to feel sorry for the majority of decent people living in East Wickham with so much scum prepared to vote for the BNP. The only comfort is that the rest of South London is not like this.
I agree with you, we do obsess abou the BNP a bit too much. They are a vile bunch of bigots but, as their rather pathetic membership list revealed, they are an irrelevance in all honesty.
Are you mad?
Yeah don't obsess about the BNP but don't forget that if it wasn't for the English Nationalists standing in the East Wickham by-election the scummy BNP would have beaten the Conservatives and had a majority of more than 100.
We would then have to get used to the fact that the vile BNP would have a Councillor in Bexley.
James Cleverly - don't be complacent! Labour are the enemy yes, but the toxic BNP are sadly getting their act together.
Thank you James for your support over the past months. I will certainly dedicate myself to making East Wickham and Bexley an even better place to live.
As for the result, it really reflects local discontent with the failure of the Labour Government to address national issues relating to immigration, the economy and crime. The people are suffering and want to register their disapproval now. I won't bother to discuss the "what-if's", since it will not alter the result.
This was an anti Labour Government by-election protest vote. They realise that Gordon Brown won’t call a General Election, so they sent him a clear and loud message. However, it almost lost the Conservatives a seat on Bexley Council and would have unfairly tainted East Wickham.
I now have so many people to thank; strangely not all of them are Conservatives, which illustrates that people may be divided by politics but united by humanity.
Councillor Steven Hall
East Wickham
Steven,
Congratulations on your victory.
This was not an anti-Labour by-election vote, this was not a Labour seat. It was a Conservative seat and one that you came close to losing. If people had wanted to protest against the government they would have voted Conservative or Liberal.
It is time politicians recognised that a vote for the BNP is not just a protest vote in a multi-party democracy. It is either a failure of all mainstream parties, especially yours when you came so close to losing, or it shows something far more sinister in East Wickham society.
It is my opinion that East Wickham and Welling has been a stronghold for the far-right for too long and something should be done about it. Blaming Gordon Brown is simply not good enough coming from a local councillor.
Steven
Congratulations on your victory. Will you disassocite yourself from Jimmy's disgusting claim that all BNP are voters are scum and that there might be something similar in East Wichma society.
Perhaps Jimmy (Labour supporter?) shoudl practice what he preaches and not attempt to smear other parties and their supporters
Thank you both for your kind words. It is my intension to work towards making East Wickham a better place to live for ALL my fellow residents regardless of politics, race, religion or gender.
It should be remembered that we live in a democracy and that people have the right to vote for whoever they want. You do not become a bad person purely for voting for the Party of your choice. As for East Wickham, we experienced a typical by-election protest vote against the Party in power. The public recognise that mainstream politicians fear 'non-conformist' parties, and that Gordon Brown won’t call an early election. Whilst the Labour Government has failed Britain and its people, my fellow Councillors and I will do all that we can to help the residents of East Wickham and Bexley.
In recent years, East Wickham has been controlled by the LibDems, Labour and the Conservatives. So much for East Wickham being a BNP stronghold! To put it in perspective, we had a dormant book shop (now long closed) which caused both the far-left and far-right to riot many years ago. I was there – on duty as a Metropolitan Police Special Constable! Most people in East Wickham were not aware of its existence until the various rent-a-mobs descended upon our community and left a path of destruction.
For a long time, it was evident that East Wickham had being neglected by the LibDems and Labour, hence the landslide victory for the Conservatives in the 2006 local by-elections. Indeed, a former East Wickham LibDem Councillor/resident even joined the Conservatives because of this neglect! Today, East Wickham is a testament to Bexley Council who have done much to improve my neighbourhood.
Lastly, I believe the biggest issue facing Bexley Council (and most Councils) is securing adequate funding from the Government. The Labour Government are being irresponsible by distributing taxpayers money to undeserving causes whilst allowing the people to suffer!
Councillor Steven Hall
East Wickham
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