CHARLES KENNEDY has flooded the North London constituency of Brent East with Liberal Democrat activists in a determined effort to capitalise on Labour’s mid-term woes at this autumn’s by-election.
They believe they can take a large bite out of Labour’s majority and drive the Conservatives into third place if they throw everything into the campaign.
The stakes are high for the Tories. A disastrous result could be the last chance dissatisfied MPs have to mount a challenge to Iain Duncan Smith before the next general election.
Liberal Democrats have cancelled their holidays and been drafted in from areas as diverse as Orkney, Shrewsbury and Cornwall to staff a makeshift headquarters in Brent, in tandem with a telephone canvassing operation.
The Government has not yet set a date for the by-election, which suits the Liberal Democrats very well. Sarah Teather, 29, the charity worker selected in April as the Lib Dem candidate, said: “The delay is good for us and we are taking advantage of it. The longer they leave it, the better it is.” The Lib Dems are the only big party whose by-election campaign is in full swing after the death from cancer on June 18 of the Labour MP Paul Daisley.
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This was formerly Ken Livingstone’s seat but after his expulsion from Labour it was won by Mr Daisley in 2001 with a 13,000 majority over the Tories and the Lib Dems in third place.
When The Times visited last week Labour’s newly selected candidate, the MEP Robert Evans, had gone to Cambodia as an EU election observer. Brent East Labour Party had no campaigning planned and its office in Kensal Rise was padlocked.
The Conservatives had hosted a visit the previous day from Theresa May, the party chairman, but the Tory candidate, Uma Fernandes, was back at work as a community nurse. The local Conservative Association was also locked. The only political activity the party could point to was a leaflet drop in two days.
A few yards along the same road in Willsden Green a former branch of W H Smith, which the Lib Dems took four weeks ago on a short lease, was bedecked in orange election placards and turned into a hive of activity for a visit by Mr Kennedy. Among 18 party officials and volunteers busy stuffing envelopes were Earl Russell, 66, great-great-grandson of the Whig politician Lord John Russell, and the MP David Rendel, winner of the Newbury by-election in 1993.
On one wall was a copy of a newspaper interview in which Mrs Fernandes admitted that she did not expect to win and spoke of doing well enough to “fight a better seat next time”. Her comments are likely to feature in Lib Dem literature.
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Mrs Fernandes, who invited The Times to her smart semi-detached home for coffee after finishing work, was unrepentant. “You cannot live in cuckoo land,” she said. “We are talking about a safe Labour seat.”
She accused the Lib Dems of bad taste in starting their campaign while the family of Mr Daisley, with whom she served as a Brent councillor, were still grieving.
Mr Evans, Labour’s candidate, who lives in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, telephoned The Times from Phnom Penh and denied that the backlash to the Iraq war would affect the by-election. He said: “What people are looking for is the best person to represent them in Parliament. I have been the Member of the European Parliament for nine years and I know what makes Brent tick.”
Asked if he hoped for Ken Livingstone’s endorsement, he said: “I am very confident Ken will not be supporting any other candidate because he knows me and I know him. I am very optimistic Ken will be out and do everything he can to support me.”
Voters will be reminded of the Iraq conflict on the ballot paper after Fawzi Ibrahim, an Iraqi-born college lecturer and former Labour voter, decided to stand under the slogan “public services, not war”.