I’ve spent the post-election weekend in Brecon, south Wales. It’s a place about as far from the suburban political madness of last week in Bury as it is possible to be, but I was helping out at a friend’s wedding there and sharing a barn with about six families-worth of screaming toddlers, so a rural rest it was not. The barn also appeared to have been converted from agricultural to residential use without its proprietors realising that human beings are taller than stalks of wheat – I banged my head on beams at least half a dozen times and was lumpy throughout the nuptials.

On the way down I passed the village of Four Crosses. This was what the average Lib Dem received during the elections on Thursday. Soon afterwards I passed the village of Refail, which is what many of our candidates will do at the next elections unless we sort out how to make the electorate see what I think is the reality of the country’s situation and the coalition’s role in sorting it out. I am glad today to hear that we’re asserting ourselves a bit more. I don’t doubt that this was happening in private before, but people need to see it in public.  Unfortunately during my trip  I didn’t encounter the Welsh village of “Massive Lib Dem Victoryogogogoch”.

Whilst I’ve been away the AV vote has been lost as well, of course. ”No” would’ve been my second choice.

It really staggers me that people rejected electoral reform so comprehensively. First Past The Post is demonstrably unfair, and whilst AV wasn’t much better it was certainly a departure from the old system and its acceptance would have signalled an end to any one system being “the one we have to have because we’ve always had it”. People have stupendously short memories about how angry they were with complacent MPs. And I particularly didn’t understand the Labour No to AV camp. If anything is certain to give the Tories an unfair electoral advantage it’s First Past The Post. But I guess weary confusion and a lack of understanding is a fairly predictable characteristic for a “Yes” campaigning Lib Dem right now.

Anyway, I’m back in Prestwich now, and am going to take stock and see what to do in the future with my spare time. In the meantime, this blog might shift down a gear or two. There’ll be a lot less to write about now that I don’t go to Council meetings. Maybe the type of content may shift a bit too, but we’ll see about that. I’m not disappearing comletely though, so don’t worry (or rejoice).

Rick

I have updated this post slightly on Friday afternoon following the declaration of all results in Bury.

St Mary’s ward has a new Councillor. Labour’s Noel Bayley beat me in the election yesterday, by a margin of 573 votes. So I’m not a Councillor any more.

Across the north of England we Lib Dems were pummelled, smashed, obliterated, liquidised. In Prestwich we lost all three seats to Labour, so there are three new Prestwich Councillors, all of them of the Labour flavour. The margin of Labour’s victory over us in Sedgley was bigger than the total number of votes I got when I won in 2007. In Holyrood where we won by 1000 last year, we lost by 200 last night. It was not our finest hour.

The count last night went on for an inordinately lengthy time, so I left before the final ward in Bury was declared. That finally happened on Friday lunchtime when Ramsbottom ward declared. It was a dead heat, with Labour needing a win to take overall control of the Council. Local government rarely sets the pulse racing, but this is about as close as it gets. In the end, lots were drawn to decide the winner, and Labour won the seat and control of the Council. Quite a turnaround in fortunes in just twelve months. I don’t understand the appeal myself, but I’ve been through why not already and it didn’t seem to convince anyone so I won’t do it again!

I don’t know the exact reasons why I lost. I guess I could blame national things, and it’s clear there was a national swing against the Lib Dems. But maybe it was local issues. Maybe I was a terrible Councillor. If that’s the case then I’m sorry, I tried my best. We’ll never know. In a way I hope I was, because it’s just plain silly to get rid of a good Councillor for national reasons. Although I suppose that’s partly how I won in the first place.

On the national issues, I am one of now only approximately two dozen people nationwide who still agrees with Nick. Why did I buy those five box-fulls of “I agree with Nick” t-shirts? I’ll never flog them now…

Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s made some colossally stupid decisions (e.g. breaking the tuition fee pledge), and some of his presentational choices in the last twelve months have rendered us about as popular as a skunk in a stuck lift. He needs to stick that kind of stuff in a “lessons learned” pile and get learning. But I think the coalition is doing good, was the right move to make, and I don’t think he should resign. It’s ironic that those calling for him to resign for not sticking to his principles are actually asking him to abandon his principles by resigning. 

As any politician knows, popularity is cyclical and our time will come again, I’m sure. If local elections are guided by national swings, as seems to be the case, then Bury will follow the country. And we will come back in the country. If coalitions become the norm then people will catch-up to the idea that compromise isn’t betrayal (people in other countries realise this already) and if there’s never one again then we reclaim the protest votes that Labour have so successfully gathered today, and reclaim those supporters who’ve left us for a Labour party who’ll be found out for promising the impossible. All the while we need to carry on with the radical, liberal, green and pragmatic policies which attracted so many people in the first place.

It’s just a bit depressing though, that these cycles of popularity which political parties go through seem to be getting shorter and ever-more led by crazy promises, wild accusations and voracious, tribal campaigning from all sides. A year ago Labour got a thumping. Now, with no policies, they are the thumpers rather than the thumpees. After a year running the Council, it may well flip back again. What good is that, I wonder? I wish them well running Bury, but they have some tricky challenges and they’ll have to go some to keep their backers happy.

The count last night was made less horrific by colleagues from all parties, and Council officers, who wished me well despite the bad news (and by the very funny spectacle of seeing Ivan Lewis MP temporarily refused entry to the building due to not having the right pass and having to be rescued). I wish them well too. In our own ways we all want to make Bury better, and we should all respect that in each other. Too many Councillors don’t speak to ones from other parties, or fall out like children in a playground. It’s ridiculous and I’m glad I have colleagues I count as friends on all sides.

But it’s done now. I don’t know what I’ll do in the future, other than the immediate task of catching up with sleep and never setting eyes on a leaflet again. But the last four years have been educational, inspirational and largely speaking downright marvellous (even if they resulted in a massive swing away from me!). Thanks to everyone I met, tried to help, and worked with. It was an honour to serve.

So well done and good luck to our new Councillor Noel Bayley, who was hard working in the campaign and gentlemanly in victory.

Rick

Thursday 5th May is election day, so don’t forget to vote!

It’s the Fairer Votes referendum and the local Council elections at the same time, so you get the chance to change the voting system and elect a local Councillor for St Mary’s ward.

Remember, here in St Mary’s ward in the local elections it’s a two-horse race between Labour and the Lib Dems. Past results and current polling show that the chances are the Tories are going to come third. A vote for the Conservatives or anyone else will just help Labour. Their candidate doesn’t live in Prestwich, whereas I live here in the ward and have kept regularly in touch throughout my four years as a Councillor.

Labour have no solutions and nothing positive to offer. Just look at their election leaflets. Lots of accusations and shouting, with nothing at all about what they’d actually do to tackle the problems we face. The Lib Dems are taking some tough decisions in government to deal with the debt and deficit, two words you won’t hear Labour mentioning. I wish they were painless and that we had all the answers, but we don’t. We’re trying our best though, working with the party which won most votes and seats at the last General Election (however annoying that result was to us at the time). Here in Prestwich we saved local facilities whilst Labour closed them and tried to close our local school last time they won in St Mary’s. They may claim to stand up for public services, but the reality is that they have no different answers.

Polling stations are open from 7am until 10pm, and are in the usual places near to where you live (OLOG church, St Andrew’s Church, Butterstile Primary School and Rainsough Community Centre). If you need a lift to the polling station, give me a call and I will sort that out for you.

You don’t need your polling card to vote, so if you can’t find it, don’t worry.

I will let people know the result on this blog on Friday morning. If you can’t wait that long and want updates throughout the day and from the count itself (including results info as the results are announced) you can follow me on Twitter @richardbaum.

Rick

So, tomorrow (Thursday) is election day. Millions of people will go to the polls to vote for their local Councillors, in the Fairer Votes referendum, and in various other elections in various places across the country.

I urge everyone to go out and vote. I don’t mind if you don’t vote for me if you think Labour can do better. I’d rather get tonked 10,000 votes to nil on a massive turnout than lose by a trickle on a 30% turnout because Labour had succeeded in getting their core vote just about angry enough to put enough crosses in boxes. If you want to stop that happening, and you value a hard-working local Councillor from this area, the power is entirely in your hands. Don’t leave it to someone else.

I don’t think Labour can do better. Before you put a cross in their box, ask yourself what they will actually do differently for Prestwich and Bury. It’s easy to say what they don’t like, but what would they actually do in these very difficult economic times? If they know, they haven’t told any of us.

Don’t fall for the Labour tricks tomorrow. Remember, “too hard and too fast” may be their election slogan, but it’s not an alternative, it’s just a whinge.

Labour have nothing positive to offer. They claim that a vote for Labour sends a message to the coalition. I don’t think that’s true. These are local elections, for local Councillors. Your Lib Dem local Councillors have  saved the Longfield Suite, scrapped shoppers parking charges, saved the Library, started and supported Prestwich Festival, kept in touch all year round etc etc etc. None of that’s got to do with anything else, and voting Labour means losing it.

A vote for Labour doesn’t send a message to the coalition, it just gets Labour Councillors elected. And last time they were elected in St Mary’s they closed branch libraries and tried to close Prestwich High School.

I’ll post details of where and when  you can vote tomorrow later on. In the meantime, I am available on my mobile should anyone wish to talk  to me about anything ahead of polling day.

Rick

On election day it is customary for me to get up ridiculously early and spend the dawn hours waking up the district by banging garden gates loudly whilst distributing “good morning” leaflets reminding people to vote. The loud banging isn’t intentional, obviously, but it really is astonishing how much noise metal makes on brickwork when there’s nobody else around.

In practice for the big day on Thursday, I got up ridiculously early this morning too, so as to queue for FA Cup Final tickets at Eastlands. £85 is a bit steep for what I suspect will be a 1-0 defeat, but nonetheless I felt strangely compelled. Hopefully the people of St Mary’s will feel the same way on Thursday, although there are prefectly valid reasons why they might want to vote my way even automaton compulsion isn’t one of them. For instance…

- I’ve been your Councillor for the last four years, and if elected again will carry on trying to help with whatever issues you might need me for. I can’t promise to sort everything out, but I can promise to try, which is what I’ve been doing since 2007.

- I live in St Mary’s, so what matters to your area matters to mine. I want the best for Prestwich not because it gets me votes, but because I live here and I want to live in a nice area! The Labour candidate doesn’t live in Prestwich.

- If bad things are proposed for Prestwich, I fight against them until they go away. When the Longfield Suite and the Library were threatened, and when parking charges were introduced, my team and I were in the centre of Prestwich every Saturday for four months gathering signatures for petitions and raising public awareness until the threats were lifted and the charges scrapped. Now we’re trying to do the same to save the Tip.

- I’ll always keep in touch. You’ll get our Focus leaflets, every couple of months all year round (and what seems like every five minutes at election time). We don’t just deliver them when we want votes, we do it throughout the year. And then there’s this blog of course, which I hope you think gives you honest access to a Councillor. You probably wouldn’t get that with someone else.

I can’t solve the problems of the world or transform Prestwich over night. Nobody can. But I’ll try my best, and not everyone will do that. So think about that when you cast your vote on Thursday.

Rick

Every year I am reminded that there is little more soul-destroying than shipping 1,000 leaflets and then slumping onto a chair to be rewarded with 1,000 more. There are people at Lib Dem party HQ and quaffing cocktails in Westminster bars who I would gladly murder round about now. But I am too busy for any of that until at least Friday morning, and of course between now and then I may well find that there is one thing at least more soul-destroying than the never-ending leaflets session, and that is losing to a party with no policies in an election.

That’s a distinct possibility, as  our canvass returns show that it’s going to be a close run thing between the Lib Dems and Labour here in St Mary’s on Thursday. The Conservatives, not a force in Prestwich for many years, show no sign of a renassiance, so I suspect it’ll be a two horse race. I would love it to actually be a race, as I reckon I could have the Labour candidate over a straight mile, but sadly such things have been replaced with elections and so that’ll have to be what we do instead.

I finished canvassing tonight, I don’t think there’ll be any more before the election. Ironically we finished on somebody with the name “Dunn” which although spelled differently certainly sounds like “done” which is how I feel having been part of a team of people which has knocked on most of the doors in Prestwich since mid-March. I think that if it does all go pear-shaped on Thursday I may look for employment as a doorbell consultant. I have certainly experienced the full gamut of chimes, from the simple “ding dong” to some frankly ridiculous ones which go on for minutes and repeat various chirpy tunes like “Land of Hope and Glory.”

The sun continues to shine on Prestwich, which sadly robs me of the opportunity to cry off leafleting. I am off work now to get the last of it done. Next time I return to the office (for a rest from all this) it will all be over, one way or another… And to think, amidst the whirlpool of all the leaflets and door-knocking, well over half the people won’t even vote. I think that says a lot about politics these days!

Rick

Four years ago, when I ran to be a Councillor for the first time, I remember the April campaigning season being warm and sunny throughout. This year the same thing  seems to be happening, which is lovely for almost everyone, except for people forced to leaflet constantly for a month prior to the elections when all they really want to do is play outside. If anyone wants to put money on when it will rain next and when the sunshine will disappear, my usual luck dictates that it will be the first morning when I don’t have to leaflet – i.e. Friday. So head down the bookies now.

Yes, it’s now only five days until election day, when the people of St Mary’s (and lots of other places) decide on who to represent them on their local Councils for the next four years. I hope people think I’ve done a good job representing them since 2007 to give me another go – we’ve scrapped parking charges, saved the Longfield Suite and library Sunday opening, and tried to get the best for this area even in tough times. I am proud to be part of this community and to live in the heart of it. Decision affecting where you live also affect where I live. My Labour opponent doesn’t live in Prestwich, and the same can’t be said of him. If anyone wants to talk abou the issues, or if any leaflets you’ve got have raised questions you want to discuss, please drop me a line before election day and I’d be happy to chat to you.

What we do have in common is that we like Manchester City. With that in mind I finished off my day’s leaflets in double quick time this morning to free-up the afternoon to enjoy the inevitably laboured Manchester City performance against bottom of the table West Ham. I am off to Eastlands shortly. So I hope the team, and everyone reading this, has a good day.

Rick

What a marvellous occasion this morning’s Royal Wedding was. Congrtulations to the Bride and Groom, and to the two families. It made me proud to be British. We may not be able to do World Cup bids or science education these days, but we can out-pageant all-comers. In fact, if the Olympics were more about soldiers on horses and less about running fast and jumping high, next year’s London Games may be less disappointing than I fear they might be, medals-wise.

But enough’s enough of all that – there’s an election on you know, and plenty of leaflets to distribute just in case anyone’s not yet voted by post / made up their mind already / in danger of forgetting. So that’s what I’ll be doing for the rest of the day.

Rick

As you may have heard, Prince William is marrying Kate Middleton this year. Middleton is the name of a Manchester suburb only one along from Prestwich, so I feel a definite connection to the occasion.

I was quite nervous before my own wedding last year, which makes me think with a fair amount of confidence that Prince William and Kate Middleton are probably absolutely terrified ahead of their big day tomorrow. I hope they’re not, and that it all goes well for them and their families.

My wedding was seen by 150 guests and videoed by a dodgy bloke we’d got off the internet, and yet I was still petrified of giggling, tripping over my shoes, or saying Kate Winslet’s name instead of my now-wife’s. William’s hedged his bets on the Winslet worry by actually marrying a Kate, but there are still concerns. 

Tomorrow’s do is going to be viewed by one out of every three people on Earth, which means that if the train on Kate’s dress rides up and lets the congregation catch sight of the Nike Air trainers underneath, more people might notice.

The guests are scarier too, I suspect. There were no commonwealth heads of government at my wedding. In fact the highest ranking diplomat present was 2005′s Mayor of Bury. When I glanced over my wife-to-be’s shoulder I saw my fairly innocuous parents-in-law. Kate will see the face off a five pound note staring back. That’s got to be a bit off-putting. And my officiant was Jacqui, a lovely lady in a flowery dress. It wasn’t the Archbishop of Canterbury. As at my wedding, I suspect the bride and groom tomorrow might look at one or two guests and wonder who on earth they are. But my mysterious guests were no more worrying than spouses of work colleagues. William and Kate have to contend with the President of Uganda.

There are nearly 150 officially sanctioned street parties in Greater Manchester tomorrow, including a few in Prestwich and at least one in St Mary’s ward that I’m aware of. Well done to the organisers, and I hope you all have a great time. Slightly disappointed that no such arrangements were made for my wedding, but then maybe that’s a portent of things to come on election day next week…

My wife asked me to remind her about “bunting” this morning, but she wouldn’t tell me why so I suspect my home will have been transformed into a giant Union Jack by the time I get home from work.

The wedding is a prelude, of course, to the final weekend of the local election campaign. I suspect they planned it as such. It would be helpful your Royal Highness, if you’re reading this, as I suspect you are, if you would interrupt your vows, turn to the camera, unbutton your shirt and reveal an “I agree with Nick” t-shirt, then silently re-button and carry on.

Whether that happens or not, there’ll be plenty of last-weekend campaigning going on in the ward, so if you’re planning on going out to buy loft insulation this weekend, don’t bother and just use instead the copious amounts of leaflets we’ll be posting through your letterbox between now and Thursday.

I’ll keep you posted (excuse the pun) on how things are going on the campaign trail between now and then, and as always if you want to discuss anything with me in the run up to you casting your vote, please just get in touch.

Enjoy the wedding and the long weekend.

Rick

As the local election campaign and fairer votes referendum roll round (eight days, and one Royal Wedding, to go) there’s the opportunity for tempers to get frayed. David Cameron got into trouble today for telling a female Labour MP to “calm down dear” in the House of Commons. I worried when I heard that. I bet I’m doing more canvassing than he is, and I have not stooped to quoting Michael Winner yet.

I think the furore over the PM’s words is a bit over the top. Accusations of sexism abound, but I don’t think it was anything like that. I told plenty of people, male and female, to “calm down dear” when the catchphrase was current, just like I tell people that things are “simples” now. It’s annoying, yes, but nothing more. Labour can feign outrage but to me it wasn’t really sexist at all. I’m worried slightly that the Prime Minister is using a catchphrase that’s years out of date (next week he might shout “Crackerjack”), but it’s the tribal childishness of it on both sides that bothers me more.

The PM thinks it’s acceptable language to use in a Parliamentary debate, and Labour think it’s appropriate to make out that he’s inferred that all women should be chained to the kitchen sink. It’s like MPs are a gaggle of infant school pupils telling tales in the playground. These are our leaders, and they’re about as dignified as a toddler’s tantrum. Cameron should’ve been more respectful, and Labour should’ve said just that and moved on. Making a meal of it makes all politicians look like buffoons.

Unfortunately, just as Wayne Rooney swearing into a TV camera makes its way to games in the parkthe following Sunday, MPs screaming at each other makes its way to leaflets here in Prestwich. National politicians behaving like kids is the same reason Bury Councillors and Councillor-wannabes think they can get away with it here. I wish the whole thing would stop.

Local people should’ve received another Focus from us today, and if I’m anything to go by then they may well have got a “Prestwich Community News” from Labour too. The Labour leaflet makes me massively annoyed with its simplistic half-truths, but that’s the kind of thing that wins votes, so I’m told, which is why despite my protestations sometimes ours are almost as bad half the time. Hopefully this blog sets the record straight sometimes, but if the content of the leaflets is dispiriting enough, even the receipt of them has been causing me trouble tonight. 

I was at home when the Labour one arrived, and stood right by the door. I wandered out to see if it had been delivered by the candidate Noel Bayley(who I enjoy chatting to) but sadly it was a stranger. I was slightly annoyed to discover that the leaflet contained the same photo of me with Nick Clegg as the last leaflet, not because I don’t like the photo (I do, I am slim in it) but because it belongs to me and they shouldn’t have nicked it without asking. I wandered out to challenge the deliverer on this point, and stumbled into a whole heap of trouble.

For one thing I had forgotten my state of dress. Since returning home from canvassing I had de-suited, but had not yet completed my transformation into casual clothes. All I had on was a dressing gown. I don’t normally exit the house with no clothes on but on this occasion time was short, and as I say, I wanted to say hello to Noel Bayley, the Labour candidate.

Since I was unexpectedly confronted with a non-Noel, I was flummoxed momentarily, and for the first time in my life uttered the phrase that when I was elected I promised never to. I shudder now to think of the sight of a man in a towelling robe pointing at a picture of himself stood next to the Deputy Prime Minister, looking at a bemused stranger and shouting “Do you know who I am?!”

I hope to God the answer was “no,” although from the almost violent response to my query I guess he probably did know who I was. “I don’t give a toss who you are or what you think mate” was his friendly response. There speaks the gentlemanly voice of Bury Labour. Perhaps if Prime Minister’s Questions was a bit more polite, the unfamiliar deliverer might have been too.

I have recovered  my composure (and my state of dress) since, and am currently entertaining some friends in the best way someone can whilst simultaneously typng on a laptop. I have knocked on thousands of doors over the years, been abused and had stuff thrown at me, but I’ve always given a toss what people think. Especially the ones in dressing gowns, because they normally need the help of social services.

Anyway, more campaigning tomorrow…

Rick