Birmingham

Ladywood

In the last couple of days of the campaign I helped Pete Smallbone out in Birmingham Ladywood. As Ladywood is safely Labour, Pete generously diverted some activists towards target wards, but you can't rid of old mates like me so easily and at one point there were six of us campaigning on the eve of the poll. Despite being up against the Labour council leader, Pete managed a small swing against Labour from last year and added exactly 100 votes to his May 2006 result. More here. Nice one, Pete - hope you enjoyed your well-deserved break after the election.

Other Birmingham Seats

I can't claim to have assisted in any way, but the other contests where I was taking a particular interest worked out well. Cllr Tim Huxtable is a friend from my schooldays. When he last contested the Bournville seat in 2004, he achieved a majority 440 over Labour. Last Thursday he managed a majority of 2,175 over the Labour "challenger"! I am sure that Tim will also be delighted about the recent selection decisions in Birmingham Northfield and Birmingham Selly Oak respectively. I was also pleased to see Cllr Adrian Delaney returned in Weoley Castle in a testing contest. But the standout campaign in Birmingham was Gareth Compton's in Erdington. Not only did he deliver an 887 majority in a Labour stronghold, but also garnered some very favourable local press.

Campaigning Bloggers

On the Erdington theme, I found this picture on the internet from the Erdington campaign. That's Gareth in the white shirt with his arm around the England supporter.

To prove that some bloggers can get off their PCs, there are three bloggers from my blogroll in this snap. Let's see if you can identify them.