BROWN "RUNNING OUT OF TIME" AFTER CREWE DEFEAT

23-05-2008

Labour MP Lynne Jones has warned that Gordon Brown “hasn’t got much time” following last night’s devastating Crewe and Nantwich by-election defeat.

Conservative candidate Edward Timpson – subject to a “Tory Toff” campaign masterminded by Birmingham Hall Green MP Steve McCabe – overturned a 7,078 majority with a 17.6% swing.

Selly Oak MP Jones described the result as “pretty awful”.

She said:  “Gordon is being too clever by half.  He needs to be straighter and not try to do ‘clever’ things that backfire on him.”

Jones cited the compensation package offered in the wake of the abolition of the 10p income tax rate, saying “even the remedy is likely cause problems in the future."

"He hasn't got much time to get things back on an even keel", she added.

"I can't believe the Tories were able to make capital out of the 10p issue with their views on equality of wealth and inheritance tax.

"He's got to stop worrying about the next election and get back to rock solid Labour values.  We need to show that we're a fairer party and stop following the Tories."

West Bromwich West MP Adrian Bailey – who stood twice in the old Nantwich seat in the 1974 elections – was more cheerful.

"I can remember by-elections of the '60s and '70s and I've seen triumphs and disasters.  As disasters go, this was a small one" he insisted.

He claimed that ‘Tory Toff’ issue was never raised on the doorstep – “it exercised the minds of the media more than the electorate" – and says he never detected any hostility to Gordon Brown on the doorstep.

"People were sending out a message" he said, "but their unease was with the global situation - rising fuel prices, rising food prices - rather than Gordon Brown."

Caroline Spelman, the Meriden MP and Conservative Party Chairman, described it as an “excellent result.

"What was significant was that many people for the first time switched from Labour to us. 

"They didn't just stay at home, but they actually came out to show us support."

She believed that the Tory Toff issue hadn’t played well, especially as “in Edward Timpson we had an excellent candidate.”

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