Gummer on television after last Thursday's GLC by-elections. The Tory Party's official line was the elections were 'stunt' would not appear on an 'election panel' with the Labour Party and the Alliance.
the elections so important that Gummer wanted to be on the television to talk about them. Therefore he agreed to be 'interviewed'.
Viewers were then treated une Gummer sitting at a table on one side ot the studio while refusing to walk ten vards SIl WILD Labour Party and SDP on The whole pathetic performance then collapsed with the first remark of Bill Rogers of the SDP (of ail people!). He said that while the Tories claimed the eeccons wic a slulll. che whole world knew that * the ories had thought they could win they would have fought the elections like a shot.
Ken Livingstone hit the nail right on the head with his victory speech when he said: 'When we set out to win this by-election it was To demonste Unal government did not have a abolish manualt the . ons vative We won that when refused to stand.' In fact the opinion poll taken by sion showed the extent of Labour's gain. In a GLC per cent of the population said they would vote Inland 6 months E8;
12 months L15 Over with the Post Office and therefore Gummer However the reality is that the Tories considered Labour. In a general election 49 per cent. In other words the 'extremist' Labour GLC administration of Ken Livingstone considerably ular than the national Labour Party.
This reality also dished the attempt of the Alliance Livingstone candidates.
slaughtered the Lauvul Alliance, and Livingstone gained an immense sonal triumph in winning eighty per cent of the vote against his Alliance opponent in Paddington.
The turn out wasn't a high as would have liked - but that wa. due low key press coverage before polling. Both the national London press tried to give credibility to the Tories' case that the elections were irrelevant.
The by-elections were a solid Labour success. And a step forward in the camsave the GLC.
The next step is the campaign to build a labour movement conference London to plan out the fight to save the GLC.
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THERE CAN have been few more embarrassing sights for years than the Conservative Party's John