The phoney war

End of week 1 and the Tories continue to set the pace. Young Chloe is getting around the constituency for photo opportunities with more mature shadow ministers, and Nick Clegg followed Cameron in 'meeting the public' at a local High School. At least the school was actually in the constituency this time, and he didn't try out a cod German accent - although claiming that 'thinking about a holiday on the Broads sometime' qualifies as a 'local connection' was bizarre, even by the Lib Dem standards! Like Cameron and the Tories they are happier to make the by-election a negative campaign against Brown than to put forward anything positive. As the local rag has observed:

"Yet it seems party strategists for both Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron feel that this by-election will be part of a bigger debate about the future direction of this country. Given Norwich and Norfolk's reputation for doing different, I wonder if they may have got that wrong."

Meanwhile the Greens seem paralysed by their own processes and their campaigning naivety is shining through. Presumably they won't compete with leafleting on environmental grounds, and any comment seems dependent on finding a candidate. The Adrian's have ruled themselves out of standing, leaving Rupert to be coy and toy with the idea. If they could get there act together (and PLEASE, don't select Rupert!) they would have a good chance. They gained the largest share of the Euro election vote in Norwich, and picked up a few County Council seats in North Norwich (including the poor candidate for Mile Cross who, according to party rumour, only stood as a paper candidate and didn't want to be elected). Despite this they have left unchallenged young Chloe's silly leaflet with its sub SATS bar chart showing how only the Tories can challenge Labour. Sort out a sensible candidate and get a campaign going , and they would be a good option for even Labour loyalists wanting to make a gesture to the national party.

As for Labour, the national party has sent Harriet along this weekend to stiffen their resolve. I guess she will make optimistic noises (well, you have to, don't you) but there are no credible local candidate options ( under the circumstances, standing will automatically remove credibility) and they will be reduced to importing party workers if they want to do any campaigning for a national imposition. Realistically, all Labour can do is look to minimise the damage and call all the outstanding by-elections together as late as possible (October?), hoping the other parties get bored. They will all soon be on their summer holidays soon anyway, leaving the way open for a motley collection of independents who will be happy to regard campaigning in Norwich as their holiday.