- Is this a typical mid term by-election where voters like to give the government of the day a good kicking and then revert to their usual loyalty in a general election?
- Is a margin of nearly 6,000 votes (Lib Dem over Conservative) much greater than the expected tight call?
- Are the Lib Dems back?
- Is Boris a gonner?
- Is Labour irrelevant in this kind of rural constituency?
- Did Reform UK and UKIP takes votes totally from the Conservatives?
- Surely the "Party Party" candidate should have won this contest hands down?
Not me.
I'm much more interested in Yolande Kenward.
Yolande, standing for election without any party affiliation, received three votes.
Putting this into perspective, to be accepted as a candidate in a parliamentary election, you need to (politically ambitious readers need to know this):
- be a British or Irish citizen, or from certain Commonwealth countries
- be over 18
- not be in the police, the military, civil service or judiciary
- not be bankrupt
- pay £500 deposit
- be nominated by 10 registered voters in the constituency
If you get at least 5% of the votes cast - that would have been 1,901 in this by-election - you will get your £500 back.
Yolande founded the Patient Support Trust in 2000. Its aims are broadly to support the NHS as a fully publicly funded, free service with particular emphasis on the rights of patients, especially children. She has stood for election to various bodies, and in various constituencies, previously in what seems to be a concerted effort to publicise her causes.
Yolande appears not to be resident in North Shropshire - she hails from Maidstone in Kent - so the 10 nominations don't include her. So she has 10 mates, seven of whom deserted her when the actual votes were cast. Shame on you deceivers!
At £500 a pop, garnering next to no support, it seems an expensive way to use your advertising budget. You won't catch me doing it any time soon.
I’d like to have been at that count. If I could have stayed awake. They are high drama and very quickly it’s clear who’s winning - unless it’s a close call. But when you see a result like this the atmosphere is worth the sleeplessness.
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