My fifth general election, but the first time I have attended any general election related event since the 1983 adoption meeting of Cynog Dafis as Plaid Cymru candidate.
It was held in the uninspiring surrounding of St mark's church - although I did want to know more of the life of the chap commemorated on the wall, who died aged 24 in China, in 1900. I got there rather early, which is good as I could pick a seat and not force myself to have to sit next to anyone.
Seven of the candidates were there, two were missing the English Democrat who has the most unEnglish of names, and a lady from the Christian Party - who if I'm correct still get bankrolled by monies from that so called gay anthem So Macho.
Kate Hoey was one of the first to arrive in a salmon pink/peach overcoat which must have been way to warm for her, and she kept it on all evening, then Caroline Pidgeon , it was not long before they were chatting together amicably . Old style political consensus is not dead.
It started to fill up with some familiar faces.
The vicar of the parish took charge and set the ground rules, an opening statement, a statement on the candidates moral compass, then open to the floor, clapping was allowed, booing discouraged, and arguing with fellow audience members was not allowed. Phones were also to be turned off. I turned my iphone to vibrate, and got ready to twitter. Unfortunately my phone died after about 40 minutes. So I was unable to do much.
Questions ranged from the fate of the Triangle (a hyper local question) , to LGBT rights (a unsubtle dig at Kate Hoey's record in this area) to Eduction, domestic violence and whether or not Blair should be tried as a war criminal . This last question was the one which cause most excitement. The questioner objected to the rephrasing, as it looked at just the rights and wrongs of the war, and go increasing agitated as time went on. After a few curses, a threat to call the police and the waving of a banner which described both Brown and Cameron as wankers he left. Things sort of quietened down after that.
(Morning after edit I missed out a mention for the first question asked by @Jason_Cobb referring to David Cameron's visit to Vauxhall that very morning to bang his Broken Britain drum )
What about the candidates.
first off - Glyn Chambers - the Tory, who looked less blond, and definitely less gay than he does in his election leaflets. Treated the first question as a graduate would his first job interview after university, sound bites to describe himself with very little substance to back it up. Much of what he had to to say was typically conservative family, faith, broken Britain, but all done so nervously it was difficult to work out if he actually believed this. Claimed that there was such a thing as society - has some one told Mrs Thatcher that yet - and hedged his bets of gay rights. Nothing too controversial. Unsure if he was standing just because the Tories had to put up a show, but if he has any political ambition he needs to improve his speaking style.
(Morning after edit 2. Glyn Chambers repeated something which appeared in his campaign literature - Crime has increased incredibly in the last century, yes seriously. Crime rate in 2010 are now worse than they are in 1910. Any credibility he had then went out the window, an easily demolished argument which may convince the average Daily Mail reader but not the good folk of Vauxhall)
Kate Hoey - kept repeating what she had done in her time as MP, that she was independently minded, but was generally proud of what her government had achieved. Was unafraid to criticize where appropriate not only the government, but also the local Labour council in Lambeth. Did a reasonable job in defending her LGBT record although would Peter Tatchell agree with her interpretation of his views?
Caroline Pidgeon - I have on a number of occasions been critical of her on this blog, having commented on the annoying way she speaks when she appears on telly, with inane comments about transport policy. But I rather liked her this evening. Came across well, and was actually non-partisan in the way she answered her questions, and she want gays to hold hands (anything to do with IDAHO I wonder) Her statements on social housing were however spot on, no wonder I never got an application form from Lambeth when I asked for one to see if I could get on the housing list. They knew that it would be a waste of time.
Joseph Healey is the Green Candidate, and answered the questions well, no major political grandstanding but he was insisting that there was a clear divide between the Greens and the three main parties.
There were two left wing candidates, the Socialist Party, and the Anticapitalists - Workers Power, Daniel Lambert of the former, came across as the worst of the two. On the first two questions he was quick to slap down the vicar's attempts to get him to keep to the two minute limit which had been imposed, and had to be told forcibly when it came to questions from the audience that he should remain seated when answering. Just as Glyn Chambers spoke a like an eager inexperienced graduate at an interview, Lambert reminded me of an eager Trotskyist undergraduate who turns round everything he says to the one them. In this case bankers stitched us up. I think he lost any really empathy when he oddly claimed that domestic violence was caused by poverty. I am sure there are many comfortably middle class wives in Lambeth who are the victims of this crime, so not the most sensible thing to say. Jeremy Drinkall was far more measured, and would have pre Blair been comfortable in the far left wing of the Labour party. His answer on LGBT rights was also far more conniving.
That leaves me with one final candidate James Kapetanos, - The Animal Protection Party - a single issue candidate - animal welfare and it showed. Although less nervous than Glyn Chambers he had nothing really to contribute to great swathes of the debate, unless he was taking a side swipe at Kate Hoey's Chair of the Countryside Alliance and her support for killing foxes by hounds. I for one don't agree with her on this but making comments that she would free up green spaces in Lambeth for fox hunting, or that her human right's visits to Zimbabwe were a cover to do some hunting wore thin quickly, and he was booed on a number of occasions. I actually think that Hoey handled this rather well, and at one stage made a joke about the number of foxes in Lambeth. I suspect if he ever stands again he'll either prepare himself a bit better or avoid the hustings all together.
Who got my vote? - that is a secret - but you may probably guess who won't. But one thing I have learnt that local politics is not boring, and people do care.
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