… but this time it is in Camden, rather than Haringey. Just heard that the Conservative councillor for Camden’s Highgate ward – Paul Barton – has resigned and that polling day will be on 1st May.
It will be interesting to see what the Green Mayor candidate Sian Berry does – she’s stood for the council before in Camden – and not won. In normal circumstances I suspect she’d be very tempted to stand in this by-election … but can she do that whilst standing for London Mayor at the same time?
Lynne Featherstone 
She can do it, and she very well might because the lady has a history of fighting two elections at once. In May 2006 she was a candidate in a Greens’ target ward, Kentish Town,in Camden, and also a paper candidate in a ward in the Royal borough of Kensington & Chelsea. She fought Kentish Town again at the by-election last year. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that the Greens field her again (she is a principal spokesperson or whatever they call it) for Highgate, where they already have two (pretty useless) councillors. Paul Barton, the retiring Conservative, seems to have been a complete waste of space. The task for the Lib Dems will be to come from fourth – but as we saw in Portsmouth last month in the Copnor by-election on February 7th, such feats are possible. There Andy Fraser came from a weak third (just six votes above the English Democrats, who were in fact fourth) to win by an overal majority. We also have a ready made issue in highgate where the High Street Post Office is under threat of closure. Comedienne Victoria Wood is quoted in today’s Ham & High as saying that ehw ould tie herself to the postbox if the thought it would make any difference to saving the Post office. Our candidate’s first job might be to take her up on that offer. What we need of course is another Rachel Allison…. Robin Young (aka Anonymous)