Bermondsey thirty years later

[East Anglian Lefty]

'Real Bermondsey Labour' were, by dint of standing against an endorsed Labour candidate, no longer Labour members. Many were future SDP members, though, so arguing about which party should apologise for their behaviour is not the winning argument you might think.

If you're referring to Grell, you might want to note that some of the crucial evidence against her was provided by one of her running-mates, and accordingly step down from your high horse just a little bit.

[timrollpickering]

In regards the result, it's telling that Tatchell shed 37.5% of the vote - over half the previous Labour total. Looking the other famous Labour defended London by-election with a Loony Left candidate in the 1980s, Deirdre Wood's share of the vote in Greenwich in 1987 only dropped 4.4% and the bulk of the SDP advance came at the expense of the Conservatives. In Bermondsey the Conservative vote was heavily down, but it wasn't enough to deliver the seat to the Liberals without the collapse of the Labour vote.

[mboy]

Feb 26, 2013 13:01:00 GMT East Anglian Lefty said:

If you're referring to Grell, you might want to note that some of the crucial evidence against her was provided by one of her running-mates, and accordingly step down from your high horse just a little bit.

I'm climbing off the horse as I type... I'm sure many here won't believe this, but I actually find climbing onto the horse pretty tedious and would rather be light hearted, but I'm never going to let smearage go unchallenged. So if you guys put your smear-gun away and I'll put the horse away.

[Pete Whitehead]

Feb 26, 2013 14:08:23 GMT timrollpickering said:

In regards the result, it's telling that Tatchell shed 37.5% of the vote - over half the previous Labour total. Looking the other famous Labour defended London by-election with a Loony Left candidate in the 1980s, Deirdre Wood's share of the vote in Greenwich in 1987 only dropped 4.4% and the bulk of the SDP advance came at the expense of the Conservatives. In Bermondsey the Conservative vote was heavily down, but it wasn't enough to deliver the seat to the Liberals without the collapse of the Labour vote.

But then Labour's share had already fallen by 14% between 1979 and 1983 with more or less all of that having gone to the SDP

[The Bishop]

I think the fact that Mellish forced a by-election goes a fair way to answering that one.....

[cibwr]

Feb 25, 2013 22:21:42 GMT Crimson King said:

Feb 25, 2013 21:56:45 GMT cibwr said:

I remember the old Surrey Docks, indeed I remember the byelection.... The estate was run down, the housing list was opened to single people and single people jointly sharing - which quickly became gay..

What! Sharing a flat with someone makes you gay! ;-)

LOL "its a well known fact that is...."