Surrey Heath

[Devil Wincarnate]

Jun 5, 2024 3:34:25 GMT cogload said:

Sebastian E Payne failed in his attempt for the Conservative nomination by 2 votes. Ed "Liz Truss - a force for good" McGuinness was successful instead.

I'd never heard of Seb Payne a fortnight ago. Now he seems to be referenced everywhere and not being selected anywhere, like a Katie Ghose for our times.

[cogload]

The bloke is a bit of a lightening rod tbh. And sort of symptomatic for the age. Times journalist, very close to the Conservative party, pig ignorant about politics outside the UK; moved to the FT where he did a well received podcast but produced one of the most hagiographic profiles of Alexander de Pfeffel Johnson that newspaper has ever published.

Think tank land (which is unusually transparent in where it's funding comes from) beckoned before the search for a seat began.

It should be noted that he is a Geordie lad from a single parent family and has, through sheer hard work and a dollop of luck made a success of his life.

[cogload]

Result:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001532

[batman]

I am in the process of learning all the new MPs, which is a major undertaking. I guess I'll remember this one by thinking of Madam Butterfly. My sister told me about the new MP for Southampton Test this morning, she knows her. Up to almost half of them now. Of course some are easy, it isn't exactly difficult to remember who the new MPs for Clacton or North Durham are for example. I managed to forget Ben Obese-Jecty this morning though, you'd have thought that was quite hard to do.

[Andrew_S]

"Shona Wade Independent Candidate

So the results finally came in just after 5am. It was a long day but I feel so privileged to be part of it. Those 467 that chose to vote for me, believed that I could make a difference means a lot to me. I’ve met some fabulous people along the way and I’ve got one of the highest Independent vote shares locally so that is a massive personal achievement. Look out for me because this isn’t the end, just the beginning 😀"

www.facebook.com/p/Shona-Wade-Independent-Candidate-100090928999892

[heslingtonian]

Had Michael Gove decided to restand what do we think might have happened here? I suspect he'd have still lost and didn't have a huge personal vote however I think the actual Conservative candidate was a drag on their performance. I think we would have been looking at a Liberal Democrat gain of something around 3k.

[The Bishop]

There was a tendency for late "spaddy" type imports to have worse than average results in this election (true of some Labour candidates as well as Tories)

[aargauer]

Oct 15, 2024 8:01:55 GMT heslingtonian said:

Had Michael Gove decided to restand what do we think might have happened here? I suspect he'd have still lost and didn't have a huge personal vote however I think the actual Conservative candidate was a drag on their performance. I think we would have been looking at a Liberal Democrat gain of something around 3k.

I think the more "serious" conservatives did relatively well. I suspect Gove being respected even if he isn't liked would help in this kind of election.

Jeremy Hunt was the only conservative to outpoll "did not votes" and all other candidates.

[bsjmcr]

Oct 15, 2024 8:01:55 GMT heslingtonian said:

Had Michael Gove decided to restand what do we think might have happened here? I suspect he'd have still lost and didn't have a huge personal vote however I think the actual Conservative candidate was a drag on their performance. I think we would have been looking at a Liberal Democrat gain of something around 3k.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the sort of person who rubs a lot of people up the wrong way in his public persona but might well be surprisingly charming in person probably through excessive flattery. Not surprising that he is/was a Badenoch backer as I can imagine the same with her. 

Whereas the likes of Raab and Jenrick are neither. Not remotely personable on screen and I’d imagine not in person either.