I’m sorry, what are we supposed to draw from all that? That Goldsworth is influential with the leader and treasury spokesman of the third party-men who will never obtain real office? Where is the influential part of that? Presumably if she was photographed sitting between two Chelsea Pensioners, Terry would be crying out how influential she must be with Chelsea Pensioners???

Similarly, I gather from Terry’s post of 17th September that the Tory candidates aren’t in the running because they were nowhere to be seen at the Lib Dem conference? There’s probably a very good reason for that I’m sure, but I just can’t think of it at the moment.

Oops, I should point out before I face a Lib Dem lynch mob that when I referred to Vince Cable and then went on to talk about pensioners, I was not attempting to make any sort of pun or draw any distinction between the two whatsoever.

Oops, I should point out before I face a Lib Dem lynch mob that when I referred to Vince Cable and then went on to talk about pensioners, I was not attempting to make any sort of pun or draw any similarity between the two whatsoever.

Shaun, the tory ppc Woodward, or as one of the local tory hacks referred to him, as Woody Woodpecker, does not seem to have the influence to drill holes into the electorate. This is opening the door to Labour or Liberal Democrats in this 3 way seat. I cannot get it out of my mind that the tories let this tory seat, held by the popular David Mudd for 21 years, go to Julia Goldsworthy because Ashley Crossley was at odds with the influential management of the F&C conservative Assoc. Effectively he shot himself in the foot. There does not appear to be any tory influence at work at the moment because of worsening in-fighting and old power struggles. This is also effecting the neighbouring Truro seat.
I could not believe it when the old cornish tory hack insinuated that Ashley Crossley would be welcome back. The Hack also said that the Camborne and Redruth tory Assoc had all but withdrawn from the Cornwall Conservative Association because of infighting. Can anybody throw light on this information, as it has consequences.

Its a reflection on the Lib Dems arguments that they can’t discuss the opposition without resorting to vicious personal abuse. This seems to be a disease that is particularly widespread amongst the Cornish Lib Dem contributors. Do they take the crown for the most ‘nasty’ party in Britain?

Before your underwear gets in too much of a twist Shaun, may I remind you that part of the reason why Julia Goldsworthy won this seat in 2005 was because of the vicious personal abuse and the behaviour of the Conservative Party who at that stage definitely took the crown for the most ‘nasty’ party in Britain. In fact it could be because Julia Goldsworthy did not sink to that level that gained her the majority. Just for the record I am not a member of any political party and I have no allegiance to any.
I think this seat and Truro and Falmouth are really interesting from a political watching and a people watching point of view. They are so mariginal that the lack of a good campaign, a serious gaffe at the wrong time, the awful mess the Liberal Democrats have made of the Unitary Authority, the continuing feuds in the Conservative Party or the emergence of a plausible Independent Candidate could send the seat in any direction come the GE. Which is why I made the comments I did in my previous post. The end result was supposed to achieve some statistical information. This information now seems to be available from http://www.liberal-vision.org (page 14.)Also
http://www.politicshome.com/. The Liberal Democrat report seems to be favouring a Conservative win but the Conservative report indicates that the Newquay and St. Austell seat will be the only gain in Cornwall. One thing the reports have in common is their agreement on the marginality of the this seat and the Truro and Falmouth one which perhaps bears out my point about how easy it would for any sort of outside forces to swing them. Maybe this information is more worthy of comment than is personally named abuse - I agree with you Shaun.

Yes Cornish Conservatives have most certainly engaged in personal abuse in the past. The difference with what I’ve seen from the Cornish Lib Dems however is only that the Tories directed all of their abuse against EACH OTHER and not the opposition.

I would agree that the Lib Dems would be favourites to hold every seat in Cornwall except for perhaps St Austell and Newquay. Indeed, the Politics Home report showed Tories leading only in that seat. I would think that even that lead was dubious and may well fall away come the real election. However, it does show that the Tories are by no means dead and buried in Cornwall as some Lib Dems have been spinning, and we really do need to move away from personal abuse if either party is to have any chance of really motivating the electroate to support them.

Yes Cornish Conservatives have most certainly engaged in personal abuse in the past. The difference with what I’ve seen from the Cornish Lib Dems however is only that the Tories directed all of their abuse against EACH OTHER and not the opposition.

I would agree that the Lib Dems would be favourites to hold every seat in Cornwall except for perhaps St Austell and Newquay. Indeed, the Politics Home report showed Tories leading only in that seat. I would think that even that lead was dubious and may well fall away come the real election. However, it does show that the Tories are by no means dead and buried in Cornwall as some Lib Dems have been spinning, and we really do need to move away from personal abuse if either party is to have any chance of really motivating the electorate to support them.

A prediction was made by the illustrious Guardian Correspondent, Matthew Tempest on September 8 2004 about the matter of Ashley Crossleys de-selection that ” either way, tonights vote looks unlikely to be the end of this South East Coast saga” http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2004/sept/08/conservatives.uk
How right he was, as the tories in-fighting continues, some 4 years on.

And despite agreement that we need to move on from personal issues of individuals, Lib Dem smears continue to go on some 4 years later. Mabye the two main Cornish parties are just both as bad as each other; thats what people will say.