The Bishop
Labour
Down With Factionalism!
Posts: 36,567
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Post by The Bishop on Sept 13, 2023 9:30:21 GMT
Well if we are talking 2017 near misses, Simon Letts in Southampton Itchen "beats" that. At one point he was told (incorrectly) that he had won. If we're talking 2017 near misses (<500 votes): Elizabeth Riches in North East Fife After missing out by two votes, why didn't she stand again in 2019?
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Post by borisminor on Sept 13, 2023 9:50:38 GMT
Well if we are talking 2017 near misses, Simon Letts in Southampton Itchen "beats" that. At one point he was told (incorrectly) that he had won. If we're talking 2017 near misses (<500 votes): Elizabeth Riches in North East Fife Owen Meredith in Newcastle-under-Lyme Simon Letts in Southampton Itchen Ian Duncan in Perth & North Perthshire Les Jones in Dudley North Ian McCargo in Pudsey John Kent in Thurrock Peter Chowney in Hastings & Rye Emma Whysall in Chipping Barnet Tony Harper in Ashfield I'm sure there were others. These are just the MPs who haven't been (yet) Similarly Ryan Stephenson in the Batley and Spen by-election 2 years ago losing by 300 votes
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Post by stb12 on Sept 13, 2023 11:07:23 GMT
If we're talking 2017 near misses (<500 votes): Elizabeth Riches in North East Fife After missing out by two votes, why didn't she stand again in 2019? If I remember correctly she was a long time retiring councillor in the area and not exactly young but was persuaded to stand to help give the Lib Dems the best chance So two years later it may just not have appealed and the 2 vote deficit provided an ideal base for them to gain the seat with another candidate
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Post by stb12 on Sept 13, 2023 11:16:49 GMT
There were a few seats in 2017 where the SNP held on with very small majorities. Matt Kerr of Labour was just 60 votes behind in Glasgow South West, Kate Watson 75 in Glasgow East
Motherwell and Wishaw, Airdrie and Shotts and Inverclyde were also under 500
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Post by greenhert on Oct 10, 2023 14:20:29 GMT
Amidst the disputes in Newham North East in the late 1970s after Reg Prentice defected to the Conservatives in 1976, there was a push for Young Socialist leader Nick Bradley to be selected there after former Lewisham West Labour MP James Dickens resigned his candidacy there. This did not succeed.
Mr Bradley later joined the far-left Socialist Party.
Hugh Simmonds, having contested Leeds West in 1979, was initially selected as the Conservative candidate for the new and very safe seat of SW Cambridgeshire in 1983 but was later dropped because his wife was a member of the League Against Cruel Sports, which he supported. He was selected for Warrington South in 1987 but dropped after he failed to disclose the fact he had an illegitimate son; he committed suicide a year later, not long after it was found that £3.8 million had gone missing from his law firm.
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weld
Non-Aligned
Posts: 2,341
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Post by weld on Oct 10, 2023 15:18:40 GMT
Derek Cameron (SNP) who lost Kinross & Western Perthshire by 53 votes in October 1974.
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Post by finsobruce on Oct 10, 2023 15:34:27 GMT
Amidst the disputes in Newham North East in the late 1970s after Reg Prentice defected to the Conservatives in 1976, there was a push for Young Socialist leader Nick Bradley to be selected there after former Lewisham West Labour MP James Dickens resigned his candidacy there. This did not succeed. Mr Bradley later joined the far-left Socialist Party. Hugh Simmonds, having contested Leeds West in 1979, was initially selected as the Conservative candidate for the new and very safe seat of SW Cambridgeshire in 1983 but was later dropped because his wife was a member of the League Against Cruel Sports, which he supported. He was selected for Warrington South in 1987 but dropped after he failed to disclose the fact he had an illegitimate son; he committed suicide a year later, not long after it was found that £3.8 million had gone missing from his law firm. Simmonds business partner Hugh Gilson left the country after Simmonds' death (in a wood in Beaconsfield where he had been the mayor) and ended up working in a high street food co op in the US.
Some references suggest Simmonds was a scriptwriter for Mrs Thatcher, and others that he was involved in even murkier dealings than spending clients conveyancing money.
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Post by swingometer on Apr 9, 2024 11:01:53 GMT
Have you ever thought about those candidates who got close to election at one point or another in their political careers but never quite made it into the House of Commons? I wonder how these people in particular would have fared as MPs: Stuart Mole (missed out on winning Chelmsford by 346 votes in 1983, having contested it three times before) Alan Watson (missed out on winning Richmond & Barnes by 71 votes in 1983; he is now Baron Watson) Monroe Palmer (what if he had won Hastings & Rye instead of Michael Jabez Foster? He could have benefitted from tactical votes) Timothy Keigwin (the Conservative who almost unseated then Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe in North Devon in 1970) Andrew Date (the Labour candidate who came within 132 and 776 votes of winning the rock solidly Conservative seat of SW Bedfordshire in 1997 and 2001) Peter Gold (the Liberal Democrat who would have won Wells in 1997 had Michael Eavis been more sensible and chosen not to stand in a seat Labour could not possibly win) Roger Pincham (came within 579 votes of winning Leominster for the Liberals in October 1974) Claire Brooks (came within 590 votes of winning Skipton for the Liberals in October 1974) Sharon Atkin (who would have won Nottingham East for Labour in 1987 had she not been suspended as a candidate) Brian Keefe (who stood unsuccessfully as a Conservative seven times but came pretty close to winning Ormskirk in 1979) Eric Morley, the Mecca bingo hall owner and founder of the Miss World beauty pageant came 122 votes of beating the Attorney General John Silkin in 1979
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Post by No Offence Alan on Apr 9, 2024 22:08:28 GMT
Iain Dale was only 10,606 votes behind Norman Lamb in North Norfolk in 2005.
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Post by swingometer on Apr 10, 2024 7:26:02 GMT
Christopher Ward could’ve become MP for Eton and Slough in 1979, however an independent Conservative got 2,359 votes, the Labour majority was 1,340.
Particularly irritating as Slough could’ve been a bellwether from February 74 to 2010 if this went the other way.
The more bellwether seats the better in my view, only for aesthetics, it wouldn’t serve the public well I admit
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The Bishop
Labour
Down With Factionalism!
Posts: 36,567
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Post by The Bishop on Apr 10, 2024 9:46:26 GMT
Though he was briefly MP for Swindon in 1969-70, so strictly speaking doesn't fit into this thread.
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mrtoad
Labour
He is a toad. Who knows what a toad thinks?
Posts: 360
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Post by mrtoad on Apr 12, 2024 13:52:37 GMT
A name that belongs on this list I think is Martyn Sloman. He fought Bosworth for Labour in the two 1974 elections (and Leominster in 1970) and lost by 1,687 in February and 302 votes in October. It was a seat Labour had held until 1970 (with Woodrow Wyatt as MP) so it was expected that Labour would regain it in October 1974 in particular. Sloman then fought Nottingham East in 1983 and lost by 1,484 - again a seat that he had a reasonable expectation of winning. He was an economist for the National Coal Board and trade unionist with APEX. He was rather to the Tribune left of the Labour Party in the 1970s but by the early 1980s he was seen as a potential recruit by the SDP. He was a serious person who would have, if elected for a safer seat than Bosworth, have had a good chance of higher (shadow or real) office. He was married to Anne Sloman, co-author with David Butler of British Political Facts (a tome I am sure is familiar in these parts). Martyn Sloman is still politically active. He was fairly recently a Labour election agent in North Norfolk and stood for the council (Stody ward) in 2023. He was a pro-European sceptic about Corbyn's leadership. You can read a memoir of his political involvement here leftyoldman.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/laboure28099s-failure-and-my-small-part-in-it.pdf
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Post by stb12 on Apr 12, 2024 16:04:39 GMT
Iain Dale was only 10,606 votes behind Norman Lamb in North Norfolk in 2005. Although that was a pretty big swing away since Lamb’s majority had only been three figures in 2001
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Harry Hayfield
Green
Cavalier Gentleman (as in 17th century Cavalier)
Posts: 2,759
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Post by Harry Hayfield on Apr 14, 2024 7:06:55 GMT
Iain Dale was not selected as the Conservative candidate for Bracknell following the resignation from the Conservatives of Phillip Lee. I am sure he would have made a wonderful MP for the constituency
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Post by Merseymike on Apr 14, 2024 9:02:29 GMT
Iain Dale was not selected as the Conservative candidate for Bracknell following the resignation from the Conservatives of Phillip Lee. I am sure he would have made a wonderful MP for the constituency He decided to withdraw from politics - and I think has been a superior broadcaster.
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The Bishop
Labour
Down With Factionalism!
Posts: 36,567
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Post by The Bishop on Apr 14, 2024 11:14:42 GMT
Iain Dale was only 10,606 votes behind Norman Lamb in North Norfolk in 2005. Although that was a pretty big swing away since Lamb’a majority had only been three figures in 2001 I think the "only" there was not entirely serious Back in those days I used to regularly look at pb.com, and I recall Dale posting there during the campaign and saying he was genuinely optimistic. Apparently that wasn't just a bluff, as (to his credit) he returned afterwards to admit how much he had got things wrong.
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Post by heslingtonian on Apr 17, 2024 18:08:37 GMT
Iain Dale was not selected as the Conservative candidate for Bracknell following the resignation from the Conservatives of Phillip Lee. I am sure he would have made a wonderful MP for the constituency Sorry to be a pedant but I'm pretty sure Lee defeated Dale in the selection for 2010 rather than after Lee resigned from the Conservatives. I understand Rory Stewart was also in the final for that selection. Another interesting thread would be what if certain MPs had been selected for different constituencies.
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Post by LDCaerdydd on Apr 17, 2024 19:05:12 GMT
Dale went for Bracknell and other seats in the run up to 2010, I remember him detailing his selection battles on his then interesting blog in 2008/09.
He volunterally removed himself from the Tory Candidate’s list before the 2010 GE. I’m not even sure if he’s a member at the moment.
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Post by stb12 on Apr 17, 2024 19:09:32 GMT
David Cameron tried to be selected for the 1999 Kensington and Chelsea by-election
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Post by jakegb on Apr 17, 2024 20:13:59 GMT
Dale has certainly moved more towards the centre in recent years, and his LBC show reflects this. He has detailed his pain of losing (badly) in N Norfolk on his show on more than one occasion; though on reflection, the electorate that night probably did him a big favour. Love or loathe him, he most certainly has had an interesting media career.
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