Mick Barnard - plea to vote for the candidate?

[East of Dulwich]

Did anyone else receive a rather bizarre A4 letter from former Labour councillor Mick Barnard, urging us to vote for one Conservative candidate and two of the labour ones?

What's going on -- was there some major spate of in-fighting in the Peckham Rye ward labour party that caused all the sitting Councillors to step down at the same time? I have to say that I thought that Labour fought a very poor campaign in this ward at least -- I had the distinct sense that they had given up from the start.

Does anyone have any inside dirt on what's been going on?

East

www.eastofdulwich.com

[PeckhamRose]

I received a perfectly sensible letter from him stating his opinion on voting for people and not parties. He had given up his membership of the Labour Party when he stood down from being a Councillor, and was of the best most active and useful local councillors I have known and been represented by, since I moved here 27 years ago. He really cared. So having given up his party political status he wanted to advise on individuals who would best serve us (he lives up the road from me) and our immediate area. I thought it a reasonable thing to do.

[East of Dulwich]

Rose,

Maybe If I knew more about Mr Barnard and shared your opinion of him, then I wouldn't have found the letter so extraordinary. I do remember writing to him a couple of times on issues I was concerned about and have to say that I didn't find his replies particularly satisfying.

That having been said, my surprise at getting the letter stems from it being written by a former member of the Labour party urging people to vote Tory. I am afraid I am quite unable to overcome my irrational Bevanite contempt for the party that gave us Thatcher and Howard. And I couldn't help but feel rather annoyed that someone with no standing in my eyes saw fit to tell me who I should vote for.

It will be interesting to see whether the vote reflects Mr Barnard's intervention in any way.

[PeckhamRose]

I know what you mean but he did make it clear that he was asking people to vote for the person, rather than the party they represented, because he knew them well enough to know they'd be good for the area. When / if they were MPs he would probably not suggest we vote for them. Also, indeed he is not a member of any political party anymore.

[East of Dulwich]

I think I owe you an apology of sort. I see from the results that more people did in fact vote for the candidates he backed including the Tory one. So Mr Barnard obviously does carry some weight in these parts.

I wonder if he might have even swung the election in Peckham Rye against the Lib Dems.

[Laurie Eggleston]

Mick's letter was kindly distributed for him by the local Conservatives - along with a glossy leaflet about Diana Atuona. An attempt to try and get one of their candidates some local credibility after zero actual campaigning on their part, and potentially win one of the three local seats for her. Of course, you wouldn't know that from Mick's letter which is written to imply he took a reasoned view after meeting all of the candidates. As one of the (defeated) candidates I can confirm Mick has never made any effort to speak to me. So, naturally was a bit peeved when reading how he'd dismissed me outright - so much for choosing an individual!

Still, while it might have a small impact on the overall vote, I don't think it effected the result. Reckon Lab would've still won without it, alas, as most local people I spoke to about it just thought it was all a bit of a bizarre intervention.