Zac Loses Richmond By-Election

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38178486

Massive loss for the Tory Party. Well done LibDems. Good result for the STAY campaign as well.

I'm off back to bed now !

[Gromit]

Well that stunt backfired on Goldsmith and the Conservatives.
I've been following the polling, so am not surprised, it has been close for weeks.
The Government's tiny majority just got reduced by 2.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Stunt? I thought Goldsmith was acting honourably. And the resignation was certainly not in the Conservatives' cause.

[Gromit]

Honourable and Goldsmith are not normally seen in the same sentence. His painting of Sadiq Khan as a terrorist in the London Mayoral Election was far from honourable, it was squalid.
To suffer TWO public humiliations at the hands of London's voters in 7 months is an uneviable record.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Honourable and Sadiq Khan seen in the same sentrnce?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Is Zac Goldsmith by any chance Japanese?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Reach for the plumb. How lower can bottom feeders sink?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Yup, Mc Olney a very nice lady.

[vetuste_ennemi]

That's the best the Lin-Dems can do?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Au contraire des autres I know Richmond Park very well.

[ichkeria]

Brilliant. I should have had a few quid on that
The gap had been closing steadily
No more dodgy opinion polls please mikey :-)

[mikey4444]

Look at the arithmetic involved......the Libdems have overturned a 23k majority....almost unheard of.

And the Tories have lost Goldsmith for the foreseeable future. He has beggared up the Tories, just as his Dad did before him.

Forget all about Heathrow. This was all about Zac. He knew that win or lose, the Heathrow expansion would still go ahead....it was a giant vanity project, which he lost, big time.

[TheChair]

As well as overturning a 23,000 majority, the Lib-Dems also gained quite a few votes from Labour. Many of the Labour supporters who voted Lib-Dem, cited the London Mayoral campaign and Goldsmith's disgusting tactics as the reason for their tactical voting.

[Gizmonster]

Am I the only one that's confused as to why the Tories didn't even bother fielding a candidate??
You've gotta be in it to win it :)

[Bigbad]

What STAY campaign?
Do you mean the campaign to stay in the EU? Because that particular campaign finished months ago.

[ichkeria]

Obviously they didn't field a candidate because it would have split the vote. Goldsmith is still a Tory, albeit probably not the most popular one with his party.
His vow to resign his seat over Heathrow was not the best thought through move ever

[mikey4444]

I notice that Labour, and UKIP didn't take part in the by-election either.

But the Tories were there, in the form of Zac Goldsmith. If he had won, he would still have been voting with all his mates in the Tory Party, with the exception of one issue.

[ichkeria]

Labour did stand, albeit polling only a handful of votes. There are many many Tories who are disgusted with May's hard Brexit policy which it looks like even David Davis has come out against. That could make things interesting. Scared of the swivellers to her right, deserted by the liberals to her left. Oh dear Mrs May

[mikey4444]

Bigbad....this by-election was triggered by Zac, over his promise to resign if plans for Heathrow went ahead.

But that issue didn't play any role in the by-election at all, and it became all about 2 issues.....Zac's previous life as the MP, and BREXIT.

This constituency voted wholeheartedly to stay in the EU.

[mikey4444]

Ickeria....you are right....Mr Wolmar was there, in a fight that he couldn't win, but at least he took part.