Election 2015: winners and losers
Saturday, May 9, 2015 at 14:08 So what happened to the candidates I listed as 'friend' or 'foe' according to their voting record on tobacco control?
Of my 20 'friends', seven either lost or failed to win their seats. They were:
Nigel Farage (Ukip, Thanet South)
Paul Uppal (Conservative, Wolverhampton South West)
Mary MacLeod (Conservative, Brentford & Isleworth)
Nick de Bois (Conservative, Enfield North)
Stephen Mosley (Conservative, City of Chester)
Esther McVey (Conservative, Wirral West)
Simon Hughes (Lib Dem, Bermondsey)
In hindsight it was probably a mistake to include Hughes as a 'friend'. As Chris Oakley pointed out, there were more worthy candidates in marginal or semi-marginal seats including Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) who I'm pleased to say was re-elected.
Another, perhaps, was Amber Rudd (Hastings) who didn't vote on plain packaging but did vote for an amendment to the smoking ban.
Apart from Farage, who I felt bad for on a personal level, I was particularly sorry to lose Nick de Bois and Esther McVey.
De Bois gave a brilliant speech at the Forest/TMA reception at the Conservative conference in Birmingham last year. It was passionate and funny.
He led the fight against plain packaging and was enormously popular among Conservative activists who flocked to Enfield to support his campaign for re-election. Sadly it wasn't enough but I hope we'll see him again.
McVey is not by any stretch of the imagination "smoker-friendly" but she's feisty, intelligent and courageous and I like that in an MP. I hope she'll get a safe seat, either in a by-election or at the next general election.
On the positive side, the following all won or retained their seats:
Nigel Huddleston (Conservative, Mid Worcestereshire)
Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative, Thurrock)
Mark Spencer (Conservative, Sherwood)
Karl McCartney (Conservative, Lincoln)
Richard Fuller (Conservative, Bedford)
Simon Kirby (Conservative, Brighton Kemptown)
David Nuttall (Conservative, Bury North)
Chris Skidmore (Conservative, Kingswood)
Robert Halfon (Conservative, Harlow)
Guto Bebb (Conservative, Aberconwy)
Stephen Metcalfe (Conservative, Basildon South & Thurrock East)
Douglas Carswell (Ukip, Clacton)
Ian Paisley Jr (DUP, North Antrim)
David Nuttall, Simon Kirby and Jackie Doyle-Price all won their seats by a whisker but who cares how they crossed the line? I'm just delighted they won.
Of my so-called 'foes', seven lost and won't be missed:
Julie Hilling (Labour, Bolton West)
Lorely Burt (Lib Dem, Solihull)
Paul Burstow (Lib Dem, Sutton & Cheam)
Chris Williamson (Labour, Derby North)
Ann McKetchin (Labour, Glasgow North)
Julian Huppert (Lib Dem, Cambridge)
Stephen Williams (Lib Dem, Bristol West)
Needless to say the biggest cheers greeted the defeats of Paul Burstow and Stephen Williams.
Burstow is (or was) chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health, run by ASH, and his defeat was made even better by the fact that his replacement Paul Scully is a potential friend (not that I take anything for granted).
Williams is a former chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health. He also helped launch the Plain Packs Protect campaign. I thought he was safe but he trailed in a poor third behind Labour and the Greens. Happy days.
Against that the following 'foes' were all returned to parliament, many with increased majorities:
Matthew Offord (Conservative, Hendon)
Anna Soubry (Conservative, Broxtowe)
Ian Austin (Labour, Dudley North)
Caroline Lucas (Green, Brighton Pavilion)
Valerie Vaz (Labour, Walsall South)
James Morris (Conservative, Halesowen & Rowley Regis)
Richard Graham (Conservative, Gloucester)
Kris Hopkins (Conservative, Keighley)
Bob Blackman (Conservative, Harrow East)
Jane Ellison (Conservative, Battersea)
Sarah Wollaston (Conservative, Totnes)
Luciana Berger (Labour, Liverpool Wavertree)
Diane Abbott (Labour, Hackney North & Stoke Newington)
As you can see the list includes several bete noires including Jane Ellison, Bob Blackman, Sarah Wollaston, Luciana Berger and Diane Abbott.
Let battle recommence!
Update: 104 Conservative MPs voted against plain packaging regulations; 91 were returned to parliament, 13 were defeated.
Reader Comments (1)
Nice summary. Thanks