Labour...

[altariel]

...loses control of St Helens???

*goggles*

Start packing up now, the world's obviously about to end.

Edited to explain: St Helens (my former home town) is an old industrial and mining town, and it must be one of the most solid Labour votes in the country. Labour have controlled the council there for decades.

I'm also interested because both my paternal grandparents were very active councillors there during the 1920s and 1930s; they were both aldermen, and my grandmother was Mayor in 1950. (The second woman to become mayor of the town - and I just found a picture of her here (scroll down). Go Granny Mac!)

Comments

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

What??? Flipping heck!!

Though I have to say that the word that comes to mind is 'Crosby'. Normal tendencies will resume shortly.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Crosby was always a bit posh though, wasn't it?

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's not the same parties, but the same thought comes to mind, and I bet the same thing will happen.

[More explanation for foreigners ;-) : The SDP overturned a 19,000 Tory majority in a 1981 by-election and then promptly lost it back again to the Tories at the next general election (admittedly after boundary changes)].

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I notice that 6 seats went as a result of boundary changes, but I wouldn't have thought that was enough for Labour to lose control of the council.

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

Explain for the foreigner?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

St Helens (my former home town) must be one of the most solid Labour votes in the country. Old industrial and mining town. Solidly, solidly, Labour. We used to joke that you could put a Labour rosette on a pig and it would get elected. We used to joke that you could even put a Labour rosette on a Conservative and it would get elected.

(A joke which fell slightly flat when a Conservative MP switched parties, was selected as the Blairite candidate for the St Helens parliamentary constituency, there was a local battle to get a preferred old Labour candidate selected - to no avail - and this chap is now the MP.)

Anyway, it was local (town council) elections last night, and for the first time in what I presume is decades, not enough Labour candidates have won seats to have overall control of the council. They're still the biggest party on the council but... Blimey.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

With any luck at all, someone in the Blairite hierarchy is saying "Look, guys, next time we parachute a Tory traitor into a solidly Labour constituency, let's think about what happened to St Helens and not do it, okay?"

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

And I'm now waiting with bated breath for Warrington! The tension!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

*gnaws hand*

I'm going to be spending all morning playing with that pop-up map.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Didn't get to say earlier, but it looks as though Labour have held Warrington. Some parts of the world are still safe, then....

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The timeline is holding somewhere.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Presumably the voters of St Helens, after recent events, were puzzled and disappointed by the absence of Mr Depp from the ballot paper. I'm sure he'd have walked it, had he been on.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Alas, St Helens can only seem a poor place after that shining moment of glory.

I am convinced that, after so long playing Jed Bartlett, if Martin Sheen ran for President, he'd win.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

I am convinced that, after so long playing Jed Bartlett, if Martin Sheen ran for President, he'd win.

Ditto. And frankly, I'd vote for him, even though I don't agree with his political and social convictions at all, because from what I can glean, he's a better man than we've had in power for quite a while.

[OTOH, I was a bit disconcerted to hear that you've lost control of our nearest active volcano.]

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I was a bit disconcerted to hear that you've lost control of our nearest active volcano.

:-D

[matildabj.livejournal.com]

Labour loses control of St Helens? Have I stumbled into a parallel universe overnight?

And Jed Bartlet. Yes, yes, yes. Especially since Martin Sheen's politics make Jed Bartlet seem like a right-wing fundamentalist.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Labour loses control of St Helens? Have I stumbled into a parallel universe overnight?

Hm, it seems distinctly possible. Maybe everyone posting on this thread has to band together to set things right before the timeline collapses completely.

[matildabj.livejournal.com]

Maybe everyone posting on this thread has to band together to set things right before the timeline collapses completely.

Yes! Power to the people. Up the revolution. Let's do it!

[vasiliki.livejournal.com]

Your granny looks great in her hat! :) I wonder why only women seem to wear it...

Well, it appears that the council of St Helens has 6 seats less this year, which is why the difference in Labour seats seems so big. But they have half the seats, so they can easily retain the control of the council.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Ah, grannies were real grannies in those days. I bet she had little button boots too, and a fearsome umbrella.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh good, it's not just grand-daughterly affection making me think she looks like the ur-granny, then!

I think there was a fearsome umbrella. There was definitely a budgie called Roger (after Roger Banister).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Your granny looks great in her hat! :) I wonder why only women seem to wear it...

Special reward, perhaps? :-)

There have been boundary changes which mean that there were fewer council seats up for grabs in St H. this year, but Labour support has traditionally been so strong that I'm really surprised they didn't get a controlling majority on the council.

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

We also had a "loss of control of St. Helen's" here, out in the Northwest, some years back, but that was a no-longer-dormant volcano, so its loss of control was slightly more likely than the loss of your St. Helens to the Tories.

Any chance there's something got into the water? Or maybe a Reagan sympathy vote?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

We followed the eruption of Mount St Helens with great interest, as you can probably imagine!

I suspect it was part of the general backlash against Blair for the war.