I’ve been a Liberal Democrat for more years than I can remember now but today was the straw that broke the camels back as far as I am concerned. Although events nationally have deeply troubled me and my disdain for Nick Clegg has grown, I have stuck with the party because of the sheer pleasure i have gotten out of working for local people in the ward of Knaphill.
Last year I stood for election in the ward and despite being a first time candidate polled over 1000 votes – an impressive result for someone on their first time out. This year I stood again in the same ward when the incumbent councillor decided to stand down. I thought i stood a real chance of holding the seat as i had a real track record of working hard for residents. I cleared snow for the elderly without them asking, I turned up and
cut back vegetation when the council wouldn’t do it, i even helped a couple of people stave off homelessness when the council gave them advice that it was better to squat in their property if they wanted to be rehoused. In short I worked myself into the ground. I worked evenings, weekends and even during the day when I should have been looking for a job as I had been made redundant. In many ways my life revolved around the work i was doing in Knaphill.
You can imagine how I felt when the result came in today and I only polled 593 votes compared to my opponents 1327. It was a totally humiliating defeat which left me absolutely shell shocked and frankly embarrassed. Until the result was known, I was led to believe that it was a close race. In the end it was anything but and I was left humiliated as the only LibDem target seat candidate that did not win their election. As I write this some of my ex LibDem colleagues are out celebrating their respective victories while I sit here at home wondering what the hell happened after all my hard work.
I say ex colleagues as I have tonight resigned my membership of the Liberal Democrats with immediate effect. I have talked of it before when I felt that the party leadership has betrayed us grass root activists but this time I have actually submitted the email and I am no longer a member of the party that I loved so much. I also have to consider the level of abuse that i have received from some members of the national party, some of whom have gloated again this year, as they did last year, at my defeat. Given that we were supposed to be on the same side, I am incredibly disappointed and upset at their behaviour.
Some of you may be reading this thinking that it is churlish of someone to resign because they lost an election. That is not why I have resigned though I confess that the level of the defeat cuts me to the bone when I have worked so hard for residents. I resigned because I was hung out to dry. I never got the support you should get when defending a target seat. Despite my asking on numerous occasions, only a few others who I will not name came to help when I needed it. I got more help from the lovely people on twitter who came to campaign with me than i did from some of my own party. Even on election day itself a discussion was had about closing my committee room down and pulling resources away to protect existing councillors over my campaign. Many of the councillors up for election this year were virtual shoe in’s because of their track records and the results today bore that up. When this was pointed out to key members, it was never acted on. On election day most of the help was in those safe seats and I campaigned door knocking solidly from 7am until 10pm under the misguided apprehension that i had a chance of winning and could continue my work for residents as a councillor.
So Woking Liberal Democrats have lost a seat today. One they should never have lost had they helped to put the work in as I did over the last 18 months. They didn’t lose it because of my lack of work. They lost it because they were blinded into protecting other seats where they were always going to win. It was a massive tactical error and I was the casualty.
The people that I totally respect in the local party, I have thanked personally offline and will not mention here. The others I am afraid are living in a bubble. They will never get back control of the council with the team they have at the moment which is too blinded my protectionism to see clearly the bigger picture.
To my opponent Saj Hussein in Knaphill I send my congratulations. He is a thoroughly decent man and I have exchanged many pleasant words with him. He and his team deserved the win. We both fought good clean campaigns that never resorted to personal slurs (of which I am proud) and I hope he is a good and worthy councillor for the people of Knaphill who deserve nothing less than the best. He appears to have a good team of people around him, something I in many instances did not. I wish him well.
As for me? I now go off to rebuild my life and try and find a job and take a break from local politics. My time as a candidate and campaigner was a proud yet humbling one meeting and helping so many people. Perhaps one day, in another guise I will get the chance to do so again. For now, I leave the local politics of the Liberal Democrats in Woking to those who think they know best but today were proved wrong. Badly wrong.
UPDATE: Amusingly my email to member services seems to have bounced back to me this morning. I am now fully expecting to receive a suspension notice as I did some months ago when a malicious person complained about this blog to party HQ. That didn’t help my campaign much either did it being suspended fora week only to be cleared later for doing nothing wrong. However, if HQ and others see this and wish to suspend me, do not bother, I WANT to resign and have emailed you again this morning asking you to remove me as a member.
Another update I find amusing is that despite deliberately not naming names, one person whose idea it was to close my committee room, texted me last night to respond to this blog post. Did they ask how I was? No they complained that this post had hurt them and then went on to justify why they wanted to close my committee room and then try and blame me for losing the election. When you are already down and crying yourself to sleep, there are some who really enjoy putting the boot in giving you a further kicking.
As I said, there are many reasons I am resigning this party and many of them ain’t pretty. If I blogged about them all right now there would be some VERY red faces locally and nationally and I am not going to do that as some people in the party are still friends of mine. The others however should watch their backs incredibly closely. I will not forget the way I was treated.
Dan Falchikov says:
Sorry to hear of the personal animosity. But take it from someone who has personally experienced election defeats – I’d withdraw the email – enjoy a good break over the bank holiday weekend and come back to it on Tuesday.
Spidey says:
Thanks for the comments Dan but my mind is made up for the specific reasons I detailed in the post
Guy Robinson says:
Be aware that the Liberal Democrat party is very hard to resign from.
You will be constantly pestered for donations, receive letters from Nick Clegg to say how much he needs your help to allow him to betray the party better and people will try to make you submit the national party.
Be prepared to have to write to the party at almost every level to tell them that you want no further contact.
I left because of all the pledges and promises that were broken in 2010 despite being an activist in two constituencies for three general elections. I’m happy to welcome you into the those people who value the pre-2010 party over the sorry rump of a party that exists today.
Lee Dargue says:
Sorry to hear this. I nearly left myself a couple of weeks ago, but stayed for my own reasons, as I respect your reasons for leaving.
I hope your extra time to devote to your personal life will be of help!
Also, in the future when dust settled, new leader etc, you might consider coming back. Trust me, there are LOTS of lefties 
Take care, and good luck.
Lee
Spidey says:
Thanks Lee. Clegg and his Orange Book plague, plus ‘some’ of the local issues i mentioned here have just finished me off.
I can’t see myself joining another political party ever at the minute.
Frank Bloggs says:
The correct email address is membership@libdems.org.uk
Paul Kennedy says:
Hey Spidey, 593 people still voted for you despite our party’s current unpopularity. It’s really disappointing to lose but you’re not going to abandon them surely? I nearly resigned in December 2010 over tuition fees, but then watched this video by one of our MPs who kept his pledge to voters:
Jeremy Starmouse says:
You really have had a torrid time of it, but maybe there is some sort of message in this. Time to concentrate on yourself rather than a rather ungrateful public and party!
JS
Daniel Henry says:
That was a god video, but over a year later does anyone feel like he’s actually achieved it, in giving us a distinctive voice? I feel there’s so many issues where we should have led the way but were instead muzzled by government.
My reason for staying is that we’re one of the few democratic parties where ordinary members get the final say on how it’s run. I think it’s up to us to shape the party and address its problems.
But that might not be of comfort to you seeing as much of your beef was with other members. I’ll just wish you well with whatever you decide. It’s rumoured that life is healthier and happier without politics!
Spidey says:
You may get a say in things at conference but you’ll get no such joy in Woking. Its a closed shop run my power crazy self important people who only care about existing councillors and not candidates who are trying to hold seats. I was hung out to dry n favour of existing councillors. And they wonder why people won’t stand for them?
Matt Davies says:
Well I can’t say I am sorry you have ditched the Lib Dems, as I am despise everything their leadership stand for (much like the Tories and Labour), but I do except that you were a good egg at this level. I could have told you this area was going to be very tough for you, with a post office guy who dishes out stuff to pensioners being your main opponent. However, it sounds like your party knew this and hence left you out to dry, which doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. While I think you helping others is admirable, I do think you are right about getting your priorities and focus on getting a job is the right one now. You know why on planes they show people to save themselves before they save others? Because then you will still be alive to save more! While I can’t boast the amount of people I directly help here compared to you( I do some mind), the amount of money the government steals from me outweighs many times what mostn people could do. But they waste it on garbage projects of vanity. Best of luck in finding yourself a job though and if you feel like fighting again, UKIP would welcome you, bearing in mind that we don’t expect immediate victory and are doing it very much out of principle and love for the country, which can be a very thankless task too. Best wishes Matt (UKIP candidate for Knaphill)
Spidey says:
Hey Matt
Thanks for the lovely comments. While we may disagree ideologically it speaks volumes that you and the lovely Rob B are the only political people from Woking to be nice about this and actually seem as though you care about how I am feeling right now. That really does say it all. Thanks for being such a good sport and taking the time to comment. It means a lot.
Lisa
david says:
Dear Spidey
I have just read some of your comments. I very much hope you remain with the party. I stood in the Charlton ward of SE London in 2010 and polled over 1000 votes as a paper candidate and did nothing. I was out helping with the mayoral and GLA elections and we only got 7% of the vote.
Like yourself I am not happy with the orange bookers/Nick Clegg et al and am anti libertarian and believe that the state is a force for good but would prefer to join with others who want their party back than leave and find I would not be at home in another party such as labour.
Please stay on and I would be happy to help campaign for you at the next elections.
David
Anthony says:
Camel’s not Camels.
Nicola says:
I know we’ve had our differences in the past but I’m sorry, you’ve left the party and that you weren’t supported enough by your local party.
I did worse than you did, I only polled 127 1st preferences.
Everyone should get the support they need.
Even if you disagree with people, you should stay on and fight because it sounds like you were right. Things will never change, if you let things pass without fighting.
Spidey says:
Thanks you Nicola. A far more reasonable and adult response than Potter below who can’t help himself as usual.
Sadly the events locally just finished me off. I have been harangued and insulted at every turn by others within the party, some councillors who rejoiced last year in my defeat. This has happened again with all the other points I’ve detailed. I have friends in the party here but I also have people that I cannot stand and who would sell their own mother for a place in parliament and they think that treating people as they have me, is acceptable. I simply don’t want to be around them.
You know my feelings on the coalition. The LibDems have just gone so native now and forgotten what they are there for that i simply cannot support them anymore. More worringly for them, they didn’t just lose a member and a candidate on Friday. They also lost my vote forever.
Thanks again for the comments but staying when you are insulted daily just isn’t something I want to do anymore.
Nicola says:
Having seen the results now, I have to say I think your analysis is wrong.
The other councillors were not shoe-ins. They barely got elected. There was barely any votes in most of the contests where LibDems were elected. Pulling resources to help you could easily have meant losing a seat. Is it hard to be in that situation – absolutely.
I’m in a situation where North Ayrshire keeps talking about themselves and developing North Ayrshire whilst South & East continue to go undeveloped.
Both candidates in South Ayrshire had to get funding for leaflets outside the local party because of pulling resources to trying to keep seats in North Ayrshire.
Still, if you believe in Liberal values, you fight on. You fight for what you believe in.
Spidey says:
With the best will in the world Nicola you weren’t on the ground here and you don’t know that. I do and so do the others here who agree with me that i was hung out to dry.
The councillors in question were always going to get re-elected with their length of service and track record. Only 3 people seemed to think otherwise and wanted to close my committee room. Even more galling when it turned out that one of them wash’t even reading the bloody data correctly! Pulling resources would not have meant losing a seat at all. The other seat in Maybury & Sheerwater is a heavily asian ward and the councillor there has a massive team of his own. The other wards however are much much smaller and turn out very low. I have he second largest ward after Maybury & Sheerwater with over 7k+ voters and i was left to cover the entire ward on my own. That is NOT how you run a target seat. It was a shambles and we should never have lost it.
I was a target seat yet I was treated like a paper candidate and left to do all the work.
john OAKES says:
Oh dear, Spidey, it’s rotten losing, especially when you can see how uneccessary that was. And I don’t quite understand national leaders “gloating ” over it. It sounds as if you really need to devote a lot more time to yourself, stick to those who value you as a person and NEVER expect that to happen inside politics. As Lyndon Baines Johnson drawled, “If you want a friend in politics, buy a dawg.”
Spidey says:
Amen to that John, amen
Andrew Tennant says:
Hi Lisa,
Sorry to see you go, and especially so if you’ve gone and joined Labour (they won’t treat you any better, as many a member of their party can attest to).
The level of support you received in this election is, regrettably, significantly more than I have seen most candidates get in any seat where I have lived – a committee room – wow, how many of us could only dream of such things. Politics is hard work, and voters so frequently harder still; but I hope you dust yourself off, take some time to reflect and decide what you want next, and then dedicate yourself to achieving it.
Good luck and best wishes.
Andrew
Spidey says:
Thanks Andrew. The committee room by the way was my friends who lives in the ward so don’t get too excited. All wards had them!
I’d also point out just so you know that I have NOT joined labour and am merely supporting them as i did when I was student (though I did join only to leave over Iraq).
I am taking a well earned break and concentrating on stuff that matters right now. Finding a job and spending time with friends who don’t stab me in the back for a place in government.
Thanks for being decent. I only wish others could show the same amount of respect.
Sam says:
Hi there,
I’m afraid I’ve never met you, and so won’t profess to know much about the situation you’re in.
My experience as a LD member, is that you spend far longer taking things on the chin than you ever do revelling in how well you’ve done, or indeed getting your own way. I’m sorry also that you lost. Last week wasn’t really a great time for anyone.
I have to say though, and please don’t see this as a snipe – talking publicly of being ‘hung out to dry’ and what have you, doesn’t paint you out to be a team player, or a gracious loser. In that sense, if that is indeed how you deal with things, you might find problems in whichever political party you choose to affiliate yourself to.
Like I said, I don’t know you, but it doesn’t seem to me that you’re dealing with this all that well. In that sense, I hope you’re able to make whatever sense of it you can and make peace one way or another with your situation. My only advice going forward would be that people like a candle in the wind far far more than they like a bonfire in a hailstorm. This kind of anger is best avoided.
Spidey says:
Hi Sam. Thanks for the comments. In many ways I agree with you but just in this instance alone, the level of vitriol that has come to me from members of the national party and some within my own local party has just made me reach the end of my tether. I only have to read George Potters comments telling me to seek counselling to realise that this is not the party it once was and not why I came into politics in the first place. I came into it to help residents and this whole situation has done nothing to help me do that – in fact is has done the reverse. It has driven me out.
Anonymus says:
The Liberal Democrats have the same agenda as the other two parties. Be glad to be rid of such an aweful institution.
Lets hope the day comes where party funding doesn’t win elections, but rather the elitist values are no longer dominant and people can see further than their own boarders.
There is space for a modern day Gandhi in this world
david says:
I think it’s a bit rich to tar all liberal democrats with the same brush. There are many hard working activists/Councillors and ex-Councillors who all want to make their areas better. Most members are the the left of centre and don’t like the direction Clegg and the orange bookers are taking the party in, but rather than resign on a whim would rather fight on the inside for what they believe and the values they have stood for under great leaders like Kennedy and Ashdown.
Even Labour had its militant and look how that party has changed now.