I’ve always had a soft spot for people who are prepared to put their money where their mouths are. So even when I didn’t agree with a lot of what was coming out of their mouths, I had a degree of respect for the Militants who would refuse to take more than a worker’s wage on the few occasions that they got themselves elected.
Now the Green Party candidate in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election has made a similar pledge in promising that she will donate half of her MP’s salary to her party in the unlikely event of her beating David Davis on 10 July. Shan Oakes, who has lived in the East Riding of Yorkshire since 1975, is billing herself as ‘the real civil liberties candidate’ as well as challenging Davis on the Iraq war, global capitalism and the lack of a bus service from Howden station.
Despite a total of 26 candidates, ranging from the Mad Cow-Girl standing for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party to one-time Green Party speaker David Icke standing for the Absolute Nutters Alliance, Oakes is the only alternative to David Davis who stands any realistic chance of putting in a credible performance. Anything less than several thousand votes and second place will have to be marked down as a failure.
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4 comments:
Now is the time for all good socialists to come to the aid of the (Green) party?
Greenism is essentially a cross between
- Socialism
- Ecologism
and
- (Social)Liberalism (E.g. LGBT rights, civil liberties etc).
(See http://www.scottishyounggreens.org/?p=18 for a more detailed version of this argument)
Thus I think now is the time for all Socialists, Environmentalists and social liberals to come to the aid of the Green Party.
Then again I think that in general, not because of this by-election
This is of interest
Dear Hull & East Riding Greens,
We the undersigned are aware that some members at national level have expressed concern about your local party contesting the forthcoming Haltemprice & Howden By-election. However, we want to reassure you that there are many people in the party and many experienced election campaigners who are fully supportive of your contesting this by-election.
Although David Davis is correct on the issue of 42 days, we note his appalling record on many other areas of policy including LGBT issues, climate change and the human rights act. With no Labour or Liberal Democrat candidates the Green Party would be the only credible left of centre challenger in this by-election and we believe it is absolutely right that voters be given a credible alternative to David Davis.
Moreover, we believe that even though this seat has not been contested by us before, the unique nature of this contest is likely to deliver the Green Party's best ever vote share in a parliamentary by-election, and significantly higher than the previous best of 6.1%. We therefore urge you to stand and believe that contesting this by-election will enhance the party's future prospects as a serious electoral force.
Signed by Darren Johnson AM - London Assembly Member and Candidate for Lewisham Deptford (former Elections Organiser for Hull Green Party 1988-90) and various others
I see that your old paper, the New Statesman, has deliberately avoided endorsing the Green candidate in the by election. This is a shame because the left is allowing Davis to pose as the true shield of liberty when we all know that his record even on no-charge detention (he supported 28 days) is poor.
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