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| Community First - but Labour have selected candidates who live elsewhere |
National polling has indicated a sharp post-budget bounce
for the Conservatives, a factor which leaves the local elections in the London
borough of Croydon too close to call. The Conservatives and Labour are locked
in a bitter battle in the upwardly mobile New Addington ward, with issues such
as Council Tax and local candidates being key issues on the agenda of local
people.
The ward, once considered safe territory for Labour, was
rocked at the last election when Conservative candidate Tony Pearson was
elected in a surprise victory. Such an outcome should have immediately set
alarm bells ringing amongst Labour strategists who could, and should have
ensured local candidates were put forward for 2014. The Conservatives, seeing
the opportunity to take two seats from Labour in its home turf have selected
local New Addington residents Lara Fish and Tony Pearson again.
The sense of panic is the Labour campaign can be seen with
the relentless arrival
of Shadow Cabinet Ministers in New Addington, with Chuka Umunna, Rachel Reeves
and even Alan Johnson making guest appearances in the ward. But Labour have
struggled to justify the credibility of its candidates, choosing representatives
who live in Thornton Heath and Shirley. In a tight-knit local community, the
line “Not living in New Addington, but able to stand up for New Addington” is
seen as an insult to local people.
Under the leadership of Tony Newman, the local Labour Party
has also toxified its once loved working class brand, by launching a string
of vicious attacks against Tony Pearson, despite the fact that he is known
and well-liked in New Addington. In one post, an article on a Labour supporting
blog had a photograph of Pearson next to the word ‘Pillock’ attacking his job.
Another alleged Labour trainer claimed on Twitter that New
Addington was ‘a hole’.
It is a strategy that more respectable, decent Labour Party
members such as Gerry Ryan and Stuart Collins would never either endorse of
encourage, but under Tony Newman negative, personal campaigning has become
central to the Croydon Labour Party’s approach to politics. Mr Newman has been
asked several times to condemn or distance himself from the muck throwing, but
robustly defended it on live radio.
Ask anyone in the Council chamber or the town hall who has found themselves on the receiving end of Croydon Labour’s smear campaign or on the Inside Croydon blog and they will tell you just how nasty and rotten the once respected local party has become.
But residents in New Addington are not fools and regard the
smearing of one of their own as an insult to their community and their town. Croydon
Labour have the wrong strategy, the wrong candidates and the wrong leader, and
voters will punish them heavily for it on May 22.
