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Matthew Turmaine selected as PPC for Watford

February 25, 2013 3:18 pm

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Matthew Turmaine was selected by Watford CLP as their PPC at a meeting yesterday (Sunday). Watford is 61st on Labour’s target seat list.
Matthew lives in Watford, is a Councillor for Holywell Ward and works for the BBC. Speaking after the selection, Turmaine said:

“People in Watford are being let down by a Tory-led Government that is standing by doing nothing to tackle rising prices and making working families pay more while millionaires are getting a tax cut.

“People in Watford are being let down by a Liberal Democrat Mayor and a Liberal Democrat Council that is passing on the ideological cuts their MPs vote for in Parliament to local people.”

Congratulations to Turmaine, and commiserations to the other shortlisted candidate Kath McGuirk.

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  • NT86

    Watford is certainly an important one to regain. Claire Ward (previous Labour MP for the seat) not only lost in 2010, but was rather embarrassingly pushed into 3rd place. It went to a Tory, but they actually have less representation on the council compared to Labour. The Lib Dems are really dominant on the council in Watford. So unlike Eastleigh this is a seat which is winnable for the party on account of being a 3-way marginal. But a hell of a lot work needs to be done in the campaign efforts. Stevenage, the other Herts seat, is another must win.

    Well done and good luck to Mr Turmaine.

    • reformist lickspittle

      Coming third last time was not Ward’s fault, and she should not be blamed for it. I hope that she returns to front-line politics in due course – she is still young enough!

  • jaime taurosangastre candelas

    Does Labour have a PPC in place in Nick Clegg’s constituency? I suspect that would be wise, in case this scandal unfolds further.

    (Not that I am a member of your party, it was merely an observation I had that Chris Huhne’s resignation could reasonably have been forecast, and yet the selection for the Eastleigh seat had to be done very quickly)

    • NT86

      I don’t think there is one yet (hasn’t been reported on here). I’m not a Labour member either so not sure what the timetable for selection will be at the local CLP.

      • jaime taurosangastre candelas

        Well, the police are now involved in looking into the Lord Rennard case (see BBC news reports), so there may be more to it than is currently “in the public domain”. But even if not, then it is surely good politics for Labour to select some bright and energetic PPC now, who can go around agitating and campaigning, and making the name? Put Nick Clegg under pressure at home, even if the election is not for a year or so.

        I can see how the seat has in the past been Lib Dem and tory, but is also composed of many students. This is surely worth Labour having a strong effort in, as part of a “decapitation” strategy? But, I am not in the Party, so do not know of the other factors to consider.

      • David Simpson

        Well sign up quickly, the more members the merrier, it is not expensive

  • http://twitter.com/AndyJSajs AndyJS

    Watford is Labour target 82. I’ve updated the target list with this selection news:

    bit.ly/WexUeU

  • Redshift1

    I think you have to take some responsibility as an MP. There were more than a few Labour MPs who actually defied the national swing. If she had hired an organiser post -2005 and campaigned her socks off every weekend she would have probably held it.

    • reformist lickspittle

      Hmmm, I would agree with you in normal circumstances perhaps – but Watford was (like N Norfolk and Westmorland) a place where the LibDem “locusts” took hold, devouring all other parties in their path. The fact they didn’t win the seat last time is pretty amusing, but it can fairly be said that they did for Labour’s hopes there…….

      It could be argued she did well to keep Labour competitive given that and the national picture (compare with nearby St Albans, once Labour)

  • NT86

    Never said it was her fault personally for coming third. There was a few other seats where Labour fell to third place too. It was embarrassing in the larger scheme of things, i.e. losing so much ground in the south.

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