The victor and the vanquished

Watkins survived a barrage of attacks
IT TOOK three counts lasting throughout the night for Elwyn Watkins to discover he had lost the general election to Phil Woolas by just 103 votes — but his political career was far from over.

It had already been a long, hard slog for the 46-year-old who had been battling to seize the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat since being chosen as the Lib-Dem candidate in 2007.

And his determination to fight on meant Oldham entered the history books as the town where an MP was kicked out for lying for the first time in almost 100 years.

When he submitted his petition for an electoral court to hear his claim that his Labour opponent had lied about him in order to sway the vote, Mr Watkins faced jibes from Mr Woolas that he was “a bad loser” and to “get a life.”

But he insisted he was motivated by democracy and a will to clean up politics.

Mr Watkins led a high-profile campaign from the moment he became a candidate and faced much scrutiny into his unusual background.

Rochdale born and bred, he has four siblings, he lived in Daniel Fold, Rochdale, but now rents a house in Delph.

He is a graduate of the London School of Economics who holds an MBA from Bradford University.

Over the next 25 years he travelled the world working for manufacturing businesses in Germany, the Middle East and the UK.

Before the election he had been a councillor in Rochdale, for the Healey Ward, for four years and was chair of the Rochdale Township Committee.

But he was criticised for missing his Rochdale Council duties while working for the Saudi Arabian Sheikh Abdullah Ali Alhamrani.

He was removed though as a school governor after failing to attend three meetings in six months at Rochdale’s Brownhill School.

Mr Watkins said he had worked hard as a governor for four years but admitted he had too many commitments. But the battle had begun and Mr Watkins was to face a barrage of attacks from Labour. The seeds for the court battle were sown in 2008 when Mr Watkins began considering legal action after Labour accused him of planning to leave the country to spend months in the Middle East and being no longer committed to his electors.

He said he had only been away for four weeks that year and had no intention of spending months away.

Mr Watkins described himself as a “proper Northern lad” saying “bliss for me is having a proper pint and a pie while watching the rugby” — but Labour ridiculed this image too.

Just before voters went to the polls Labour distributed their now infamous Labour Rose leaflet and Examiner newspaper that wrongly claimed Mr Watkins had wooed Muslim extremists, had breached election laws by spending £200,000 on his campaign and had lied about moving to the borough. They formed the basis for Mr Watkins case and resulted in history being made.Watkins survived a barrage of attacks




Elwyn hits the poll trail
ELWYN Watkins toasted his High Court victory with a “low key” pint with a friend.

Then it was back on the campaign trail in Oldham East and Saddleworth on Saturday and he told the Oldham Chronicle: “It wasn’t a celebration, I suppose it was just relief that this part of it is over.”

Oldham Council chief executive Charlie Parker, acting returning officer for the Oldham East and Saddleworth, said: “The date for any by-election in the constituency cannot be set until we have received a writ from the speaker of the House of Commons.”

Labour is being tipped to choose a local candidate to fight the seat and names mentioned include former solicitor Vera Baird from Chadderton.

British National Party leader Nick Griffin has suggested he may stand and UKIP’s local Euro MP Paul Nuttall, the party’s deputy leader, will definitely fight the seat. Other names in the hat are the Respect party and the National Union of Students.

Conservative Kashif Ali fought the seat in the General and will stand in the by-election.


Nuttall’s HQ
EURO MP Paul Nuttall kickstarts UKIP’s election campaign by opening an office in Oldham today.

Activists will spearhead their campaign to fight the by-election in the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency from the base in Lees Road.