Unusual Switches of Allegiance

[Devil Wincarnate]

Any good examples of strange switches of political allegiance in a seat?

At a local level, I note Totton North on Hants CC going UKIP from Green last time out, and a win for the Tories from Respect in 2010 in Tower Hamlets.

[Pete Whitehead]

The councillor in Totton North had been elected as a LD though

[Devil Wincarnate]

Feb 20, 2014 20:48:10 GMT Pete Whitehead said:

The councillor in Totton North had been elected as a LD though

Ah, did not know that.  Surprising in that case, rather than outright unusual.

[Crimson King]

Feb 20, 2014 20:48:10 GMT Pete Whitehead said:

The councillor in Totton North had been elected as a LD though

Naughty Pete

[Pete Whitehead]

I'm going to stick with this one I think as it isn't stepping on anyone else's toes. I like the name and the Avatar.
Stepney looks younger than I imagined

[Deleted]

Feb 20, 2014 20:48:10 GMT Pete Whitehead said:

The councillor in Totton North had been elected as a LD though

[iainbhx]

Feb 20, 2014 20:56:16 GMT Pete Whitehead said:

I'm going to stick with this one I think as it isn't stepping on anyone else's toes. I like the name and the Avatar.
Stepney looks younger than I imagined

Surely the avatar should be a Thai person of indeterminate gender

[Pete Whitehead]

I couldn't remember what the most recent one was. I couldn't actually find the picture of Shakira which was used

[Deleted]

One seat that springs to mind is the Plaid/LibDem marginal, Ceredigion.

[Deleted]

Chelmsley Wood on Solihull Council was safe Labour until it elected a BNP councillor in 2006. It voted Labour again in 2008 and 2010 before going Green in 2011 and 2012, most recently with 62.8% of the vote.

[AdminSTB]

My local area was covered by East Rothesay ward in 1974, which was overwhelmingly Tory. Hard to believe nowadays.
www.scottishelections.org.uk/scotland/lold/1974/argyll.php#erothesay

[Merseymike]

There were some bizarre results back in the early-mid 1990's. I was in Liverpool then, but my home area of High Wycombe elected Labour councillors in wards they had never even stood before - I recall Pat O'Rourke, a doughty old CND campaigner winning Hazlemere West. She died last year at the age of 90 but still nominated the Labour county council candidate in her ward that year

[No Offence Alan]

I am afraid I cannot track the actual results on the internet (hint to the usual suspects) but I have been told that Lochwinnoch ward on Renfrew District Council voted as follows:
Tories won in 1980, the SDP won a by-election (1982??), Labour in 1984 and SNP in 1988.
I can vouch for the Labour to SNP switch in 1988.

[carlton43]

Feb 20, 2014 22:14:22 GMT @benjamin said:

Chelmsley Wood on Solihull Council was safe Labour until it elected a BNP councillor in 2006. It voted Labour again in 2008 and 2010 before going Green in 2011 and 2012, most recently with 62.8% of the vote.

Now that really is strange.

[lbarnes]

Feb 21, 2014 22:34:22 GMT No Offence Alan said:

I am afraid I cannot track the actual results on the internet (hint to the usual suspects) but I have been told that Lochwinnoch ward on Renfrew District Council voted as follows:
Tories won in 1980, the SDP won a by-election (1982??), Labour in 1984 and SNP in 1988.
I can vouch for the Labour to SNP switch in 1988.

1974

Beeton M (Con) 1,277

Bloomer J (Lab) 1,097

Inman E (Lib) 334

Turnout 62.81%



1977

*Beeton M (Con) 1,591

Bishop W (SNP) 715

Wilson I (Lab) 575

Turnout 63.8%



1980

*Beeton M (Con) 1,134

Campbell A (Lab) 845

Johnston S (Ind) 347

Turnout 48.78%



1984

*Fogg P (Lab) 775

Waterston H (Con) 659

Johnston S (All) 424

Turnout 56.99%



1988

Nimmo A (SNP) 692

*Fogg P (Lab) 630

Walker E (Con) 481

Turnout 53.12%



1992

*Nimmo A (SNP) 945

Hodgson J (Lab) 492

Boyle M (Ind) 109

Turnout 45.17%

[Deleted]

Feb 21, 2014 22:43:25 GMT carlton43 said:

Feb 20, 2014 22:14:22 GMT @benjamin said:

Chelmsley Wood on Solihull Council was safe Labour until it elected a BNP councillor in 2006. It voted Labour again in 2008 and 2010 before going Green in 2011 and 2012, most recently with 62.8% of the vote.

Now that really is strange.

Greenchristian has campaigned there so will be able to give more information, but my understanding is that it's a deprived council estate that the local Greens pretty much gatecrashed after the BNP collapsed, positioning themselves as a more effective alternative to Labour.

[froome]

I think Chelmsley Wood can claim the title for the most *interesting* electoral history so far in the 21st century.

[greenchristian]

Feb 22, 2014 1:33:15 GMT @benjamin said:

Feb 21, 2014 22:43:25 GMT carlton43 said:

Now that really is strange.

Greenchristian has campaigned there so will be able to give more information, but my understanding is that it's a deprived council estate that the local Greens pretty much gatecrashed after the BNP collapsed, positioning themselves as a more effective alternative to Labour.

Pretty much. It's heavily deprived and overwhelmingly white. In addition, whilst the estate (which also covers Smith's Wood ward and part of Kingshurst & Fordbridge ward) has been Labour from its creation in the 70s up until the BNP victory, their councillors haven't ever been very active in the area. The estate is also one of the leading contenders for the prize of most confusing road layout in the UK, mostly because the road names bear absolutely no relationship to the actual geography.

[The Bishop]

Back to councillors for a moment, there was a Respect to Tory defection in Tower Hamlets in the last decade.

And at least one prominent Tory activist in Bradford went the other way in the wake of Galloway's byelection triumph

[Deleted]

On that subject, the Green leader on Norfolk County Council defected to the Conservatives in 2011. I also believe that the UKIP candidate in the Rotherham by-election had previously stood as a Green council candidate -- though I can't find anything about that on the internet any more, so maybe I dreamt it?