I can’t think of a great deal more to say, except that it is worth noting that the Conservatives are celebrating wildly losing 2,000 of the votes they had at the General Election. It was great to see the New Labour betrayers getting almost totally deserted by their followers, and instructive that the LIBDems also lost a third of their vote.
The real lesson is that the total vote for the three “Main parties” fell from 42,000 votes at the general election to 23,000 now, with each of them shedding votes. That is a profound statistic. The political landscape is indeed shifting sharply, even if my own efforts to affect it were rubbish. Tory braying is futile and shallow.
In this “great victory”, 18% of the electorate voted for them. I know form doostep experience that many of those who stayed at home were not merely apathetic, but actively hostile.
Better luck next time, Craig. I think if you’d run as a LibDem you would have stood a strong chance of victory.
You didn’t lose, Clive – the system won. I saw only one mention of you in a local Norwich newspaper. Otherwise, no-one would know that you existed. I believe there were 75,000 eligible to vote, yet only 23,000 bothered. This is democracy?
You beat the BNP, which is surely a huge positive.
I would like to say you were not rubbish. It seemed like after the election, a mass mentioning of the corruption issue occurred. The phrase the first by election since the expenses scandal was stated on many occasions. I even saw Sky News put in a mention of you that you were standing.
I still just cannot understand how you were sidelined in what was an extremely important issue and cleaning up of politics. I think voters voted because of debt, tax and just not happy with Labour.
If you are given the opportunity, I am pretty certain a good result is possible maybe next time round.
I’m sorry. It is a real shame. But yes, it is a systemic problem, and I fear it will not be solved, because, as this result shows, the people with the power and responsibility to change it have a vested interest in preserving it.
We are at a terrible point in our democracy, where we have all of the institutions and images of freedom and democracy necessary to suppress irrepressible action for change, but the people in power have broken free of truly democratic accountability.
It seems, currently and for the foreseeable future, the elites will make out like bandits and the masses will meekly suffer. My only fear is what kind of event or circumstance might be sufficient to effect radical positive social change.
You weren’t rubbish. I think you put a brilliant effort into it.
But I don’t think you understand where the power lies and how desperate that power is to maintain the illusion that the UK is a democracy. Having someone like you in Parliament who is honest, brave, not subservient or afraid to speak out would create cracks in the illusion and people would start to see that the country they live in is possibly the most corrupt and evil country in the world.
A hell of a lot of people voted aginst the Tories.Labour Lib-Dem & Greens should be thinking of a Stop- the-Tories coalition.LiB Dems can be easily bought by a promise of PR, and Labour needs Green policies anyway
A hell of a lot of people voted aginst the Tories.Labour Lib-Dem & Greens should be thinking of a Stop- the-Tories coalition.LiB Dems can be easily bought by a promise of PR, and Labour needs Green policies anyway
The odious Iain Dale is celebrating…..
“Craig Murray – the “honest” man – loses his deposit. Ha ha double ha!”
Wow, what maturity…..maybe when Iain reads back comments like those in more reflective frames of mind, he might come to realise why his own political career, which had designs (delusions?) of Westminster, has ended up with him being a junior Tory gofer and keyboard commentator
Oh dear Craig!
Your not too good at this at all. After having annoyed us all very much in Blackburn, you thought you might have got the message.
I’d stay at home come the general election if I were you
You are a talented individual, but it is not possible to win a parliamentary seat merely as an individual. There needs to be a power base.
Dai Davies has a party (mainly from the Labour Party), Richard Taylor has the Hospital Party (and support of Lib Dems), Martin Bell had the tacit support of Lib Dem and Labour.
You did very well to beat the BNP, but should join a political party and be a candidate that way.
Ideally the Lib Dems.
You’re not bitter, are you?
Connie,
No, don’t think so! Made loads of friends.
You were not rubbish at all. I disagree with you a lot but it would have been far more “interesting” to have you elected than “any of the above” for a change.
Go for it again, don’t let the buggers win.
Ian Dale is a tw@t.
That is all
Good. Don’t give up. You are an honest man..
Why do you have to join a party? Make one that will revolutionise the country. Start with a meeting of your friends and bloggers ASAP.
Hi Craig,
read your Togo book- think you’re a good man and no I dont think you were rubbish in this election.
Use the experience and what you learned and keep moving forward !
Have a good weekend.
Craig, you are not rubbish. So take a break, and when you feel refreshed again, then have a think about what went wrong. All the best.
>Why do you have to join a party? Make one that will revolutionise the
>country. Start with a meeting of your friends and bloggers ASAP.
That’s a party.
It is wrong to assume that none of those registered with the Electoral Commission have any merit.
Join the Greens, Craig! Your votes plus theirs would’ve at least beaten UKIP – so let’s work together next time on some sort of joint slate.
Moaning about posters illegally flyposted being taken down wins few friends (note I know nothing about any being taken down, always seemed to be everywhere to me). Delivering a leaflet attacking someone for putting themselves forward for selection elsewhere when you yourself STOOD elsewhere is hardly “an honest man” (and is a stupid thing to do as a “clean” independent).
The UKIP fellow was very hard done by in terms of media coverage, and UKIP defintly should complain away- you, however, were not, unless you think the BNP’s magnificent result means they should have got everything you think you should have?
The total votes for main parties always fall at by-elections, due to more candidates and lower turnout- this has always been true. This time it was more so, but not spectacularly so.
Craig, I do understand your despondency, but – as per 95% of the commentators here – you were not rubbish at all. You should at least allow your supporters to commend the energy you put into the campaign, the gusto with which you kicked it off, and the decent public speaking performances that knocked the so-so (and sometimes atrocious) Lab/Lib/Con oratory into a cocked hat. You were the most experienced political operator in this by-election, which in itself is hardly rubbish 🙂
Which other candidacy can claim to have had supporters travel from the US, Sweden and other countries? And which other team can claim to have had as much sense of purpose, or plausible claim to cleaning up politics?
True, the result itself was poor given the input effort, but the odds were against the team. I did honestly think that our efforts would have been better rewarded.
(Incidentally I’ve commented more on the result on the last post – see link below).
Perhaps the last place you will discover a wave of revulsion is somewhere as conservative as Norfolk.
I have a connection with the county myself and was surprised when you put yourself forward there.
You need to choose where to stand in the GE with more care.
Then you stand a good chance of not being rubbish.
“Go for it again, don’t let the buggers win.”–Chris
Amen.
For now, rest, relax, and restore the batteries.
The best candidate did not win, and we all know it.
Those fighting against you all know it too …
I once joked about the dwindling numbers at the polls, would result in future governments having to elect the voters.
I didn’t realise that media control is effectively the same thing.
Craig, whatever else you were or weren’t, you were NOT rubbish – you can take that from someone who has watched by-elections for more than half a century!
Until we get a fairly balanced electoral system – STV for choice – and a more impartial press, the scales are always heavily weighted against independent candidates however sane or barmy they are.
You come across here, and wherever else I’ve seen you reported, as a decent and honest man who is boiling with indignation at the injustices you have personally encountered, and who has made sacrifices which most others wouldn’t.
We are living in very peculiar – and morally degenerate – times and it is going to take a great deal more than a by-election – or even a general election – to turn the tide. I sense that many people, including people who normally don’t take an interest in politics, see the need for far more radical change than they are being offered by the main parties, so it is up to all of us who are sickened by the prevailing humbug to keep up our spirits and not to be dejected by set-backs.
You bravely flew the flag, and I’m sure that many like myself across the country have noticed and salute you.
So don’t lose heart or go into one of your ‘dips’. This was just a preliminary skirmish in the real and almost certainly lengthy battle which has to be fought for the tarnished honour if this country.
To cheer you up, it was great fun to see Harriet Harman interviewed on Channel 4 tonight. She looked like a scared rabbit trapped by powerful headlights and gave a dismal performance.
Bob Latchford 7.09pm. Get your facts right. I didn’t say that. Dizzy tweeted it and I retweeted it.
Craig ran a duplicitous campaign, attempting to be on the moral high ground but in the end writing a sleazy leaflet accusing Chloe Smith of almost being the devil incarnate. Put an honest man into Parliament, eh? My arse. He became just like any other two bit politician in the end, and I suspect he knows it.
Iain, there’s no need for you to sound so miserable – your lot won!
Craig has plenty of history to demonstrate a decent moral standpoint, with his background, as you know. Giving up a lucrative ambassadorial post for human rights – yep. Speaking out on the duplicity of the Iraq War – check. Condemning the treatment of the Palestinian people, due in part to inaction and prevarication from the British state – got that too. Identifies the real reasons for our presence in Afghanistan – uh huh. Is the only candidate (as far as I know) to be brave enough to speak out against the casino banking sector, and their role in the economic crash.
Craig’s leaflets did run on some negative themes – but Smith as devil incarnate? Not even close. Surely it is reasonable to point out a candidate’s inexperience, or that she hardly has the mark of someone willing to vote against their party? My view is that the election *could* have been about throwing out the corrupt Establishment parties – but for a variety of reasons, which everyone will disagree upon, this did not excite the electorate.
I congratulate Chloe personally on her win. But it is not just partisan politics to suggest that as a member of the Conservative Party, she will be torn between representing the people of NN and the narrow wealthy-class interests of the party she is a member of. She cannot serve both masters, and I have a feeling that it is not ordinary people in NN who will be the more persuasive.
“a sleazy leaflet accusing Chloe Smith of almost being the devil incarnate”
Iain Dale you are such a juvenile.
To be precise, the leaflet accused Chloe Smith of preferring Ipswich to Norwich. Which was a fair point, given that she had tried to get selected for an Ipswich seat before Norwich North, and only then made great play of her (genuine) Norfolk local credentials.
Actually the leaflet (I think) didn’t mention the real Chloe scandal, because I think it wasn’t known to Craig’s team at the time, i.e. that she does not in fact work for Deloitte Touche, she is paid by Deloitte Touche to work for the Conservative Party.
And we all know why Deloitte would make an investment in that arrangement. Your coming Tory government is going to be just as sleazy as New Labour and the last Tory Government, probably worse.
It’s a disaster which the English public seems determined to sleepwalk into.