Picks of the local press

Portsmouth's The News runs with a story about the victorious LibDems not being allowed into the town hall by the Conservatives. The LibDems say they have the right to be let in and want to expose Tory corruption, but the Conservative group leader said they'll do a formal handover on Thursday.

The Western Daily Press blames the £15m "glass monstrosity" of a council building that the Conservatives built for the the electoral blip in Salisbury.

This Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser story from a couple of days ago about an 18yr old Conservative candidate getting into trouble for extreme comments on a social networking site, is another warning to those who say things online that they wouldn't offline.

The BBC covers the story of the Conservatives not getting a single vote in Blair's own ward in County Durham.

David Cameron speaks briefly to the Lancashire Evening Post, following the great victory in South Ribble, about making gains in the North.

The other David Cameron, an 18 yr old candidate in Portishead, was only a couple of votes short of becoming the youngest councillor ever - Western Daily Press.

The Blackpool Gazette on the first Tory victory there for 16 years, partly blamed for the supercasino bid going to Manchester. The Conservatives are pledging to turn the town's ailing tourist industry around.

Norfolk Now discusses the extent to which Cameron's visit to South Norfok contributed to the Conservatives' mauling of the LibDems there.

Please do highlight any other interesting local stories.

Deputy Editor

Comments

[Tory T]

This is not local, but surely Labour paper the Mirror gets the "Comical Ali Spin Award" for this gem:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_headline=tories-fail-to-increase-vote-share%26method=full%26objectid=19048532%26siteid=89520-name_page.html

"DAVID Cameron tried to put a brave face on Tory election results yesterday as his hopes of a landslide failed to materialise"

ROFL!

[chrisblore]

Tony T @11:11: That is fantastic! Good catch!

This is another good story: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_method=full%26objectid=19048538%26siteid=89520-name_page.html

The 72-year old Conservative candidate who did not get a single vote, did not turn up at the count and didn't even tell her son she was standing!

[Deputy Editor]

Do you think we should feature more local Tory stories on the frontpage newslinks or keep them focussed on stories of national interest?

[Deputy Editor]

By the way, to hyperlink URLS do this (without the dots):

<.a..h.r.e.f.=.LINK.>.PHRASE.<./.a.>

[chrisblore]

A few local headlines wouldn't go amiss on the front page, I think, especially because these elections are primarily of local rather than national significance.

[Annabel Herriott]

It was jolly good of the Tory lady to stand in Sedgfield. If you put a Donkey up with a red ribbon on its head up there, it would be voted in.

[Deputy Editor]

What about more generally?

[chrisblore]

Deputy Editor @ 12:01: Yes, why not. ConservativeHome is a fantastic resource that will have a particularly key role in ensuring the party is successful countrywide and more prominence to local headlines would be a good way of helping to facilitate this.

[Tory T]

Silly Spin

[Tory T]

That was a failed attempt to hyperlink.

[matthew]

not sure I understand the Portsmouth story. Tories had 16 councillors before, and now have 17. Lib Dems had 19, still have 19. Labour stayed on 5, and 'Others' lost 1 to 1.

So how exactly were the Lib Dems victorious, and how were the Tories in a position to stop them given that Lib Dems were largest party before?

[matthew]

oops, just read the story, it was a *Town* council in Southsea, not POrtsmouth council.

[comstock]

(sorry to derail this thread)

If you are still reading this , Sam, I've made a hash of the election blog thread.

I've tried to email editor but I suspect he's having a (deserved) break, and I don't know your email.

Sorry to leave the blog in a mess, but I have to go out and don't know what else to do.........

[Andrew Woodman]

This was the headline from our campaign in NW Leics where we went from 12 seats to 27. Makes good reading!!

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk
/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=132384&command=
displayContent&sourceNode=232890&content
PK=17233158&folderPk=110247&pNodeId=232896

[Deputy Editor]

Thanks for the heads-up comstock, Ive sorted it now. I think if you post another comment with the right closing code in it should work.

Tory T, I don't know an easy of showing you the code without all the dots - it wasn't very clear but there is a space between A and HREF.

[Sean Fear]

Thanks Tory T, that Mirror headline was brilliant.

[Tory T]

Sam, do you use these brackets <> as you do in your example?

I didn't type the space

Mirror story

[Andrew Woodman]

That Mirror story is unbelievable. I like this bit 'only a handful in more affluent areas of the Midlands and North.'

We took 15 seats in one Midlands council. Bit more than a handful. Maguire really must want that job with Gordon Brown.

[Tory T]

You're welcome Sean, thanks for all your sterling efforts here and on PB with locals analysis. I hope you will be doing a full post-mortem somewhere in cyberspace, grades, likely GE impact, etc.

I would be particularly interested as to the collapse of "others" and what this might mean for FPTP GE results in England.

[spagbob]

editor, another good paper to look at is the western morning news in the south west - it seems to be braodly pro-tory too.

[John Fuller]

The magnitude of our victory in South Norfolk has only just come home to me as the new Leader of The Council.
We went into the count with a deficit of 8 seats. Three hours later we emerged with a majority of 32 leaving them with just 7 left... not even enough to fill the Scrutiny Committee.
As the Eastern Daily Press says "[LibDems] Swept away by Tory Tide."

[Martin Cutis]

Our result in Fenland (Cambridgeshire) was remarkable. We were in a strong position before the election (36 Con, 3 Lab, 1 Ind) and we had loads of seats where Conservatives were unopposed (including mine). But we faced a very bitter Lib Dem campaign (no surprise there) in 11 seats and we had one particular Ward that has been strong Labour for 30 years. Our final result was:

Con 39
Independent: 1

We have wiped both the Liberals and the Labour Party off the political map.

[Ted]

John Fuller - congratulations in South Norfolk. As the YouTube movie showed your team were well up for the fight and got your just reward.

[Ted]

Second half of message:

and pleased to see Blue was contagious across into Cambridgeshire as well - congrats Martin Cutis and rest of candidates there.

[comstock]

An interesting situation Martin found himself in Cambridgeshire......

we had loads of seats where Conservatives were unopposed (including mine)

What actually happened there, then? Did they still have the poll with only one name on the ballot paper, and then go through the farcial count, or were you simply given the job?

[comstock]

I know it was run as a comedy story but isn't the tale of The 72-year old Conservative candidate who did not get a single vote, did not turn up at the count and didn't even tell her son she was standing! also slightly worrying.

You all know which party I support, but I'm also savvy enough to know you will win a general election again someday. It doesn't bode well to know there are areas of the country where a prospective governing party has the support of absolutely no-one.

[Ted]

comstock - Labour has never stood in my ward / parish in the 32 years I've lived here. Lib Dems a few times, UKIP this time, Independents occasionally never sight or sound of Labour. Across Southern England there are probably hundres of wards like mine.

The Conservative Party went out to stand as many candidates as they could - showing their credentials as a real national Party. We stand in Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England which no other party does. We are the only national UK party.

The eagerness of Labour to spin this story and the BBC and others to take it up shows how bereft of any good news there was on Thursday for Labour.

[Someone from Chester]

The Chester Chronicle have a good recording of Cameron's speech in Chester yesterday on their website at:-
http://www.icpuzzles.co.uk/slideshows/chester/cameron/

[Craig Morrison]

'Southern England there are probably hundres of wards like mine.' - there are thousands! Labour contested less than half of the seats in the South-West...