Chris Whiteside's Blog

Polls are now closed for the local elections. To all our volunteers, canvassers, doorknockers, activists, members, supporters and voters... Thank you!

Polls have now closed in the elections for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd, and for many, though not all, councils in England. Results will come in through the night beginning in the early hours of tomorrow morning. If you stay up to watch a results programme, here is a reminder of what some phrases you are certain to hear from various political guests actually mean.  

 If you are planning to vote in today's local elections, the polling stations are open until 10pm

 

 

REMEMBER - in local elections in England YOU WLL NEED PHOTO ID such as a passport or drivers' licence to vote. Polls are open 7am to 10pm.

Not everywhere has elections tomorrow: Cumbria and North Yorkshire are among the places which don't. But here are elections for the Scottish parliament and Welsh Senedd, and a large number of areas in England are electing councillors, mayors, or both. Here is Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's take on them. " Today I have been from Wandsworth to Croydon, Bromley to Enfield, and Barnet to Harrow and Hillingdon, and one thing is clear: only the Conservatives have a serious plan to get Britain working again. Tomorrow, vote Conservative for a stronger economy and a stronger country. " Kemi Badenoch

“Today’s guilty verdict is a significant step toward justice, but it does not undo the life-altering trauma inflicted upon Kate. No officer should go to work simply to uphold the law and return home with a fractured spine.” Tom Gent, chair of Avon and Somerset Police Federation, referring to the guilty verdict yesterday against Palestine Action terrorist Samuel Corner who was convicted of causing grevious bodily harm to police sergeant Kate Evans, whom he hit in the back with a sledgehammer.

Four members of Palestine action who broke into a factory in Filton near Bristol and smashed the place up with sledgehammers have been convicted of criminal damage. Charlotte Head, 29; Samuel Corner, 23; Leona Kamio, 30; and Fatema Rajwani, 21, were all found guilty on Tuesday of smashing up property, including drones and computers, manufactured or used by Elbit Systems at its factory in Filton, near Bristol, on 6 August 2024. The jury at Woolwich crown court heard that the activists used sledgehammers and crowbars they had brought with them to destroy computers, drones, and other equipment, and used fire extinguishers to spray red paint across the walls and floor. Corner was also found guilty by a majority of 11 to one of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Police Sergeant Kate Evans, whom he hit in the back with a sledgehammer. Deanna Heer KC, for the prosecution, told the court that Corner hit Evans in the back with a 7lb (3.2kg) sledgehammer – while she was on all fours facing away ...

"If only we had more politicians like Kemi Badenoch." Stephen Pollard on X (4) Stephen Pollard on X: "If only we had more politicians like @KemiBadenoch" / X

" May the 4th be with you " was first used by the Conservative and Unionist party - as a message to it's leader, Margaret Thatcher, who became Britain's first woman Prime Minister on 4th May 1979 after winning the general election the previous day.

 

Kemi Badenoch posted today: "You may not agree with me, but you will always know where you stand  with me. "Today in Billericay, a heckler tried to shout me down as I spoke about the normalisation of hatred towards Jews. I did not back down, because it needs to be said. British Jews are being targeted and too many people are pretending this is the same experience of other minorities. This lady implied Muslims are being similarly targeted. This is simply not true. Let's be honest about what is happening.  Certain groups (in particular but not solely Islamic Extremists) are creating a climate of fear and intimidation that is normalising Jew hatred. I will never stand for that. Governments have spent too long hand-wringing, making excuses and hoping it would go away. It is time to call this what it is: a national emergency in our attitude, our urgency and our response. I will always engage with people who disagree with me. That is politics. But there is a difference between ...

A question particularly apposite to today. Which organisation first coined the phrase " May the 4th be with you " on 4th May 1979 and as a complement to who?  If you want to submit an answer please put it in the comments. The correct answer will be confirmed  tomorrow morning. 

"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent." (Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).

Interesting results from polling in April when More in Common asked voters which of two leaders they prefer as best PM, for each combination of two of the main party leaders. This is based on a poll with 2041 respondents so the margin of error will be about 3%. Kemi Badenoch wins all four matches, leading Davey, Starmer, Polanski and Farage. All four of her leads are greater than the margin of error, though in the case of the lead over Ed Davey, only just. She beats Farage two-to one and Starmer and Polanski by significant margins. Ed Davey trails Kemi Badenoch but leads all the others. Davey's leads over Starmer and Polanski are greater than the margin of error. Sir Keir Starmer loses to Kemi Badenoch or Davy, and ties with Farage and Polanski Polanski beats Farage narrowly, ties with Starmer and trails both Ed Davey and Kemi Badenoch So obviously,  Farage trails Badenoch and Davey, narrowly loses to Polanski and ties with Starmer More in Common also, at the same time, aske...

Sir Trevor Phillips began "Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips" on Sky this morning with a very powerful speech about Antisemitism.  He quoted the expression by Connor Cruise O'Brien that " Anti-semitism is a light sleeper " which I have taken as my quote of the day for today. His comments form the first two minutes of the clip below, and are worth watching.

Former Irish Foreign Secretary, MEP, author and journalist Conor Cruise O'Brien (1917–2008) famously wrote that "antisemitism is a light sleeper". This frequently quoted phrase implies that anti-Jewish prejudice never truly disappears, but rather lies dormant and can be easily awakened during times of crisis or political tension. The present situation demonstrates only too clearly how right he was.

Forty Four years ago today, the Royal Nayy submarine HMS Conqueror sank the Argentinian cruiser ARA General Belgrano. In almost no other country in the world would taking out a powerful enemy unit during a war and making it much easier to win the war be a subject of criticism for the government, but Mrs Thatcher faced years of unfounded criticism about the attack, her motives for allowing the sinking, and whether she had told the truth about it.  It has now been proven beyond reasonable doubt that her motive was indeed to protect the men and women of our armed forces. I believe that her accusers genuinely thought the charges they were making against her were justified. However, given what we now know following the declassification under the 30-year rule of documents about the decision, I don't see that the case stands up either that Mrs Thatcher lied or that she was misguided. I repeat that, as she herself observed, only in Britain could a government face lasting criticism for...

Top pollster Peter Kellner has published an article in "Prospect" magazine in which he makes a very brave attempt to suggest what a good or bad result in the local elections in England would look like for each of the five main political parties. I am using the word "brave" not as "Yes Minister" code for " stark staring mad " but because this is such a difficult thing to do under any circumstances, and particularly now at this very unusual political time. I must admit that my first reaction to some of these was "Do you really think that?" As he himself explains in the article: " More than 5,000 seats will be contested, covering London (1,817), most big cities (1,419), including Birmingham and Newcastle, and some counties (430), districts (781), unitary authorities (405) and new authorities (162). The chart below suggests some yardsticks for judging each party. It looks perverse: if Labour loses 800 seats it will feel triumphant; if...

 

"I was in the chamber at PMQs today, and one thing I noticed was the public gallery laughing at all of Badenoch’s jokes while shaking their heads at Starmer. I remember sitting in that same gallery just after the election, and to say the mood has shifted would be an understatement." ( Ellie Hodges on X, referring to yesterday's PMQs)

I have stood for election in the past on a Conservative manifesto which included replacing the House of Lords with an elected second chamber. That would have been a genuinely democratic reform, but every attempt over decades if not centuries to do something of the kind was defeated by an unholy alliance of those who wanted no change, those who wanted a different kind of reform, and those MPs who don't want the check on their power represented by any second chamber at all. Instead we have had, from two Labour governments, so-called "reforms" which replaced one unelected chamber with a slightly different unelected chamber from which it was easier for them to get what they wanted. Don 't let anyone imagine that the removal of the years of experience and service represented by the remaining hereditary peers who step down today will improve the ability of the House of Lords to perform its' functions. If the Starmer administration had really been interested in real demo...

Whitehaven and Workington Conservatives were out today, asking people for their views on the Conservative plan for Cumbria which our mayoral candidate Mike Starkie is putting together. A big thank you to everyone who has already responded to our online questionnaire. And after an evening's hard work, here is a great piece to relax to:  Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata in a minor performed by Pizzicar Galante: Anna Schivazappa , baroque mandolin Ronald Martin Alonso , viola da gamba Daniel de Morais , baroque guitar Fabio Antonio Falcone , harpsichord