I am grateful to Green Ben Duncan for breaking the news that the Lib Dem candidate in Brighton Pavilion, Andrew Falconer, has quit the race to succeed David Lepper. The only thing that has surprised me about this move is that the Lib Dems had a candidate at all.
I watch politics in Brighton and Hove quite closely but have to admit that I had no idea whatsoever that the Lib Dems had selected anyone. In fact, only last week I searched the internet, including the Lib Dems Brighton and Hove site, to see who the candidate was, and even the website had not been told about Andrew Falconer’s selection.
The Lib Dems in Brighton and Hove are a joke, holding just 2 seats on the City Council. What will they do now? Hold a joke ‘open primary’ like the Tories? S lect a woman in order to elevate the camapign to a level playing field? Select a charasmatic, public figure to represent them, someone like …? Actually, apart from Uncle Vince Cable the Lib Dems don’t have anyone known outside their own front room.
I hope the Lib Dems won’t waste their time fielding a candidate, even a token paper candidate, in Brighton Pavilion. They should concentrate their efforts in constituencies such as Lewes where they have a sitting candidate in Stormin’ Norman Baker, and Eastbourne where they have the best chance of beating the Tory Nigel Waterson. The Lib Dems could encourage their supporters to vote Labour or Green in Brighton Pavilion and Labour and the Greens should reciprocate being encouraging their supporters to vote tactically for the Lib Dems in Lewes and Eastbourne.
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Andrew Falconer, Ben Duncan, Brighton, Brighton Pavilion, David Lepper, Eastbourne, Green, Hove, Labour, Lewes, Lib Dems, Nigel Waterson, Norman Baker, Vince Cable |
Brighton Politics Blog 
LD members in Brighton seem to predominantly be an older bunch of conservative (small c) men who don’t seem to represent the diverse and vibrant local community as I understand it. They were actually offered a “charismatic public figure” as their PPC, someone with huge energy, great determination and an impressive plan to challenge Caroline Lucas head on. They turned her down at hustings this week.
If the decision had gone the other way, every national newspaper would currently be giving coverage to the choice of PPC and the LD’s would have a credible challenge to the Greens.