Well, the news is fresh in the door that James Dornan will be standing for the SNP in the Glasgow North East by-election, scheduled for November 2009.
James is the current leader of the opposition at Glasgow Council and councillor for Langside.
His position at the Council will help to ensure that Glasgow's performance as local authority leaders will come under the microscope during the election campaign, something that should cause problems given the schools fiasco in the city recently. It's also worth noting that the Diageo jobs under threat at Port Dundas sit within this constituency so how this issue is handled over the next few weeks and months could be crucial in deciding the eventual winner.
Fellow candidates so far include:
- Willie Bain (Labour)
- Tommy Sheridan (Solidarity)
- Kevin McVey (Socialist)
- Charlie Baillie (BNP)
- John Swinburne (Senior Citizens)
Consequently it looks like it will be an intriguing battle for Springburn when the by-election finally comes around on November 12th.
(with thanks to Esther of Thingummy for passing on the news)
12 comments:
I'm irrationally disappointed by this.
I'm sure James Dornan is going to be a great candidate, but I just felt David Kerr would add a wee something extra to the campaign.
The x factor, if you would.
It would be unfortunate if Glasgow city council were to lose two SNP group leaders to Westminster in the space of a year. However, I'm sure we could live with it.
I agree with Sean. Never mind, on to the battle.........
I'm not really in the know about politics around Glasgow and now will have to read Bellgrove and others more often.
At last a candidate has been chosen though and we have around 4 months to build up to a victory.
Labour Councillors at Glasgow City are constantly having a go at the SNP for being half hearted councillors who are only after being MPs and MSPs.
James being nominated suggests those accusations are substantive, but then...
A) why would the SNP care what Labour think?
B) I believe a certain Cllr Matheson was in the running as Labour candidate for this by election?
Still, if James became an MP the SNP group would lose another very talented councillor.
I just hope that if this thing turns into a street-fight, which it will, we go toe to toe with them this time.
No guff about positive campaigning. No taking the moral high ground. No sitting about like fools whilst Labour spreads lies and counts postal votes.
We go right in there and we tell them that their Council is a disgrace. We tell them their their Prime Minister is a joke. And we tell everyone that'll listen that their candidate is a numpty that spends the majority of his week in London.
No 'Yes we can' how about this time 'Yes we will'.
*If I sound too much like a ranting cybernat, I'm sorry....cos I'm really not. Or I don't think so anyway...
Yep, that's a pretty strange attack from Labour. Perhaps even smacks of sour grapes since Glasgow MPs and MSPs can't be shifted for love nor money.
What's wrong with being upwardly mobile? Being a councillor is an excellent job but there's nothing wrong with wanting to move up to being an MP with bigger issues to contend with, more scope to impact greater change and, heck, higher pay.
The SNP may lose a talented councillor but they'd gain a talented MP. And it leaves the door open for young blood to step up and get some experience.
I see Salmond's "we are not the anti-Labour party" really rubbed off on you Sean ;)
It is an interesting one. The gloves came off in Glasgow East and the SNP won. It was all very polite and clean in Glenrothes and the SNP got thumped.
So maybe you have a point. But I don't see Willie Bain and James Dornan being the leads in a political streetfight myself. Curran was a divisive figure, Bain seems decidedly less so.
"No guff about positive campaigning. No taking the moral high ground. No sitting about like fools whilst Labour spreads lies and counts postal votes."
I'd disagree with that, it was the constant negative campaigning from Labour that lost them the elections in '07 so if the SNP joined in the public would rightly see it as both parties engaging in petty mud slinging, rather than simply the Labour party using scare tactics.
And what's this about Labour counting postal votes? I'm not too knowledgeable of how the process actually works but I'd imagine it is done by something independent of party politics, no?
I like Labour's claim, which is in danger of becoming a by-election cliche, that James was the "third choice candidate". Fair enough, Grant Thoms was clearly the first choice - but their basis for demoting JD to third place seems to be that he got more votes than David Kerr from the selection committee. Going by this logic, Lindsay Roy was the eighth choice of the Glenrothes electorate.
Jeff,
What planet were you on last year?
Glasgow East was a robust but fairly fought campaign. Labour lost.
Glenrothes was consequently unremittingly negative and dirty from Labour. They won.
The SNP needs to learn that there is little to be gained from winning a by-election in the long run and it should not be tempted to return to negative oppositional politics in the hope of doing so.
Sticking to positive messages might not win the seat but, as the polls and the Euro elections confirm, it will deliver better results in the longer term.
Anon 4.48pm.
Glenrothes was "unremittingly negative and dirty from Labour". I'm afraid I just don't see it that way.
Glasgow I felt had more bite to it just through Curran being a candidate but also with some dodgy Labour leaflets and the claims Margaret lived in the constituency.
For Glenrothes, Labour gripped onto a local issue (elderly healthcare costs) and didn't let go. You might not have liked it, but it was fair play...
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