The longest day

A day is a long time in politics and today seemed to be the longest one ever as we were campaigning hard for the Staple Tye By-Election. Many party workers started work at 0600 as last minute leaflets went out to every home and final canvas cards prepared.

I spent part of the day telephoning voters and also giving lifts to a number of people who needed assistance going to the polling station. I was also doing various other duties to help try and help our excellent Candidate Lorraine Caldarella win the seat.

In the end, despite an excellent campaign and non-stop work on the doorstep by Lorraine and many others, we were not successful. The Liberal Democrats were elected, winning just 66 votes more than us, with Labour coming third.

Whilst I congratulate the newly elected Councillor John Strachan, we should not forget that Staple Tye has been a Liberal Ward for many years and only elected Conservatives in very recent local elections.

In Politics you have to take the downs as well as the ups, and there is no denying that we Conservatives had a difficult night. I have always believed that the best test of a Leader is not when he is winning, but how he recovers from adversity. So, the same is with our Party.

We will learn from our defeat and be better and stronger for the months ahead. I know that Cllr Lee Dangerfield, working together with Lorraine as Community Case-worker, will do all they can to help local residents and make Staple Tye an even better place to live.

At least we have the Bank Holiday weekend to recuperate...