2 weeks Ago
Forty years ago last Friday, a naive 25-year-old found himself winning a by-election to the old Brighton Borough Council. He knew little about local government, and it was questioned whether someone with such limited life experience could effectively represent 7,000 people on the Council. Nevertheless, the good people of Regency Ward thought differently and put their trust in me.
The by-election was caused when the sitting Conservative councillor, Poppy Nettleton, resigned her seat as she was emigrating to South Africa. On 18th April, 1985, I won the by-election by just 55 votes to become the first-ever non-Conservative to be elected at any level of government in that area. The result also meant that, for the first time in over 130 years the Conservatives lost their majority on the council.
My Conservative opponent was a really decent man. John Sheldon was the son of a very popular former mayor, Danny Sheldon. John subsequently became a county councillor in a safer Conservative area.
I bumped into him in the street a few weeks after the by-election. He was very friendly and said that he had made just one mistake in the election. When I asked what the mistake was, he replied: “Standing against you” which was an extremely generous and kind thing for him to have said.
John was a heavy smoker and tragically died far too young from lung cancer. By-elections are great things to be involved in. All the resources of local parties can be focused on this one contest as we will see next week when there is a by-election on 1st May in the Westbourne and Poets’ Corner ward caused by the resignation of Labour’s Leslie Pumm.
There are eight candidates seeking election. The Liberal Democrat candidate is Michael Wang, an immigration law practitioner who stood as the Lib Dem candidate for Hove and Portslade in the last general election. In that campaign he came across as thoughtful, knowledgeable and sincere, but that didn’t stop him coming bottom in the poll with 3,046 votes, just two behind the Independent candidate, Tanushka Marah, and 1,500 votes behind the Reform UK candidate, Martin Hess.
The seat was won by Labour’s Peter Kyle with 27,209 votes. The Greens have selected Geoff Shanks who came fourth in the ward in 2023 when Labour had its two candidates elected and the Greens came third and fourth. Geoff lives in the ward with his wife, Sue, who is currently a Green councillor.
He is a retired accountant and is treasurer of a local charity. The Conservatives have chosen Tony Meadows, a self-employed antique furniture restorer. In 2011/12 he was the mayor’s consort when his wife, Anne, was the mayor of Brighton and Hove.
At the time she was a Labour councillor. He is also a former Labour Party member who stood unsuccessfully for Labour in Hangleton and Knoll in 2007. In 2023, the leading Conservative in the ward came fifth, polling 448 votes against Leslie Pumm’s 1,741 votes.
Keith Jago, a former engineer and project manager, is standing as an Independent. He is disabled and is standing because he is concerned about how seniors and disabled people’s needs are not being adequately addressed in the city. It is rare for an independent to be elected in Brighton and Hove although in 2023 three were successful, two in Rottingdean Coastal, the other in North Portslade.
Gary Farmer is standing for Reform UK. Last year he stood in a by-election in the Kemptown Ward and in 2023 in Regency Ward, on both occasions representing Brighton and Hove Independents. Westbourne and Poets’ Corner ward is unlikely to be a happy hunting ground for Reform UK and in 2023 the party didn’t even bother to field a candidate.
David Maples is the Independent Trade Union and Socialist Candidate. Last time out its candidate polled just 111 votes. Georgia McKinley Fitch is standing for Independents for Direct Democracy.
She stood unsuccessfully in Wish ward in 2023. Neither she, nor David Maples is likely, in cricket parlance, to bother the scorers even though TUSC usually mounts quite energetic campaigns. Finally, Labour has chosen Samantha Parrott, a counsellor who now wants to become a councillor.
The election is hers to lose given the size of Leslie Pumm’s majority of 998 over the Greens in 2023. While Labour should comfortably hold the seat, their majority will be reduced because turnout is always down in by-elections and Labour’s standing nationally is taking something of a kicking in the polls. A Green victory would send shockwaves through Labour locally.
Andy Winter is a former councillor who worked in social care and homelessness services for 40 years.
