Willow904 wrote:pk1 wrote:SpinningHugo wrote:
Labour in Richmond Park:
1,600 members
1,515 votes
I think Labour is in trouble if the Lib Dems can make themselves the home for the 48 percent.
Having Lexiters like Corbyn and McDonnell in charge is not very attractive to that group.
Pretty bloody shocking if those numbers are accurate. How the holy hell can Labour have more members than votes ?! Follow the leader they preach - just not as far as the ballot box.....
Huge result for LDs though - overturning a 23k majority is no mean feat.
Straightforward tactical voting. While Labour supporters elsewhere enjoyed electing Labour MPs during the New Labour years, Labour supporters in the South West helped keep them in power by tactically voting for the Libdems. It will take a while to rebuild that informal alliance, but I see no other way to oust the Tories
It's quite evidently an 'anyone but Zac' vote.
The 2015 election however saw Labour supporters abandon their usual tactical vote for the LibDems for pretty obvious reasons, chiefly the behaviour of the likes of Clegg and Alexander.
There was still tactical voting during for example the Eastleigh by-election, memorable for the Tory candidate coming in third after Diane James (whatever happened to her
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
).
However when the new LibDem MP, Mike Thornton, made his debut the following week at PMQs he asked some lickspittle question which shoehorned in an attack on Labour for being unable to win in the South East. (He knew damn well Labour had never won in Eastleigh, not even in '97.)
It was that kind of thing that enabled the Tories to cannibalise their erstwhile partners. Eastleigh is now represented by a fairly anonymous Tory woman called Mims Davies.