I had planned on writing a post on the curious question of why the Liberal Democrats always hold the Orkney and Shetland islands so easily and I had also planned on writing a separate post on whichever seat in the UK has been held the longest by any one party.It seems I can kill two birds with one constituency. Yes, Orkney & Shetlands has been held by the Liberals since 1950 which is a UK record.
But why? What is it about those two islands that endears them to the Lib Dems and, more specifically, Jo Grimond (1950-83), Jim Wallace (1983-2001) and Alastair Carmichael (2001 to, well, however long he wants I reckon)? Indeed, per the Rough Guide to Scotland, "Shetland, in nearly all respects, a complete contrast with Orkney". In the world of Politics, that doesn't seem to be the case.
The funny thing is, Alastair Carmichael wasn't even born on either island, he didn't grow up there, study there, work there or, as far as I understand it, even live there before being elected as the local MP eight years ago.
Not that any of that really matters of course, but I do find it all adds to the intrigue of these rather magical islands.
Maybe it's merely the farmer link, Lib Dems do seem to generally do better in rural parts of the country, but it seems in the 2010 General Election and no doubt beyond, there will only ever be 58 constituencies truly up for grabs.
(While writing this post I was tickled to learn that Shetland has its own Wikipedia. It's called, I kid you not, Shetlopedia. Love it.)
13 comments:
It used to be in years gone by that Orkney was the Conservative part and Shetland the Liberal part.
Much longer history than that though. There has been a Liberal MP of some sort or another since 1830, with the exception of 1835-7 (Tory) and 1935-50 (Con). Up to 1931, elections there were frequently unopposed.
Orkney and Shetland are a unique situation in the UK. There constituency is protected in the framework of the country. But they are also a culture different from that of the rest of Scotland.
They tend to the Scandanavian view of Society and that also includes how they believe society should be formed. The Liberal Democrats of this constituency are proponents of that view and this view also tends to be a very community based view of life.
They tend to look to there own and I cannot say they are wrong. I suspect that if we look to that conservative who won you will find he is very linked to the Island with a long history there. And im sorry I have to respect them for this.
I'd assume it's because both islands want to feel apart from the yah-boo of two-party politics. Can't say I blame them. How does this hold up in elections for the Scottish parliament, with four main parties, though?
It's often puzzled me why the SNP don't make a greater push in the northern isles.
I'd argue that the demographic of Shetland and Orkney has changed massively over the last 50 years, far more than mainland Scotland, yet politically it appears the same.
Could it simply be that the other parties don't resource their campaings as well as the incumbent Liberal democrats?
Tavish is certainly on the right of his left leaning party, surely a well organised SNP campaign making much of fuel duty, oil wealth and Shetland's key part of that and greater devolution to Shetland can win here.
@Wardog - surely the SNP has to aim for the (formerly) industrial heartland, which is where most of Labour's support comes from? That's the large majority of seats after all. Get that, and they will have cracked election-winning.
@Wardog - surely the SNP has to aim for the (formerly) industrial heartland, which is where most of Labour's support comes from? That's the large majority of seats after all. Get that, and they will have cracked election-winning.
It's clear how they manage to hang on: expenses. The taxpayer effectively pays the member to fly all around the islands on constituency business. This creates a lot of face-time with constituents, but also, crucially, reduces the cost of campaigning. Do some constituency business in the morning, hey presto, free travel and an afternoon to press the flesh.
Other parties will have to invest a lot of money in their Orkney-Shetland campaign, with only one seat in return. It's just not worth the it. You could spend the same money and win all of Aberdeen with enough change left over for the champagne celebration.
I was unaware the Liberals hold this seat. I can find no mention of it on their website :)-
http://liberal.org.uk/
The libdems however are happy to claim the seat as their own.
http://scotlibdems.org.uk/
Orkney has its own wiki too. It's at http://www.orkneywiki.co.uk/
酒店經紀人,
菲梵酒店經紀,
酒店經紀,
禮服酒店上班,
酒店小姐兼職,
便服酒店經紀,
酒店打工經紀,
制服酒店工作,
專業酒店經紀,
合法酒店經紀,
酒店暑假打工,
酒店寒假打工,
酒店經紀人,
菲梵酒店經紀,
酒店經紀,
禮服酒店上班,
酒店經紀人,
菲梵酒店經紀,
酒店經紀,
禮服酒店上班,
酒店小姐兼職,
便服酒店工作,
酒店打工經紀,
制服酒店經紀,
專業酒店經紀,
合法酒店經紀,
酒店暑假打工,
酒店寒假打工,
酒店經紀人,
菲梵酒店經紀,
酒店經紀,
禮服酒店上班,
酒店小姐兼職,
便服酒店工作,
酒店打工經紀,
制服酒店經紀,
酒店經紀,
菲
梵,酒店,
I consider myself a bit of a historian on Shetland's politics, having completed page on Shetland Politics over on Shetlopedia and the database on our election results throughout history: http://shetlopedia.com/Politics
The Liberals certainly are an interesting case. It could be something as simple as they appointed the right guy with Grimond in the 1950's who everyone liked and therefore people associated the Liberal Democrats with the values of Jo himself.
When Alistair was elected in 2001 it was, in his own words, "a bit of a surprise" because he hadn't, as you say, any real connections with the island.
Needless to say Liberal support remains as high as one would expect, with the 2009 European vote showing that they had around twice as much votes as the nearest party; the SNP.
Alastair had s short link with Orkney in the late 80s. I served with him on the Orkney Liberal Party exec in about 87. I think he was manager of one of the hotels (possibly the Kirkwall) at the time before going off to become a solicitor.
Post a Comment