Andy Slaughter MP: victory down to local people

Newly re-elected MP for the Bush Andy Slaughter has just sent out an email to supporters in which he thanks them for their votes - even if he was not their choice. Speaking about what he called the "three year campaign" which he had to fight at the same time as being a responsive local MP, he puts victory down to a vibrant local campaign and local support for his work on their issues.

He says this:

I just want to thank everyone who voted to get me elected as MP for Hammersmith, and to assure all my constituents that, whether or not I was your first choice, you will have tireless and professional service from me between now and the next General Election.
The result
I am absolutely delighted to be Hammersmith’s MP. This has been a tough three-year campaign run on a shoestring budget while doing my work as MP for Ealing, Acton & Shepherds Bush. In the end I think my and Labour’s message got across despite facing the highest-funded opposition campaign in UK political history. On the night our result was one of the best in the country, and Lord Ashcroft felt he’d been short-changed.


Who’s responsible for it?
Firstly, the fantastic team of volunteers, party workers and community reps who turned out to help and support. My young team of activists at Greyhound Road HQ and in the ten wards were supplemented by scores of people who showed up to help in the days and weeks before polling. I have never been involved in such a positive and energetic campaign.
Secondly, the people who turned out to vote. Turnout in Labour areas in particular was at record levels. I hope this is because people feel they can trust me to represent their best interests after 25 years. But it was also a response to the divisive and extremist policies of the Tories locally and nationally. I will continue to stick up for residents threatened by cuts in vital public services, battling greedy developers or facing the loss of their homes as part of the council’s social engineering and vote-fixing scams.
What next?
With the national situation so volatile, it is important that we hang onto clear principles. Labour’s commitment remains the same whether in power or not: to cut the deficit without cutting vital services. While we acknowledge the importance of halving the deficit over the next four years schools, the NHS and jobs must be protected.
Locally, my job is more straightforward. I will work with residents and community groups in Shepherds Bush, Hammersmith and Fulham to make sure their voices are heard. And through my weekly surgeries around the constituency and my casework team at Greyhound Road I will deal quickly and efficiently with the issues constituents need to raise.
Please get in touch if I can help you or your family.
Best wishes
Andy

In some places elections can kill

..and sadly fighting has already broken out in the Philippines as they go to the polls in the Presidential and Congressional elections I have been out here for. Reports thus far are that 6 people have been killed. Think about that every time you hear people moan about our own elections, even with the twists and turns we're seeing in the UK now.

All in around 90 people have died in the run up to this critical chance for Filipinos, who have suffered martial law and dictatorship in recent decades, to decide who runs their country. At the moment Noy Noy Aquino, son of the late President Aquino appears to be headed for a landslide, but doubts persist about the election itself. The fear is more people will die, bluntly.

Its been a privilidge to be out here and working with fellow citizen journalists and bloggers in part who themselves perform a vital role in the putting of information into the public domain so voters are kept informed. On a personal level I was coming back to the hotel at night and posting stories about things in Shepherd's Bush that were at once boring in comparison but at the same time made me feel just how lucky we are to live where we do. My Filipino equivalents were returning to report on developments relating to political killings like this.



And before you think this is irrelevant to the Bush, how many people live in W12 as a result of armed conflict? I'd say plenty. These conflicts are part of us, part of our problem. About time we asked our politicians to take a bit more notice I'd say.

I'm back in the Bush on wednesday after 3 very long weeks. Looking forward to it!

Part time campaigns fail to take off

There were a few sub-plots in the Battle of the Bush, all of which have now reached their own endings, usually in disappointment for the candidates.

Merlene Emersmon, the LibDem candidate in the Battle of the Bush ran a part time campaign which backfired on polling day, not coming close to either the Conservative or Labour campaigns. She was also standing as a council candidate in Richmond, as as you can see here, she failed in that endeavour too. In fact Richmond was lost by the LibDems on their night of disappointment to the Tories as a whole.

Paul Bristow paid an even heavier price. After coming under pressure to either stand down as an H&F councillor or give up his fight to become an MP in Middlesbrough, he chose the chance to enter parliament representing his native north east. As Cameron's Tories fell short so Mr Bristow ended up empty handed. He is now neither a councillor nor an MP.

And finally give a thought to one of the unsung heroes of the local campaign for me - Green Party candidate Rollo Miles. I first came across his campaign when he released this truly awful video but having met him over the last few months I've come to like the guy - he was the only one who really said-it-as-it-is and not being a professional politician he often said it rather bluntly. After his comments on the Middle East at this debate he started being followed round by angry supporters of one side or another in the mid-east conflict! An all round nice guy - which is unusual for an estate agent.

I don't think there's much more to say about the Battle of the Bush - but it's been a ball.

Council offer to listen to residents

Council Leader Stephen Greenhalgh has offered to listen to residents about the vexed issue of planning decisions, many of which have sparked controversy in recent months and contributed to the defeat of Shaun Bailey at the General Election with residents groups actively organising against him.

The Brackenbury Residents Association, a normally mild mannered well-to-do marmalade making residents group has been foremost in the fight against Council decisions to award large parts of their neighbourhood to property developers. In fact the planning inquiry on the Goldhawk Block is due to start within weeks at the Town Hall, thanks to the intervention of the now re-elected Andy Slaughter MP

Cllr Greenhalgh has written to Richard Winterton, the residents associations' architect to report that:
'1- Funding has now been put in place to support setting up the design review panel, an enhanced programme of planning forums, and staffing to deal with this and improving the website. A timetable of meetings for potential schemes is being prepared - for the panel and the forums.
'2- Officers are looking at the planning website with a view to making it more user friendly and work is in hand to include further information.
'3- Planning briefs will be developed on a site by site basis, based on policies and standards of the statutory development plan. I do not envisage a process for public involvement in the preparation of development briefs.'
 
So it looks like some lessons may have been learned after all. Residents say they are keeping "a close eye" on things to see how the Council proceeds but the launch of a design review panel does on the face of it look like a positive step forward. So credit to the Council for listening - a good start to the new administration.

Election poll dancing

Footage just in of some unorthodox campaigning techniques employed during our recent elections. It comes close to some of the celebrity tactics I've seen used here in the Filipino elections I'm here for. Wow. In both cases.

Battle of the Bush: Shaun thanks team

Shaun Bailey, the Conservative challenger to Andy Slaughter MP, recorded this video the day before the General Election. I was sent it by his campaign team but declined to post it because I didn't think it was fair just to have it up on election day and for there not to be something equivalent for the other candidates.

I've been asked by his campaign team to post it up anyway now as a means of their saying thank-you to those people who volunteered on his campaign. And there can't be any harm in that, so here it is.

I have to say behind the scenes of the campaign in Shepherd's Bush, despite the attack ads and mud slinging that did go on, both campaign teams of Bailey and Slaughter remained completely professsional. It was a pleasure interacting with all of them, and they deserve our gratitude for being part of our democratic process locally. So thanks from all of us!

Tories retain Council

The Conservatives have retained their hold on Hammersmith Town Hall, albeit with a slightly reduced majority. The Liberal Democrats replicated their disappointing performance and failed to take a seat.

No great surprise that the Tories retained control, they had a whacking great majority going into the election but many of you I know voted LibDem and will be disappointed they didn't do better locally. One of their candidates runs a cafe in Askew Ward and would have made an excellent councillor I'm sure.

With such a dominant one party state in the Town Hall the role of the media will be really important in scrutinising decisions.

But saying that there are some excellent councillors within the Tory group on the Council too, notably people like Nick Botterill who was until the election responsible for the environment portfolio. We wish them all well I'm sure.

H&F News forced to print the words "Andy Slaughter"

In shocking developments this morning press officers at Hammersmith Town Hall felt obliged to print the words "Andy" and "Slaughter" on an official Council publication. The words, which for years have been banned by the Central Commissariat of the Politburo, were printed on the official announcement of the parliamentary election results.

H&F News, or Pravda as it is known to even fellow Conservatives in Parliament, has banned the use of the words for years and one press officer, who spoke on condition of remaining nameless, said he feared for his family.

"We didn't have any choice, we were just following orders" he said, as his shaking fingers raised a cigarette to his mouth round the back of the building, "the electoral commission said we had to." Referring to Council Leader Stephen Greenhalgh he said through tears "if Big Brother realises who printed the words, there'll be hell to pay. My goodness, we even had to print the word "Labour" on the same form!"

An official spokesperson for the Council said: "This was a magnificent result. The Conservatives in Hammersmith have routed the enemy and they are in retreat. The only party in this Borough is Conservative and taxpayers only want their money spent talking about them."

Battle of the Bush: Andy Slaughter MP re-elected

Andy Slaughter has been re-elected the new Member of Parliament for Hammersmith which includes Shepherd’s Bush. His majority is 3,549.

In a knife edge race, which saw its own clutch of dirty tricks and mudslinging from all sides, our sitting MP clinched the race to represent us. At the time of writing there is no clear winner on the national scene, with talk of coalitions swirling around the TV studios.

There will doubtless be battles and challenges ahead, but this isn’t the time to debate them.

I’m really happy to see Andy re-elected. Happy because I thought he was our best chance of avoiding some of the outcomes I could see coming locally courtesy of the Council but also pleased because he has been an excellent MP. A natural loyalist, standing down from his Ministerial post in order to fight his own government over Heathrow was not easy. Neither was the number of hours he put into local campaigns which gained him precious few votes but were the right thing to do so he did them. But he will also realise that nationally his party has failed to win many arguments and hardly won a resounding endorsement.

I do however feel sorry for Shaun Bailey. Throughout the campaign he’s actually talked a lot of sense – on jobs and the economy most notably. His campaign team, though at times not very impressed with my critiques of them, have always been good natured and the fact he was so high profile may have actually hurt him in the end. Most of all however I think his colleagues at the Town Hall cost him this seat with their ridiculous planning decisions taken against the wishes of so many residents, some of whom were clearly intent on taking revenge.

They just have. Although getting 17,000 people to vote for you is something he should be proud of.

He’ll be sitting at home soon wondering whether it was all worth it – he wouldn’t be human not to be. For those whose lives he improved in Shepherd’s Bush during the campaign it certainly was and for livening up the election locally we’re grateful.

Merlene Emerson promised much but when it emerged hers was a part time campaign she faded and actually lost 3% from where the LibDems came last time. In fact the story of the night locally and nationally is how the LibDems have flopped. A great big belly flop, the sort where you lose your trunks on the way into the water and emerge ashamed. Politically, you understand.

Here are the results in full:

Andy Slaughter Labour 20,810 43.9 +1.5

Shaun Bailey Conservative 17,261 36.4 +2.4

Merlene Emerson Liberal Democrat 7,567 15.9 -3.0

Rollo Miles Green 696 1.5 -2.6

Vanessa Crichton UK Independence Party 551 1.2 +0.6

Lawrence Searle British National Party 432 0.9 +0.9

Stephen Brennan Independent 135 0.3 +0.3

So that was that Bushers. I don’t know how many of us will still be here in 5 years time but one thing I do know is that W12 won’t look the same. I hope you voted and found some of the coverage here helpful in making up your mind. For now I’m looking forward to covering a summer of local events and all things non party-political; I hope you carry on reading.