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Tory vote slashed as Kashif stays in third
Date published: 14 January 2011
DISAPPOINTED Tory Kashif Ali saw his votes slump from almost 12,000 at the General Election to 4,481, and stayed in third place.
But he denied it was down to lack of support from his party nationally or the Prime Minister.
Denying the result was a stitch-up to support the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition, he added: “This is a typical by-election.
“Nearly 100 MPs came here to support me, we ran a good strong campaign, and started from third place.”
He said there could have been tactical voting by people who voted for him last time changing to Liberal Democrat, and added: “I am very proud of the campaign and remember it has been 30 years since a ruling party won a by-election.
“The Prime Minister broke with convention to come here and campaign for me.
“Perhaps I didn’t do enough to persuade voters. But we were in third place and we got squeezed.”
He shook hands with Labour’s Andy Burnham — who was the first to congratulate Debbie Abrahams with a big hug when the entered the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and added: “She has run a fair campaign on positive issues, and we have kept it positive and clean.
“I always found her very civil and courteous. The message is that is the way to do politics.”
Asked what went wrong, he said: “We are in government. Labour is in opposition, we started in third place.
“I am very proud of my team, who have been through rain, snow, Christmas, and worked very, very hard.”
Asked if he would fight again he said: “Tonight is not the night to reflect on that.
“Maybe I didn’t do enough, but I absolutely got support from the national party.”
And questioned about if there was a total collapse of his vote in Asian areas he responded: “I don’t think Asian people vote on ethnic lines.
“The issues that affect Asian people are the same that affect all communities.”
Comments
Kashif Ali is a credit to his party. The fall in his vote was a result of some Tory voters voting Lib Dem to support their coalition partners. Without them, Elwyn Watkins would have hardly reached 5,000, which would have neen a more accurate indication of the true feelings about the Lib Dems at the moment. It is a shame Kashif didn't get more support from his party - he deserved it.
I agree with both of you. Labour and LDems were "in yer face" and on TV all the time, posters everywhere but the Tories were conspicuous by their abscence.
Well, you with short memeories of how Labour near bankrupted us all, you got what you deserve. Shame.
Where did the Tory vote go? Where did the Tory vote come from?
By all accounts (and by posters in windows in Glodwick) he had the Asian vote tied up. So where did the rest of his 4000 votes come from. There's lots of anecdotal stories suggesting many Tories swapped to labour out of a loathing for Watkins.
Good man let down by his party.
I wouldn't be surprised if he is a candidate for another party next time.
JMTS...the Tory vote went to LibDem...to keep Labour out.The LibDems who are not happy voted Labour in protest at the Tuition fees, 20%vat and Police Cuts .On good authority 10% of Tory voters voted Labour. Net resultall this shifing of votes did nowt for the LibDems because more of them voted Labour. Labour wins by more than the lanslide victory in 1997.....
Have Your Say
i must say that the campaign by kashif ali was poor and sub standard. it was even picked up on bbc's newsnight on how low quality their leaflets and campaigning actually was.
its a shame because of all the candidates he was the only real local candidate in the contest.
i think people have voted a little more in regards to the current government actions.
people are slating the tories but they have a messy job on their hands.
by rewarding labour with such a result it gives them the wrong idea.
By fedupoldhamer @ 14/01/2011 16:07:36