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WALTHAM FOREST: Loakes' u-turn over election chances

4:01pm Friday 19th March 2010 in


FORMER Waltham Forest Council leader Clyde Loakes says he will fight for the Northampton South parliamentary seat, despite previously saying he was merely a “paper candidate.”

Cllr Loakes, who quit as council leader last year to concentrate on winning the midlands seat for Labour, told the Guardian on Wednesday that he was merely standing for the “experience” and had little prospect of winning.

His political opponents in Northampton have been reportedly shocked by Cllr Loakes' comments.

But he has now been quoted in the Northampton Chronicle as saying: “I'm fully committed to Labour's general election campaign.

“We may be seen as the underdogs in this coming election, but we haven't given up.

“I, along with other Labour members, am taking the fight to the Tories and although we'll not win every seat we'll continue to campaign and fight for a fair future for all."

Although the seat is held by the Conservatives with a majority of 4,419, the notional majority is smaller due to boundary changes and is considered winnable by political commentators.

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Comments(7)

Leyton Pioneer says...
4:44pm Fri 19 Mar 10

He is obviously just hedging his bets, to be fair to him. He clearly wants to win in Northampton and so tells the local papers there he will fight on. But realising he probably won't win, he tells the WF Guardian he is not putting the effort in in Northampton so that, when he looses, he can leave the door of Robbins' office ajar and come back to Waltham Forest to run the Council under the "strong leader" model. What a truly terrifying prospect.

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jack de large says...
6:03pm Fri 19 Mar 10

That, Leyton Pioneer, is a truly horrifying prospect. I had assumed that "sticky fingers" Loakes would stand down from his Leytonstone Ward seat if he was going off to fight the general election in Northampton. He can't seriously say to the people of Leytonstone "I will represent you for the next four years" if he's pledged to say the same thing to the people of Northampton South. On 7 March 2009 this website ran a story suggesting he would stand down. there's something wrong with this somewhere or am I missing something?

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Fedupwithitall says...
7:36pm Fri 19 Mar 10

The Guardian says "his political opponents in Northampton have been reportedly shocked by Cllr Loakes' comments." I should think the local Labour Party in Northampton South will have been equally appalled and this u-turn is no doubt in response to their fury. I expect his quote was carefully drafted for him either by the Local Party or the Regional Office. Leyton Pioneer has hit the nail on the head – Loakes wants to come back as Leader of Waltham Forest after the elections. So things could get very messy, that's assuming Robbo manages to hold onto his seat which is doubtful.

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Fishy Bristol says...
5:01pm Sat 20 Mar 10

He desrves the support as he did an awful lot of Good for the people of Waltham Forest........when he left.

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Fishy Bristol says...
5:01pm Sat 20 Mar 10

He desrves the support as he did an awful lot of Good for the people of Waltham Forest........when he left.

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LEYTONOLDBOY says...
11:58am Fri 26 Mar 10

Ha! Not his first u-turn either! Anyone remember his reaction to the town hall demo for school kitchen staff? When he realised what opposition there was to his proposals and withdrew them he punched the air in victory! We were left a little bemused and wondering 'Der? What just happened?'

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chris duran says...
11:47pm Fri 26 Mar 10

There are two possibilities. Either he is so stupid that he thinks he can get away with telling one thing to the people of Leytonstone and something completely contradictory to the people of Northampton. Just how stupid would he have to be not to realise that his political opponents and enemies read his comments and pass them on?

On the other hand he may have had a tantrum because the local Labour Party in Northampton seem to have made a similar assessment of him to that made by most people in Waltham Forest. It's a bit like saying, I didn't want to play your stupid game anyway.

What is interesting about his later comments is that he doesn't even try to claim he was mis-quoted when making the earlier comments that he is just a paper candidate who can't win, and who is just doing this for experience. I wonder if the people of Northampton have been completely convinced by his apparent change of mind.

Yet he appears to think he should get another chance to get an easier run for parliament next time, and in the mean time, leadership of our council should be his if he wants it.

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