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Labour candidate, Richard McKenzie, polls just 1,066
votes - 3% of the vote - in yesterday's Henley by-election.
(Full
results)
Andrew Porter
Telegraph
Friday, June 27, 2008
Labour in fifth place, behind the BNP and Greens in
Henley. Analyse that. Well this is what one Labour minister
has just told me to try and explain the result. I offer
it without prejudice:
1.There was a classic squeeze. The Lib Dems "threw
the kitchen sink" at the contest. Labour had its vote
rung almost dry.
2. The minority parties stood up well and their voters
rarely shift. The Greens are also strong in Oxfordshire.
They thought Labour would come fourth behind UKIP, but
instead were beaten by the BNP and the Greens.
3. The Labour campaign was deliberately low key. They
spent very little (possibly lower than £10,000) on what
was always an unwinnable contest. "If we could have
got away with not fielding a candidate in this one we
would have done."
4. Harriet Harman Effect I. Labour has a problem with
white working class men. So what do they do on polling
day? Announce that Harman's new Equality Bill will discriminate
against them.
5. Harriet Harman Effect II. After the Crewe campaign
backfired (although they did not lose their deposit
it should be noted) Labour's deputy leader decreed Henley
would see a "positive" Labour campaign.
The rest of the article is here Telegraph
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