Four more years of Boris the Oxbridge underdog

The most interesting thing about the London election result of May 3rd?

Not the huge difference between the vote for Labour Assembly members (who increased their numbers from eight to twelve) and the unsuccessful candidacy of Ken Livingstone in my view (though Labour clearly does have big lessons to learn from that: in Blackheath Westcombe ward, as in many other parts of London, Labour won the Assembly vote narrowly, but Boris out-polled Ken by 500 votes).

The real revelation came in the spin the Conservatives put on Boris’ re-election. They were careful not to put the boot into Ken (who Boris has magnanimously invited to the Olympic opening ceremony), and Boris himself was careful not to crow too much about how his success contrasted so markedly with the Conservatives’ failure in the local elections everywhere else in England, Wales and Scotland.

But right at the end of an otherwise uninspiring election result, there was a fascinating clue to the mentality of the elite who now run the Tory party. It said a lot about how detached from reality some of our political masters have become. In a story on the Mayoral election result in the Guardian on Saturday, May 5th, an unintentionally hilarious soundbite gave the game away.

An anonymous Downing Street source was quoted as saying “Boris has shown you can be an old Etonian who went to Balliol and that need not prevent you succeeding”. (See http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/05/boris-johnson-winning-tory-formula?newsfeed=true for the full story).

I laughed out loud at that, and have been thinking about it on and off for the three weeks since the story appeared. I certainly did not go to Eton, but I did study at Balliol College, Oxford (several years after Boris, although I did overlap with his younger brother Jo Johnson, now Tory MP for Orpington).

Some of those who were at Balliol with me in the mid-1990s are now emerging as top academics (Dominic Sandbrook, Ted Vallance), MPs (not just the younger Johnson, but also Rory Stewart), novelists (Chris Cleave) and in other fields (my contemporary Ben Rowland is chair of Toynbee Hall). Some of the less bright ones, such as me, may not be pursuing such stellar careers, but we are privileged to have gone to a great university and for the opportunities it has given us. If you suggested to any of them that they have overcome an anti-Oxbridge bias to do well, they would look very puzzled indeed.

People who did not enjoy a university education, and have worked all their lives for little monetary reward, would be even more puzzled. To claim that an Oxbridge education is a handicap to overcome is absurd. It is also insulting to those who have really striven to get to any university from a humble background, or to anyone who has succeeded in life without going to University at all.

Even if there is a bit of anti-Oxbridge bias in some quarters, then so what – it is only a useful corrective to centuries of privilege enjoyed by those, like Boris, who went to top public schools and Oxbridge colleges like Balliol.

I can’t imagine thatBoris – a superb tactician – would have said anything so idiotic, but clearly this is what some Conservative spin-doctors are thinking. As a piece of spin, the argument that Boris is some kind of Oxbridge underdog wins first prize for ingenuity.

French lessons

 

Huge relief that Francois Hollande has won the French presidency. He has shown that a candidate of the left can win resoundingly in Europe, and there is a valid alternative to austerity. Although everyone predicts bruising clashes with German chancellor Angela Merkel, Franco-German relations (witness Kohl and Mitterrand) have often bridged the political divide between the Partie Socialiste and the German Christian Democrats.

I was in southern France over Easter and the friends I spoke to predicted Hollande would win, although neither of them had a great deal of enthusiasm. One of them, normally a Green voter, was uninspired by the Green Presidential candidate, an MEP and former magistrate called Eva Joly  (a Jenny Jones lookalike with zany green glasses), and was not much more inspired by Hollande either, but she was definitely voting for him, in the second round at least.

Three things are surprising about French Presidential elections, aside from the fact that they are fought over two rounds: firstly the very high turnout by UK standards  (more than 80% in 2012: the last time that number went to the polls in the UK was 1951).

The second surprise is that the French Presidential elections are some way ahead of the legislative ones (for the 577 seats in the National Assembly) on 10 and 17 June, which is very different from most other presidential system s such as the United States, when congress and the president are elected simultaneously.

The third is the all-consuming nature of the election. Although election fever had not really reached the small village in the Aude where I was staying, the election campaign was all the same very visible: all ten candidates for the First round are required to have their campaign posters displayed on metal boards on a thoroughfare in every single Commune in the republic (many such Communes are hamlets of a few hundred voters). Bizarrely, one of the official photocopied letters stipulating this on the local Mairie’s noticeboard was signed by then-President Nicholas Sarkozy himself (which felt a little like making  David Cameron the returning officer in a UK Parliamentary election: a pretty scary thought).

1992 and all that

The spring of 2012 has so far seen the British media dominated by the anniversaries of two shocking historic events: the invasion of the Falklands (30 years ago) and the sinking of the Titanic (a century ago).

In the Labour blogosphere, a third disastrous event worthy of commemoration and reminiscence has emerged: the 1992 General Election of 1992, whose 20th anniversary fell on April 9th (midway between the Falklands anniversary on April 2nd, and the Titanic’s on April 15th).

Incredibly, the mainstream media has considered the Falklands and ther Titanic anniversaries to be more newsworthy…. But the 1992 election did really matter (quite apart from being the first election that me and my contemporaris voted in). It saw the largest popular vote ever cast for a political party in Britain (the 14 million votes garnered by John Major’s Conservatives). It was the first general election in which all three party leaders were not of the generation that had served in World War Two. And above all, it was the General Election whose result drove the Labour Party to the brink of despair – and led to the modernisation of the mid-1990s that, rightly or wrongly, helped to propel the party to victory in 1997.

I have put my own memories of it on the Progress website at http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/04/04/the-worst-loss-of-all/. Let me know what you think.

David says thanks

And now it’s all over! Life returns to normal.

Alex Grant back at top of the poll but I missed out by 22 votes after the Friday afternoon recount. 2197 votes was a good tally, but 22 votes from the winning line and you think what more could have been done.

So Blackheath Westcombe again has one superb Labour councillor and two Tories. A swing to Labour but not the same swing we enjoyed in the other marginals with large council estates. There, the general election turnout made a real difference. In BW, the 72% turnout brought out many who take little interest in local politics generally but obviously wanted to vote nationally.

And many people shopped around with their votes. All a big argument for Alternative Vote as there was a very big majority for progressive candidates from Labour, Lib Dems and Greens but this vote was fragmented letting the Tories into two seats.

But it has been a great campaign and I have really enjoyed meeting so many thousands of people from Tom Smith Close to Blackheath Park. And to understand people’s concerns about childcare, local schools, transport, parks and so many more issues. There was a general level of satisfaction with local services especially recycling but that is not to be complacent. The new Labour council can do better and improve community engagement. I will carry on my work at John Roan and stay in touch with local issues.

On a national scale, Nick Raynsford retained Labour’s 10000 majority in Greenwich. The Tories took second place from the Lib Dems and we held next-door Eltham against all predictions. But it was not good for Labour nationally overall and we have lessons to learn about staying in touch more with people’s views, listening and showing less arrogance and better judgement.

But it is easy to be harsh and forget our great achievements in public services, economic prosperity, leadership on combating climate change and poverty. We are a more tolerant and civilised society than in 1997.

All more the shame as I write that Labour and the Lib Dems do not appear to have agreed a progressive partnership to continue this and protect the most vulnerable while securing the recovery and reducing the deficit.

Finally to thank everyone for their votes and support, and if you supported an opponent, thanks for being so polite on the doorstep and listening. And thanks to Alex and Pat for being such tremendous fellow candidates and the great Labour team in Blackheath Westcombe.
David L Gardner

Election day

Today, May 6th, is the day we have all been waiting for – and seems to have suddenly crept up on us all.

After weeks of seven days a week work, I managed to take the day off on Sunday – in fact between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning managed to avoid any political activity whatsoever, apart from a few phone calls. I felt the much better for it when I arrived at the campaign office at 32 Woolwich Rod at 8.30am on Monday morning!

Spent Saturday night at my Mum and Dad’s House on Glenluce Road for Mum’s birthday – rare occasion that all the family – my sister Tara, her partner Catherine, our brother Tom and his wife Hester, and their three children, got together with my partner Liz and our four-year-old Alice. And Mum and Dad of course. Now our generation of the family are all in our thirties (or forties in Tom’s case) it is rare for us all to get together as even at Christmas we are dragged off in different directions by in-laws.

The evening made me realise that there is more to life than politics, important though that all is – and also how complicated family life is, with work, childcare and all the responsibilities they entail. If nothing else, Labour is the party of families, in al their forms, and recognises that an active state needs to help when it is needed and also respect lifestyle choices. Labour wants to support children out of poverty and into a good education whatever their parents’ circumstances, go into adulthood with access to education, training and dignity in the workplace, able to live sustainably in a safe and clean environment, with healthcare free a the point of delivery and improving schools for the next generation, and into a n old age with dignity and independence.

This is a message Pat, David and I have been putting across as much as we can on the doorstep, at the railway stations and on the school gate in the last few weeks. Many readers may have met us – and for those who have not – we want o continue working with local people on the problems that matter to them, and hope we can count on your support today.