Lib Dem and Labour voters think the Conservatives can win Yeovil
As many will know I have long known that for Gordon Brown to be kicked out of Downing Street it is going to mean the Conservatives winning as many seats as possible in the West Country and that includes Yeovil. Yeovil people are telling us that they want to get rid of Labour and that they realise, however nice he might be, that the current Lib Dem MP is an obstacle to getting rid of Gordon Brown. Only the Conservatives can defeat Gordon is what foirmer Lib Dem voters are saying to us.
I must admit to be somewhat surprised that not only are Lib Dem supporters telling us this but it now apopears that even the Labour ones are. Below is a screengrab of a poll being run by the Labour candidate for Yeovil. What is particularly reassuring for us is that this poll (lalthough a small base) reflects the polling we have.
UPDATE: Looks like my Labour opponent has suddenly lost interest in polls and has pulled it from his site - obviously not a fan of democracy!
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You will have your work cut out to overturn an 8,000 majority, but good luck.
8,000 was what I knocked off the majority of a Lib Dem in 2005 and that was not a good year for us. There are going to be lots of large majorities fall this election and plenty of surprises.
The '05 election, would that be the area you've lived the majoirty of your life AND still live there?????????
Like the Lib Dem MP and the Labour candidate, I spend the working week in London and two, sometimes three days working on constituency matters. In fact when in London I live a short distance from where the Lib Dem MP was born and brought up.
So your pledge of moving to Somerset is untrue- this is what you stated on a piece of literature.
Absolutely not - still trying to move but the house has not sold. On market for two years. Absolute pledge to have home in constituency. In fact my house went on the market before I was selected as the PPC as intended to move there anyway.
My parents live in Somerset. As it happens the current MP did the same as he moved there once selected so not really much difference.
Perchance in a similar time frame when you lost your seat on Kingston Council and lost the nomination as Kingston PPC?
Not that it is relevant but 'no'.
Curious!
http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/1358635.conserv...
Monday 30th April 2007....does anyone have a calendar?
As previou posters have also wondered what motives Kevin Davis has for coming to Yeovil and his dedication to the constituency. Perhaps "Yeovil pedigree" is a topic Davis should avoid!
I have no idea what you are talking about. The motive for coming to Yeovil is because I want to be an MP, as it is for most people who stand for Parliament in seats which they were not born in - most of them! The current Yeovil MP moved to Yeovil because he was selected to be the Lib Dem candidate and wanted to be an MP, in fact he fought the previous general election in Folkestone. I don't think David Cameron came from Oxford and I am sure Nick Clegg was not born and raised in Sheffield.
Clearly you were rejected by your home town's Conservative Party, and plumed for Yeovil on the basis that your family live in Somerset.
You're a disgrace, and will not be getting my vote.
Given your other comments on this site it was clear you were not likely to vote for me anyway. I also think its a little unfair to go around calling people names when you do not know them.
Actually Mr. Davis, I'm your classic swing voter, I've flip flopped between you and the Lib Dems since '92, so I'd actually think I'm the kind of voter you'd be trying to win around!!
It’s fantastic to hear that any Conservative candidate is polling well in Yeovil. I’m sure that building on your previous experience you will do very well in here. Yeovil has been left behind by the Liberal Democrats and a Conservative from a soon to be Conservative government will have more pull in Westminster than any Liberal Democrat. A great many MPs have previously stood as a candidate in past elections and those that stick with it and choose to run again should be admired. David Laws was “born in 1965 in Surrey. He was educated at St. George’s College, Weybridge before attending at Kings College Cambridge”. Hardly yeovil born and bread. Then went on to become an investment banker in London and previously ran for Folkestone and Hythe. Kevin davis started a business and is coming to yeovil to become an MP and live near his perents. Who more local? Not that it should matter.
"Yeovil has been left behind by the Liberal Democrats and a Conservative from a soon to be Conservative government will have more pull in Westminster than any Liberal Democrat."
Yeh, right.
(1) Brown and Cameron have a long record of copying good LD ideas (after a decent delay, of course!). We don't mind because our aim is to look after the people in the Yeovil Constituency. Its a big team doing that job, it gets done well.
and
(2) Since when did Conservative back-benchers have any pull? Dogma rules how they think and "Follow my leader" is their favourite game. Just look at the clones around Cameron.
Actually, "who more local?", the Labour candidate was born and raised in Yeovil for over 20 years. I think this qualifies a lot better than "my parents live somewhere in Somerset but I don't". I would suggest that Kevin Davis bringing this up earlier in the comments section is misguided since his connection to the local area is nothing to write home about. At best, he currently has the worst claim to knowing the local area.
Of course you are entitled to your option and I mine. I agree that under Labour, back benchers have been left out of the wider discussion. I do think though that the Conservatives and to there credit Liberals are much better at including backbenchers in the process. Often some of the best ideas come from the backbenches. With regards to Conservatives using Lib Dem ideas I must say I often hear good conservative ideas and honestly some good Labour ideas being announced by the Lib Dems who seem to stand back and pick and mix the others ideas. I’m from Yeovil and I would be happy to have a candidate from any part of the UK as long as they have good ideas the ability to act on my behalf. I don’t think the Labour candidate has either of those. It seems though that we will have to agree to disagree on our favourites in the coming election. Happy campaigning!
Of course you're entitled to your opinion! And it was your own comment that asked "who more local?" which belied that you actually didn't have any knowledge of the candidates therefore your judgment on the personal attributes of other candidates is hard to take seriously! Of course now knowing that this is not an issue that you have a leg to stand on on this issue you now fall back on changing tack from "who more local?" to "oh well". Clearly blindly backing a candidate without any basic knowledge of their candidate or the political spectrum and avoiding any kind of high level debate is something some voters will do but the rest of us will use some level of balanced argument in chosing who to vote for.
At the time of my comment "Whos more local" we were comparing Conservative and Lib Dem there was no mention of the Labour candidate, who of course is a local man. I don’t believe it matters where the candidate is from but it has to be said the Conservative candidate has more of a connection with the local area then the Lib Dem MP had when he was a candidate. I don’t enter into any debate without thoroughly researching the topic, I know where each of the candidates are from and what they have done as well as what they stand for. I am not:
“blindly backing a candidate without any basic knowledge of their candidate or the political spectrum”
I am also studying politics and international relations at LSE and have served in Afghanistan. Now you know a little about me. Anon
Kind Regards,
SmithK
Sorry, the question was still defunct. Even the UKIP candidate has a closer link than Kevin Davis. Thanks for the long post, but actually whatever your background it still didn't detract from an unresearched answer with information from wikipedia. Good luck to you and I am sure you are an intelligent person but you can't square this circle so move on.
The information I used was from David Laws own bio on his site.
Thank you, good luck in the future.
I have managed to get to the poll mentioned above.
And theres a message on it which sums up the reason that this thread is spin spin and nothng but spin.
Something the Tories invented, and intend to use.
Thank you for helping me decide who (not) to vote for at the next election.
The poll was taken down some days ago. I don't think anyone, including me, was even aware of the poll until it was mentioned by Torybear.
Will you be informing the electorate of Yeovil of your other business interests outside of politics?
If elected I will not have any business interests that are incompatible.
I currently have shares in a public affairs company but take no remuneration nor have an executive role. My remunerated post is as the the CEO of a charity.
I sit on a number of charitable trusts and public bodies such as the South West Trains Passenger panel and the All Saints Trust. I am also a board memebr for London Travelwatch and receive a very small remuneration for that position but I will be steppingback from that position for the duration of the election and will not be a member should I become an MP. I am the Governor of a school in London which I have been associated with for over 25 years. Apart from the Passenger panel I have not taken a decision over which bodies I might continue to support.
Once elected I have to sign a declaration of interests and would have been happy to do so before the election.
Mr. Davis. Research via the internet suggests that you're now running a public affairs company, not just a shareholder.
Is there truth in this? If not, are you willing to confirm your position with the company.
No, this is not true.
About twelve months ago I was the con-founder of a new company with a friend. I have no executive position and I do not receive any income - I give advice if asked. The company works in the charitable, regeneration and renewable energy sector.
My full time post is as CEO of a charity but for reasons to do with charitable law it would not be right to mention the name of it on a political website.
I guess from reading the belligerent comments of Mister Uppety, writing as Anonymous above, that he's one of their constituency party competitor-paranoid kingpins? Out to try to assassinate the opposition rather than conduct an intelligent or genuine debate? Making irrationally derrogatory claims, which if equally applied to the sitting MP (who slipped into an easy seat with the weighty backing of the departing Ashdown) are arguably no different?
I think, Mr Davis, the patience with which you've conducted such civil dialogue above, with the deliberately antagonistic Anonymous (who, alas, has an IQ score too low to grasp the facts being clearly explained to him) is commendable.
I don't understand their hostile criticism of your residence pre-election.
No one moves to a region willy-nilly *before* they get the job. The current Lib-Dem MP did not, and he fought & lost other seats first, too.
OK.
I guess why I am confused is why you think I am a 'disgrace'. I have been open here about what has happened. Like many candidates you have to try and get selected in many seats. I am sure that the Labour candidate will move on once the next election is over. I am sure David Laws applied for a number of seats before he came to Yeovil, unless it was kept open for him by Paddy Ashdown. That is how our political system works and whilst I am sure we all like to think that all MPs are local people is in fact the case that very few of them genuinely are. The current MP is not local and neither am I. The Labour one is.
I have clearly pledged that I am tryng to sell my house to move here but I am not some wealthy banker who can just buy and sell houses and I also have responsibilities towards my children. I have said that if elected I will always have a home in the constituency and I will.
But not being born and bred in Yeovil does not mean you cannot stand up for local views. The Labour candidate who comes from Yeovil was not born and brought up in Chard but he is wanting to speak for them and the problems of Chard. I am sure David Laws has tried to do his best for Yeovil people but he does not come from here.
Anyway, I am sorry if you feel that way but like many things nowadays sometimes when you are open and honest about matters sometimes it is misunderstood.
If ever you want to meet up and discuss this then I am around the constituency and am happy to do so.