Ross Skye and Lochaber
2010 Results:
Conservative: 4260 (12.23%)
Labour: 5265 (15.11%)
Liberal Democrat: 18335 (52.63%)
SNP: 5263 (15.11%)
UKIP: 659 (1.89%)
Green: 777 (2.23%)
Independent: 279 (0.8%)
Majority: 13070 (37.52%)
2005 Results:
Liberal Democrat: 19100 (58.7%)
Labour: 4851 (14.9%)
Conservative: 3275 (10.1%)
SNP: 3119 (9.6%)
Other: 2193 (6.7%)
Majority: 14249 (43.8%)
Boundary changes prior to 2005 election: Name of seat changed from Ross, Skye and Inverness West.
2001 Result
Conservative: 3096 (8.9%)
Labour: 5880 (16.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 18832 (54.1%)
SNP: 4901 (14.1%)
UKIP: 456 (1.3%)
Green: 699 (2%)
Other: 948 (2.7%)
Majority: 12952 (37.2%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 4368 (10.9%)
Labour: 11453 (28.7%)
Liberal Democrat: 15472 (38.7%)
SNP: 7821 (19.6%)
Referendum: 535 (1.3%)
Other: 306 (0.8%)
Majority: 4019 (10.1%)
No Boundary Changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Charles Kennedy(Liberal Democrat) (more information at They work for you)
Donald Cameron (Conservative) born 1976, Lochaber. Educated at Oxford University. Advocate. Contested Linlithgow and Lothians region in 2007 Scottish elections.John McKendrick (Labour) Charles Kennedy(Liberal Democrat) (more information at They work for you)Alasdair Stephen (SNP)Eleanor Scott (Green) Philip Anderson (UKIP) Ronnie Campbell (Independent)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 62384
Male: 48.9%
Female: 51.1%
Under 18: 23.2%
Over 60: 22.8%
Born outside UK: 3.3%
White: 99.2%
Asian: 0.3%
Mixed: 0.2%
Other: 0.2%
Christian: 69.4%
Graduates 16-74: 21.3%
No Qualifications 16-74: 32.2%
Owner-Occupied: 66.6%
Social Housing: 20.2% (Council: 17.2%, Housing Ass.: 2.9%)
Privately Rented: 8.6%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 8.9%
Evening all.
Barnaby – I’m in a good mood today.
I have to say I agree with Joe on Owen Jones. I absolutely can’t stand the man. When he was on Question Time the other week my wife said “it’s that 12 year old again”. I have to say though that David Dimbleby is the best thing about the programme (that’s the case with BBC election night coverage too). Without him I think both programmes will really sink.
Joe – you asked about Portree. I believe it is one of the grittier and more working class towns on Skye, hence quite Labour-leaning. I have a friend who grew up there…he is a doctor in London and staunch Labour.
Thanks HH – I do remember being taken there in terrible weather, and I remember seeing a traffic warden which seemed very ironic, as if it was some decent sized urban area.
Street view shows it to be a beautiful setting and some pleasant buildings and shops but
probably has gritty areas as you say.
I guess Labour would do a fair bit better in the constituency as a whole if it wasn’t for personal votes and the Lib Dem support which is far away from national trends, but it’s very hard to see anyone else actually winning.
I agree about David Dimbleby HH.
He is very good – although I strongly suspect he’s LD (although don’t know for sure).
Good on election nights – I think he was ill on the 2010 program though, he sounded as though he was struggling.
Seconded on Owen Jones, his opinions are nonsense and he is such a faux intellectual and faux working class (there arent many working class people at oxford!)
He is wrong on chavs and wrong on just about everything else and drives me totally up the wall. He defines the word sanctimonious, I bet he’s the type who would do something do or say really unpleasant in a Joyce Thacker-eque way.
Get Barnaby Marder on question time instead if we really want an intelligent champagne socalist on question time
I agree about Owen Jones.
After five minutes stood talking next to me, it would become clear who the real ‘authentic’ socialist was out of the two of us I can assure you.
Owen Jones, like Shami Chakribati is a bit of a troll, but they are so full of prejudice and pompousness that they can’t entirely see it – therefore it’s genuine.
On Skye, I remember the Ardvasar Hotel, quite near the ferry to the mainland (about 2 miles).
Streetview shows it’s still there.
I do love it when they have Kelvin M on though.
He calls a spade a spade.
Levenson should be quietly put in the dustbin aswell.
I’d prefer it if Kelvin was hit with a spade, tbh.
For once I agree with DoktorB. Kelvin McKenzie is a walking advert for full state control of the media – not just opinionated, but utterly unable to see any other side of an argument, loud & none too intelligent. His attempt to make us sympathize with him because he had been misled recently was really rather horrible.
Joe R, you are kind, but none of the champagne please – I may not be a working-class man, but I hugely prefer ale.
I’ve been to Portree after we had lunch at the superb Stein Inn at Waternish on the Isle of Skye, but it was urinating down with rain so heavily it was very difficult to form an accurate opinion of its sociology. However, it didn’t seem that gritty really. I was under the impression that one of Labour’s stronger areas in this constituency was Fort William rather than anywhere on Skye.
It would be interesting to see how the demographics of choice of alcoholic beverage meet with voting choice.
Real Ale/Cider = LD
Red Wine/Champagne = Tory
Lager = Labour
:p
Actually years ago Simon Hoggart (who is an ale & wine drinker himself) had something about this in his Punch column. He reckoned that Liberals like fizzy keg beer (nowadays something like John Smiths Smooth), and I don’t think myself they are as likely to drink real ale as Labour Party people. There are many, many Tories who are ale drinkers, especially in rural areas. I reckon LDs are more likely to be non-drinkers than the supporters of the other 2 parties. What about UKIP? They ought to eschew German-type lager but I bet they often have it, depending on the area. In areas like South Essex yer average Tory is very likely to be a lager drinker though Labour does have its share of them too. Remember that the white working class is more Labour in the North than the South, and undoubtedly has stuck to traditional ale more in the North than in the London area, though ale is making a comeback here, thank goodness, even amongst younger people.
and a meaningless straw poll – of the small party of workers who went to help in the Corby by-election from here, and stopped in a rural pub on the way, all drank real ale, though only a very small quantity in my case as I was driving.
I am very much ales.
I think David Dimbleby would like to think his politics follow in the footsteps of his father….basically an old-fashioned BBC man to the core, a supporter of the establishment and opposed to anything that might frighten the horses. It wouldn’t surprise me if he voted Lib Dem.
Nevertheless, unlike most presenters these days, you could never accuse Dimbleby of being dumbed down. However at the next election he will be getting on for 80.
I have to say I’m not a big beer drinker at all. If I’m out for a drink with someone I prefer light Mexican beer, something like Corona. I don’t really like wine or champagne and only drink either of them when I need to do so to be sociable.
My most patriotic drink tastes are a love of Scotch whisky and I really like West Country ciders as well. Also I like port and French cognac.
Years of travelling around China on business have led me to detest Asian alcohol….especially rice wine. It’s like firewater.
Im not a huge drinker, but it would have to be ale for me. Preferably dark and strong.
If im really thirsty I could be tempted by one of those Mexican lagers.
I personally am teetotal- So you won’t catch me on a late Friday night in Liverpool City Centre downing several shots of God Knows What or on an all-night bender of the city’s many boozers.
Beer tends to be my alcoholic beverage of choice though I also drink red wine with my evening meal at least twice a week. I’m also partial to ale particularly Doom Bar and Sierra Nevada. I’ve never been keen on spirits and tend to avoid them.
Another vote for ale here – best political thread ever…!
I’m an ale man and it’s been nice to see it become more popular.
A local near me has turned itself into a real ale pub (Barnaby M may remember it as it’s the Albion in Ampthill).
A couple of really good beers I’ve tried recently were (I’ve looked up the respective breweries on google in case anyone is interested): Justinian (Milton Brewery, near Cambridge), Pitchfork (RCH brewery, in Somerset)
Chris, I’m extremely impressed that you remember that I have a past connection with Ampthill. However, after our rehearsals, we tended to go to a pub in Maulden up the road, or sometimes to the Queen’s Head in Ampthill. I don’t recall the Albion. If we fancied a curry, that meant a trip to Bedford and, usually, the Flower Pot.
Barnaby – you didn’t miss much re the Albion! It was for many years a pretty nondescript place and struggled.
The pub in Maulden might have been the George or the White Hart. The nearest Maulden pub to Ampthill was the Black Horse but I never went in there and it was a pretty ‘locals’ type place as far as I heard.
The Queen’s Head is still going – Ampthill seems to have got off very lightly in terms of pubs closing actually, I can’t actually think of one that’s gone. Neighbouring Flitwick has lost two of it’s six pubs and I suspect that one of the remaining pubs is on borrowed time. None of the Flitwick ones were particularly good but there are some really nice rural pubs shutting down – it’s a shame
There are a lot of real ale drinkers in St Albans as you would expect seeing it is the HQ of CAMRA. I think they are very largely of the same beards and sandals kind of demographic who also tend to support the LDs (and to an extent also Labour and the Greens). I am myself almost exclusively a lager drinker – certainly if I’m out (I occasionally drink red wine at home). There is no contradiction to my UKIP pronciples however as my lager(s) of choice are Australian rather than UKIP
I’m a bearded real-ale drinker, if that’s of any help
“however as my lager(s) of choice are Australian rather than UKIP”
There is a UKIP branded lager is there now? :p
Lol. I think that should have read Australian rather than German
“They ought to eschew German-type lager but I bet they often have it”
Why should UKIP supporters have anything against German lager?
If a German woman is good enough for their leader to shag then German lager should be good enough for them to drink.
As for myself – ale by choice, quality lager, red and wine wine and for spirits rum.
Rum is the ultimate UKIP drink – the drink that allowed the Royal Navy to rule the waves.
And much nicer than horrible EuroBrandy.
Looking back, the subject of drink keeps returning to this thread.
Leaving aside Charles Kennedy’s drink problems, there was JJB’s famous under-the-influence prediction of a Charles Kennedy decapitation after he staggered home from the pub…
LOL the subject of this thread has turned to drink because of the MP Champagne Charlie!
”If a German woman is good enough for their leader to shag then German lager should be good enough for them to drink.”
LOOL Richard have you had a drink or two mate yourself?!!!
I hadn’t had then but I have had now.
We’re not all as well brought up and polite as Barnaby
I can remember a comment from Pete in 2008-9 when he was so drunk he couldn’t tell the difference between capitals and lower case letters.
This comment to be precise:
” Pete Whitehead
As dURHAM had unitary eelctin sthis nyear there is not a sinlge sdhire countyu that Labour will hold next year. sTAFFS and notts and Lancs wil go straigjt to Topry control, Dderbyshire will go NOC.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:59 pm “
He still knows what he’s talking about!
”I can remember a comment from Pete in 2008-9 when he was so drunk he couldn’t tell the difference between capitals and lower case letters.”
LOL just had a look at the actual comment- The fact Pete was drunk at the time of the comment would appear to be confirmed by the fact that the comment was posted very close to midnight!
Glad to see my predictive abilities weren’t too badly impaired though
(I don’t think anyone would have predicted an outright Conservative majority in Derbyshire)
The 2009 county council results showed the Conservatives doing better than expected in Derbyshire and somewhat disappointing in Nottinghamshire, particularly in Gedling.
They were therefore a good predictor of the 2010 general election.
Isn’t it great the things you do when you’re drunk- Just ask Father Jack- DRINK! :p
Chris – glad I didn’t miss much, and that the Queen’s Head is still flourishing. It was the White Hart in Maulden, so thanks for jogging my memory. In those days, it was supplied by the large Whitbread brewery in Luton, now long closed. If you went to the Bell in Aldworth, Berks (see the Newbury thread), you’d see no draught lager, no draught Guinness, only real, not keg, cider, and real ale drunk by the vast majority of the (happily very numerous) customers, and no sandals and hardly any beards in sight. And I suspect mainly Tory voters with a smattering of LDs. There are still some pubs like that & perhaps it isn’t right to generalise about the drinking habits of supporters of different parties. I think, however, that British neo-Nazis have a liking for mead…..
Pete – that was a really drunken post wasn’t it, yet your predictions made perfect sense, far more so than the English (if that’s what it was). Perhaps for us true psephological anoraks, knowledge of constituencies and voting patterns is so ingrained that a few lagers, brandies, rums or whiskies (or indeed all of the above) won’t interfere with the accuracy of our predictions. Or lack of it in my case.
Richard, I was very well brought up but am perfectly capable of swearing my head off & otherwise misbehaving. I tend not to do it here on UKPR though.
”The 2009 county council results showed the Conservatives doing better than expected in Derbyshire and somewhat disappointing in Nottinghamshire, particularly in Gedling.”
Indeed. This was reflected in the fact that at the 2010 General Election the Conservatives made convincing gains in High Peak, Amber Valley, South Derbyshire and got huge swings in their favour in Bolsover and North East Derbyshire. In stark contrast it was a struggle in Notts in comparison- They only just fell over the line in Broxtowe, failed indefinitely in Gedling and fell backwards in Ashfield. Their only real solid result in the county for them was Sherwood- They got good swings in Nottingham North and Nottingham South- In the latter due largely to the retirement of Alan Simpson, they nearly gained it.
I had a drunken rant on the Wells thread once which did include a few expletives but because my typing was of a similar standard to the above example the filter did not pick them up
lol – bad typing sometimes has its uses!
Drink seems to fill me with optimism about lib dem seats that can be won. I predicted a 12,000 con majority in sutton and cheam aswell. I like red wine with a meal, but usually drink ales or cider in a pub. Try to give local ales chance. In london it will normally be chiswick if they have it.
Chiswick’s a good session beer, it’s only 3.5% if I remember correctly.
Hooky is another decent session beer (3.6%) – it’s not fantastic but a few of us played low-stakes poker into the small hours the other night, and staying on a milder ale helped my mood the next morning……
I am one of those rare breeds, a Mild drinker, so I’d drink Hooky Dark when available, which I was able to do last time I visited a Hook Norton pub. (I then met Tony Baldry a week later & told him that I’d been to that pub in his constituency.) Mild is the traditional drink of the workers though these days it isn’t necessarily available in working-class areas more than areas such as in Sir Tony’s constituency. It seems however to be most widely available in Greater Manchester, Lancs & the West Midlands. I often order Chiswick though it isn’t as good as it was a few years ago. I actually had a choice between Fullers & the local beer in Plockton in this constituency but found the former was better, so reluctantly chose that. I applaud Joe however for supporting local ales & presume that he has the odd pint of Twickenham, as I try to do myself.
Looking back it was Joe R who started this discussion not me! Well, perhaps I should take a little of the blame.
The finest drinks is a trappist triple/quad. More than a pint or so is not good though!
htt p://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/207/645
The above is the finest beer known to man!
Have to say when it comes to beers and lagers I’m a massive Europhile – Germany, Holland and Belgium produce the finest beers in the world – but as a lager drink I would say that
Whilst I can be quite nationalistic about some subjects, beer-producing isn’t one of them, and I generally find the UK variety (ales & bitters) utterly foul in comparison
I think foul is a bit of an over statement, nevertheless my own tastes broadly agree with Tim. American lagers and beers (both north and south of the continent) are also very good IMO – Miller, Coors, Corona etc.
I think that every “real ale” enthusiast I’ve ever met has had a beard, a massive gut and a strong Yorkshire accent…although that’s perhaps a function of where I grew up.