This general election is certainly more electric than the last two. Last night local radio held its own 90 minute candidates debate with the 3 major parties in the studio & recorded inserts from the others (from interviews available in full on the website).
It was all very civilised; the Labour candidate – who was only selected a short time ago – sounds like a nice, good woman. She, fairly unusually for these days, abandoned her career as a journalist to be a full time mum to her two sons – now in their late teens. In the intervening years she has been on the local council & engaged in a wide range of voluntary work. But honestly she seemed a bit out of her depth talking national policy – which will not necessarily make her a bad MP as long as she is not there just as lobby fodder, has at least one special, perhaps unfashionable cause to pursue.
The Liberal Democrat, who probably thought at the beginning that he was just giving the party a presence, flying the flag, making up the numbers, has been transformed by his leader’s performance & now expects to make a really respectable showing.
But both seemed really to be conceding to the Conservative, who fought the last election & has been working very hard in the constituency ever since. He made the interesting point that last time there had been only one (poorly attended) public hustings, while this time round, if you count the radio debate there have already been 8, with an attendance of 100 to 150 at each, and plenty of questions by text etc while the programme was on the air.
All three serve on local councils & do not have ambitions to occupy any of the great Offices of State, just to be a good representative of their electors.
Local radio will also be broadcasting its own results programme next Thursday night, with live coverage from neighbouring constituencies where some of their listeners may have a vote.
