Woolas Clings On In Oldham East And Saddleworth
Phil Woolas scraped back in by 103 votes for another term as MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth.
Labour’s Phil Woolas has been returned as MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth – but only just. He needed two recounts to see off Liberal Democrat Elwyn Watkins, with a final majority of 103 votes on a swing from Labour to the Lib Dems of 5.1%. Kashif Ali came a strong third for the Conservatives.
It was a stunning triumph against the odds for Mr Woolas, with some of his supporters admitting privately before the polls closed that they expected him to lose the seat. When Saddleworth News reported that downbeat mood in the Labour camp at 10pm, the story was picked up by the BBC and featured in their live election coverage, as shown here.
For their part, the Liberal Democrats had been very confident of winning. But as the night went on, and the Lib Dems suffered a series of disappointing results across the country, it became clear the result in Oldham East and Saddleworth would be very close.
A first recount was ordered after 5am, amid reports the difference between the two leading candidates may have been as low as 50 votes. After that proved inconclusive, counters were sent home and it was announced a second recount would begin this morning at 10am. Mr Woolas’ victory was confirmed just over an hour later.
Recognising the narrowness of his triumph, Mr Woolas said: “I pledge to serve all the people of this constituency, regardless of their political persuasions.” He also joked, “I’m the Paul Scholes of politics and I won in Fergie time!”
The result will be a bitter blow to the Liberal Democrats, who have now lost four elections in a row to Mr Woolas with four different candidates. It was a hard-fought campaign, described by one national newspaper as the dirtiest in the country. Mr Watkins angrily accused Labour of political smears as a series of claims were made about the payment of campaign workers, his business interests, and his alleged failure to condemn extremist groups, all strongly denied by the Lib Dem candidate.
Meanwhile, it was a good result for the Tories, with Kashif Ali significantly increasing their vote to finish a close third. Alwyn Stott of the BNP narrowly saved his deposit, while the other two candidates lost theirs.
For the time being Mr Woolas is still the Immigration Minister. Although with the future make-up of the Westminster government still unclear, it’s not known how long that will remain the case.
Turnout was 61.2%, up 4.4% on the 2005 figure.
RESULT
Phil Woolas (Labour) – 14,186
Elwyn Watkins (Liberal Democrat) – 14,083
Kashif Ali (Conservative) – 11,773
Alwyn Stott (BNP) – 2,546
David Bentley (UKIP) – 1,720
Gulzar Nazir (Christian) – 212
Majority: 103
Turnout: 61.2%
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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