General Election 2010: The aftermath in Merseyside
As I write I'm sat in Schipol airport in Amsterdam on my way with the Liverpool press delegation to the World Expo in Shanghai.
I thought I should put my thoughts down about the election, having predicted a much worse result for Labour than what actually transpired.
Who would have thought the Nick Clegg bounce would translate to the Liberal Democrats actually getting less seats than the party started the election with?
In Merseyside the two big shocks were in Wirral South and Sefton Central.
Wirral South, long seen as a bellweather seat, had to go to the Tories if they were to form a majority.
But against all the odds Alison McGovern held it for Labour with a majority of 500. A stunning victory for Labour.
In Sefton Central the Liberal Democrats appear to have split the anti-Labour vote which allowed Labour's Bill Esterson to come through the middle and hold the seat for his party.
I tipped Wallasey as a seat to watch but pensions minister Angela Eagle held it with a majority of 8,500 - 500 less than in 2005. Even the Labour party expected it to be tighter than that.
Then there was Liverpool Wavertree. Expected to be a close run thing Labour's Luciana Berger increased the majority of outgoing MP Jane Kennedy on the road to crushing her rival Liberal Democrat Colin Eldridge. Even she admitted to being slightly surprised by the level of her win.
There will be much soul searching among the Lib-Dems after Eldridge polled less votes than in 2005.
Labour believe his team led a campaign which was much too negative against Miss Berger. They contrast the Lib-Dems negative mail shots with Miss Berger's willingness to get out there pound the streets and met electors.
While the Lib-Dems claim they fell victim to an increased turnout and the squeeze from the Labour party which told voters if they voted Lib-Dem they would get a Tory government. It was a powerful message which the Lib-Dems struggled to deal with.
The truth may lay somewhere in the middle. Readers will remember I asked questions whether the Lib-Dems had over played their hand after Miss Berger's turbulent start in Liverpool politics.
Miss Berger undoubtedly benefited from the fear of the Conservatives. But Labour also ran a strong campaign locally.
Labour threw the kitchen sink at Eldridge, which culminated in the launch of the Come Clean Colin website.
Eldridge had dubbed himself as the "local choice" vs "London Luciana". But he hails from Berkshire, something Labour pointed out. Granted he'd lived in the city for seven years and had been on the city council.
He was also hit by criticism from Michael Shields family and revelations about a former business venture.
Whether these controversies actually affected the result is hard to judge. In the end it doesn't matter.
Eldridge has suffered a crushing defeat. While Miss Berger is on her way to parliament he faces the prospect of life without a seat on the city council and no job.
Those who witnessed Eldridge in the early hours will know how cruel politics can be. And the same applies to many other candidates who have spent years trying to get elected.
In the words of Bill Shankly: "If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing."
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David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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I think Luciana Berger deserves the greatest credit. Not only did she maintain her grace and self-belief in the face of appalling conduct by the LibDems but she withstood smears from the Daily Mail and right-wing Press too. One can vaguely understand all of that: they were Luciana's opponents. But I reserve the greater disgust for fair-weather Labour supporters like Peter Kilfoyle, Rick Tomlinson and Phil Redmond - ghastly opportunistic and unprincipled fellow-travellers with the right-wing in their nasty blokish hostility to Luciana. She triumphed over them all by establishing a direct relationship with the generous and fair-minded citizens of Wavertree. In the end, it was ordinary people who supported her, not self-promoting local panjandrums.
People in Liverpool are not stupid...despite the Lib Dems thinking so...and know what integrity and genuine concern looks and feels like. They reject being patronised, and see egotism and opportunism for what it is...too many politicians also forget they themselves and their own families are the benificiary (or not) of their own actions! Thats why the vote fell away in Liverpool..Warren, think on.
Well done Luciana and all your team. Great great results.
People in Liverpool are not stupid...despite the Lib Dems thinking so...and know what integrity and genuine concern looks and feels like. They reject being patronised, and see egotism and opportunism for what it is...too many politicians also forget they themselves and their own families are the benificiary (or not) of their own actions! Thats why the vote fell away in Liverpool..Warren, think on.
Well done Luciana and all your team. Great great results.
The irony in Wavertree is that we were told by the Labour campaign that if we didn't vote Labour we'd let the Tories in. Well, the people of Wavertree elected the Labour candidate and... er... Labour still didn't win an over all majority.
We were also told by certain people on this forum that a Lib Dem MP wouldn't have any influence in the next government. It seems to me that the Lib Dem MPs currently hold more influence than all the Labour MPs put together!
Quite so Graham !Let's hope that when all is settled local people will realise how Labour scaremongered and lied to them. I'm looking forward to seeing the LibDems win Wavertree at the next General Election whenever that may be.
the likelihood of the lib dems winning any parliamentary seats in Liverpool is very unlikely for a long time after tonights events.
no doubt the local LDs will be out to emulate their predecessors from the early 80's and moan to the echo at every turn about what the new city council do - well Mrs Smith just so youre aware there are some of us who remember everything they did back then and your minority group on the council wont frustrate the will of the majority in this city (51.2 percent) who voted to remove you lot from office last week .
Nick Clegg said this in Liverpool at the 2008 LibDem Spring conference:
"The day before I was elected leader, Mr Cameron suggested we join them. He talked about a âÂÂprogressive allianceâÂÂ. This talk of alliances comes up a lot, doesnâÂÂt it? Everyone wants to be in our gang. So I want to make something very clear today. Will I ever join a Conservative government? No."
http://bit.ly/cHLt6A
Lord Warren Bradley of St Michael's in the Green? Lord Mike Storey of Standards Board? My Lady Berni Turner of the Trough? Lord Colin Eldridge of Dun Lostitteggen? Do any of these names sound right? They might do soon following news that the Tories & LibDems plan to flood the House of Lords with their placemen.
Placemen in the House of Lords? I thought it was already full of Tory placemen. And isn't the plan for the HoL to have it fully elected? Or will it be 'mostly elected' with some nominated by government?
Actually it's full of Labour 'placepersons' just now. Labour boosted its numbers within the ranks of those entitled to vote - the 'active' peers - in order to ease the path of its legislation. I guess the Coalition plans to do the same. Raises awkward questions about the proper role of the Lords vis-a-vis the Commons. If the Lords is directly elected, it would possess an authority and mandate separate from the Commons. If it is a scrutiny Chamber, what chance scrutiny when the Party Whips are cracked? And if the Lords does have an independent voice, we would no longer have a sovereign Commons. Awkward, frankly.