ELECTIONWATCH 2005: Hove
Tuesday, April 05, 2005

My own constituency, Hove, is a key marginal in the upcoming election so things could get pretty interesting here in the next few weeks. I'm going to try and blog proceedings if only in a half-arsed way.

I've already been keeping an, admittedly unscientific, watch on election spending in the constituency by keeping a count of election posters I see aound and about. The count now stands at:

Conservatives: 10
New Labour: 1

According to a piece in the FT yesterday on the constituency, the Conservatives have 11 posters up in Hove. One more for the full set then.

The Tories have to turn over a majority of 3,171 which they seem to regard as doable and have wheeled out the financial big guns. In the FT piece, Tory candidate Nicholas Boles reckons they will have spent "£80,000 on his campaign come polling day" - not ignoring the £10,000 spending limit imposed when the election is called. New Labour seem unwilling or unable to match those sums. Their candidate, Celia Barlow, says she "can't pretend that the money's comparable". The Lib Dem candidate Paul Elgood, in surely an admission that the seat in unwinnable, says "I have no money," and "it's hand-to-mouth stuff."

There's an unofficial New Labour blog over at www.hovelabour.org which I want to plug, not least because I've been a bit antagonistic over there (and over here) in recent weeks. The site's main man, BB, seems a decent chap still to be sullied and embittered by politics. I'd plug the Tory equivalent but there doesn't seem to be one, at least not yet.

More to follow once the campaigns kick off in anger.


7 Comments:

On April 05, 2005 8:30 PM, Blogger BB said...

Thanks for the mention, though as you know the "New" prefix sticks in my throat a little.

Presumably that's only 'official' posters, is it? As you seem to get around the constich a bit, it would be quite fun to have a count of all the posters people have stuck up in their windows. Would that be of interest? Here's my current scorecard:

Conservative: 0
Labour: 1 (my board)
Others: 0

I noticed the FT article. Perhaps it's optimistic, but hopefully our combined blogging will make Hove the constituency to watch this time (as indeed it should be).

Finally, are planning to be strictly neutral, and/or do you think any of the 3 main parties are likely to win your vote?  


On April 06, 2005 8:28 AM, Blogger Justin said...

Sorry BB, but the "New" prefix is here to stay as far as I'm concerned. The Lib Dems (rightly) take a lot of flak for having different personas in different constituencies - let's just say I'm a stickler for consisttency in such matters.

The count of unofficial posters is a good idea - I'll keep my eyes peeled.

In terms of my neutrality, I plan to keep sticking - in my small way - it to whoever I think deserves it. I haven't decided who I'm going to vote for yet - I've got a lot of thinking to do between no and 05/05.  


On April 06, 2005 11:07 AM, Blogger clive said...

Spotted last night at Hove station: long streak of public school piss Tory candidate trying to force leaflets on a very indifferent public.

Discarded leaflet count so far:

Tory 5
Labour 1

Given that I no longer have to vote for Ivor Caplin, I am inclined to clamp a red clothes peg to my nose and support the seemingly half-decent Labour candidate in Hove. If the party is to be recaptured from Blair the Tory cuckoo, there need to be enough like souls in the parliamentary party to do it. Worth thinking about.

At all events this election will be Blair's nemesis anyway: trust me. There is no call for voting Tory unless you actually think they are the best choice. Giving them a tactical vote - as advocated on the backingblair site - is a real case of cutting your whole head off to spite your face.  


On April 06, 2005 11:11 AM, Blogger Justin said...

Clive, you're not Polly Toynbee under pseudonym, are you?

And as for "long streak of public school piss Tory candidate", have you seen Celia Barlow's credentials? She's not exactly cloth cap and whippet you know. Or from Hove either.  


On April 06, 2005 12:52 PM, Blogger BB said...

I saw the Boles outside Hove station as well last night. Didn't see many people going for the leaflets.

Suppose I should have harangued him over this, that, and the other. In the end I merely took a leaflet without saying "thanks". And I meant it to sting.

You won't find many former cloth cap-wearers in Parliament, and Celia's background is fairly typical for Labour. Plus she's not a lawyer.  


On April 07, 2005 4:42 PM, Blogger clive said...

No, I'm not Polly 'I used to be in the SDP' Toynbee and I'm pretty pissed off that she's run off with the peg idea.

You take issue with my mud slinging at Mr Boles -- which I suppose ought to teach me not to be gratuitously offensive -- but choose not to engage with my rather more serious point about the irrationality of voting Tory in Hove as a protest against Blair.

I'd say if you can't bring yourself to vote Labour then by all means go for the Lib Dems, the Greens, Respect, whoever -- just not the Cons. I don't buy the Peter Hain 'back door 'argument, but I do buy the idea that Michael Howard is an A1 shitbag who must be stopped at all costs.

Incidentally, for what its worth I think Boles will win the seat anyway. We could do with more overly tall Tory public schoolboys in Parliament, so that's some consolation.  


On April 08, 2005 1:49 PM, Blogger Justin said...

Clive, take a look around. This whole site pretty much engages with your "rather more serious point about the irrationality of voting Tory in Hove as a protest against Blair".

If I vote Tory this time it'll be a vote against New Labour and nothing else. Much as other people will be voting, conversely, not for New Labour but against the Tories.

If Hove does return to the Tories then, as far as I'm concerned, that's one seat shaved off a bloated and rampant New Labour majority and one seat nearer Blair getting his much deserved P45.  


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