I am afraid today's post will be a short one. We were canvssing yesterday in John Grogan's Keighley constituency where his fragile 330 vote majority is in danger and today we're off to Wakefield to help Mary Creagh. Both these MPs are avid pro-remainers and well as being excellent constituency MPs. John is well liked on the doorstep but is threatened because of Brexit and/or Jeremy Corbyn - sometimes both. Last week's YouGov MRP poll suggested his constituency was too close to call.
Door to door canvassing is an interesting experience since many people are quite happy to give you their political opinions and two things emerge for me. First, Corbyn's policies are not unpopular. If Labout had another leader they would surely be in front.
Secondly, a lot of Labour voters want to see Brexit happen although it's impossible to get to the reasoning behind their thinking since they are often in quite deprived areas which will probably be most adversely impacted by it. A lot are still hung up on the £10 billion contribution we make to the EU and can't understand how we can be worse off by leaving. I had a few conversation like this. Whether I managed to persuade anybody is another matter. Years of dripping poison about the EU will take a long time to clear the system, assuming we've got an antidote.
Finally, I noted this article in The New York Times likening the UK 2019 election to the 2016 US presidential race: Britain’s Dirty Election. A serial liar. A campaign of online disinformation. The risk of foreign meddling. Sound familiar?
That a British prime minister is called a 'serial liar' in the foreign press should worry all of us. But amazingly, the NYT report contains this:
And [fake news and misinformation] seems, at least in part, to be working. As one voter said recently, she was voting for Boris Johnson precisely because he is a proven liar. It shows, she said, “he’s human.”
Really, words fail me. Talk about the people getting the government we deserve.
It is a demonstration of tribal politics at its worst. People will defend almost any wrong doing if their party or leader is accused of something. Honestly, what is to be gained by knowingly electing a proven liar to the highest office in the land?
Off to Wakefield now...
