Sunday, July 20, 2008

Flying furniture- Labour's last chance in Glasgow East?

Undercover at Labour Party HQ:
An air of desperation was apparent as soon as I went to offer my services at the Shandwick Centre, the drab campaign office of the Labour candidate, Margaret Curran, in the centre of the constituency. As I walked in unannounced, I was braced for a battery of cross-examination. Who was I? Where was I from? Was I a member of the Labour party? What were my views on Scottish independence?

None of these questions were asked. Instead I was welcomed into the open arms of the handful of volunteers and immediately sent out canvassing.

There’s an oft-repeated dictum that if you were to pin a red rosette to a monkey, it would get elected in Glasgow. I suspect that, had I been a monkey, I’d have been handed a pile of leaflets and pressed into action. Such is the sense of desperation in the Labour camp at the prospect of a Scottish National party victory next Thursday, that frankly, they can’t afford to be choosy about who campaigns for them

Some of the rest of the stuff is hilarious...but all is still not yet lost it would seem:
Still, it could have been worse: the SNP canvasser told me he’d just been through a Labour area where a voter threw a piece of furniture at him.

More seriously, though is how on earth can a national party with all the many resources at its disposal, run such a shambolic campaign in what really is a “do or die” election for their party and leader?
The question rises again:
Do they really want to win?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a laugh!

And not one line about Catholics ;¬)

Ormiston said...

Do Labour want to win interesting question as a defeat would see the end of Brown who is probably the most unpopular PM ever.However it w.ould suit Labour to get rid of him but it raises the question who would want to be Labour lrader at such a torrid time