‘Our remainer MP is now opposing government bills’
THE Chesham and Amersham by-election has shaken the political world from Westminster to the smallest parish council.
The scale of the Lib Dem victory shows the unreliability of forecasts.
True, some local factors contributed-an excellent candidate in Sarah Green, opposition to the government on planning issues and one of the most energetic campaigns in the last 20 years.
As the defeated Conservative candidate sourly remarked, the Lib Dems threw in not only the kitchen sink but all the furniture in the house.
But the implications are nationwide.
Staffordshire is a microcosm. Amanda Milling, the MP for Cannock Chase and chairman of the Party, has had the unenviable task of promising more attention to people’s wishes.
Divisions in the party at top level had had a reputational effect.
Dominic Cummings has shown them up vividly.
Here, Karen Bradley, the MP for the Moorlands, once a Remainer, now opposes the government on foreign aid cuts and the continuation of lockdown.
She is hardly likely to get on with Theo Clarke and Bill Cash, the MPS for Stafford and Stone.
Over the county hangs the possibility of a reduction in the number of MPS.
What will happen next? Will the Labour Party arise from the ashes?
662 must be a record low vote for it. Are the Lib Dems at the start of a winning roll? Perhaps momentum might be an unfortunate word.
Will the shock galvanise the Conservative Party out of its tolerance of sleaze and incompetence?
The next by-election might indicate future trends. But then again it might not.
Over the past few years we have seen, and been part of, unprecedented ups and downs.
Less than six years ago Jeremy Corbyn inspired a huge revival of party membership and was greeted in Hanley by ecstatic crowds shouting his name.
Now all three Potteries constituencies are bricks in the Blue Wall.
My shelves display a book titled
‘Prime Minister Boris and other things that never happened.’ It was published in 2011.
It will be interesting to see if the sheer volatility of the situation galvanises the parties or reduces them to bewilderment and apathy.
Is Joe Coral quietly investing in a crystal ball?
Margaret Brown Staffordshire