Saturday, May 01, 2010

Stage managed in Sunderland

Putting aside the heckling Gordon Brown experienced in the Glass Centre in Sunderland today, the one thing that struck me about Labour's meeting in my own region was the way it was heavily packed out by Labour hacks. The uninvited heckler may have spoilt the choreographed meeting but it looks like he was the only "real person" who got into the meeting, despite Labour suggestions last week that Brown would be meeting more "ordinary people". The saga of Mrs Duffy may have put Brown off meeting more voters face to face but the stage management of the Sunderland meeting had to be seen to be believed. I recognised a large number of Labour members in the audience and when questions were invited, what came forth were mini-speeches praising the Great Leader from party loyalists wearing red rosettes.

Meanwhile, Nick ran into trouble in Malvern where his special branch minders rather rapidly removed someone from his presence. And in Essex, Cameron had the spectacle of the BNP protesting about his presence.

As for me, I've spent most of today delivering. It's the big weekend push to try to get the remaining undecideds to come our way. Quite a few people in Blaydon constituency have already voted - we have a high proportion of people on postal votes so in one ward today I was delivering letters to people who vote at polling stations. In my ward a third of people are on postal vote. The battle however continues and with our local newspaper, the Evening Chronicle, reporting that we could win Blaydon, we are leaving no stone unturned as we approach polling day.

And finally, after decades of buying the Guardian, it's nice to know the investment has paid off. Not surprisingly, the Observer has followed its sister paper's lead and is backing the Lib Dems as well. I shall enjoy reading it tomorrow.

2 comments:

kevin scott said...

Yes, I spotted David Clelland in the adoring crowd, my former MP, who stepped down despite winning the reselection process to contest the Gateshead seat for Labour.

Then the expenses scandal broke and the rest is history, as they say!

Anonymous said...

Jonathan

Could/Will you explain? why the Lib Dems voted in Scotland (in power with Labour) to keep university fees?.

Why did the lib dems also vote to KEEP prescription charges in Scotland for the chronic medical conditions...

Examples of chronic medical conditions which are not exempt from prescription charges:

Cancer
Multiple Sclerosis
Asthma
Psoriasis
Crohn’s Disease
Schizophrenia
Glaucoma
Arthritis
Chronic Leukaemia
HIV/AIDS
Ulcerative Colitis
Hepatitis C

Hmmm, the lib dems in action.