29.09.2004

Respect squeezed

Steve Cooke reports from the last push in the Hartlepool by-election

Respect members travelled from all over the country to support the unity coalition’s campaign in the September 30 Hartlepool by-election. The town centre campaign office saw a steady flow of volunteers, particularly at weekends.

There was a real sense of commitment to the Respect project among the Socialist Workers Party members that I talked to - although one comrade noted the irony of having joined the party at the peak of the class struggle in the Thatcher era confidently expecting an imminent revolution, only to find himself politely canvassing householders in middle class neighbourhoods 20 years later.

The Hartlepool branch of Respect is essentially a continuation of the previous Socialist Alliance branch, which, unlike those in many areas, has met regularly and takes political education seriously. No single political group is dominant, leading to a non-sectarian and cooperative approach among its members who have played a leading role in progressive local campaigns, such as the fight to save the town’s university hospital from potential closure under a health authority strategic review.

Despite throwing money at the campaign, including paying local farmers to display placards in fields along the main routes into Hartlepool, the Liberal Democrats alienated many potential voters due to the middle class prejudices displayed on candidate Jody Dunn’s website campaign diary. Her account of canvassing in one street where “everyone we met was either drunk, flanked by an angry dog or undressed” was manna from heaven for Labour, which took great pleasure in producing leaflets quoting these words.

New Labour’s campaign relied primarily on their candidate’s local roots, which was continually emphasised to counter the feeling that the previous MP, Peter Mandelson, took little interest in the town. Staggeringly, Iain Wright, a 32-year old local councillor and accountant, refused to answer any questions about his views on the ‘war on terror’ and the occupation of Iraq, describing these issues as “irrelevant” - as if he were seeking election to a parish council rather than a national parliament. Fortunately for Wright, interest in the war as an electoral issue was not high here and Respect’s success in establishing a base of support among muslim communities is not a major factor in Hartlepool, where the ethnic minority population is only 0.7%.

In the run-up to polling Respect canvassers reported that the Labour vote seemed a lot firmer than had been expected. Although many people express their unhappiness with aspects of the New Labour government, the level of disillusionment does not appear to have reached the point where they are willing to break with generations of loyalty to the party.

Unity coalition candidate John Bloom’s local credentials were as strong as Wright’s and he was widely recognised for his leading role in the hospital campaign. Voters who were aware of it were impressed by comrade Bloom’s pledge to take only a worker’s wage if elected as their representative.

However, the potential impact of Respect’s alternative prospectus may have been limited by the proliferation of small parties and independents contesting this election, each claiming to offer a new alternative. The high profile of the seat’s former occupant and the proximity of the next general election led to a 14-strong field of candidates. In addition to the three major parties and Respect, voters could choose from the Socialist Labour Party and the Greens from the left, the United Kingdom Independence Party, the National Front and the English Democrats from the right, plus an array of single-issue and crank candidates. The sheer volume of leaflets being pushed through doors and canvassers with clipboards seem to have led to election fatigue in a town that had a below-average turnout in 2001’s electoral participation nadir.