After a recount and a knife-edge head to head, Labour’s Richard Parker has won the mayoralty in the West Midlands to defeat Andy Street.
Dick Parker: 225,590 votes – 37.8%
Andy Street: 224,082 votes – 37.5%
It clearly didn’t matter how much Street distanced himself from the national party during the campaign in the end. Losing a two-term mayor will make impossible for the Tories to spin their ‘everything is fine’ line. Truly disastrous expectation management from the Tories – who strongly claimed it would be a winner…
Redfield and Winton produced a poll that put Tory Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street 14 points behind his Labour candidate rival Richard (Dick) Parker. Locals don’t seem too convinced. One voter asked Dick at a hustings this week: “Why should we vote for someone no one has ever heard of, is that really the best West Midlands Labour can do?” They probably haven’t heard of him because he isn’t from the West Midlands and lives outside the constituency he wants to represent…
His defence was to blame…the Tories, for not talking about him.
“The reason you haven’t heard of me is because you’re believing the nonsense the Tories have been setting out, because they’re so concerned about losing, they’ve been failing or not wanting to identify me as the candidate who’s standing for the Labour Party.“
Host Lewis Goodall was nonplussed. Dick can be forgiven for expecting the Tories to do his campaigning for him, as the Labour Party doesn’t seem to be too keen on it either. Leaflets sent to the region this month don’t mention him at all…
Labour’s dodging Dick while Andy Street dodges the Tories…
Labour’s candidate for mayor in the West Midlands running against Andy Street has a new promo video out. Richard “Dick” Parker makes some false claims in the first ten seconds of his promotional video.
Despite his patently clear West Country accent he claims to have “lived and worked in the West Midlands all his adult life”.
He’s not from the West Midlands, Parker even boasted on his selection campaign leaflet that he was brought up in Bristol – “Born in Bristol to a dockworking family. Left school at 16 before later going to sixth form and university”. He’s a committed Bristol City supporter, not Aston Villa, Birmingham City, West Brom or Coventry – teams in the West Midlands.
Anyone listening to him knows that he’s not from the West Midlands immediately – so why claim otherwise? Rumour has it that following on from some other regrettable candidate selections Labour insiders are having second thoughts about the candidate they are running against the unusually successful Tory mayor. As in Rochdale, it is too late now he has been selected.
UPDATE: A co-conspirator gets in touch to tell Guido that Dick lives in Barnt Green, which falls under Worcestershire County Council. Outside of the constituency he wants to represent.
