Heywood & Middleton: 'Too Big a Mountain!'

NIGEL Farage, according to The Spectator journalist Isabel Hardman, last Thursday conceded:
‘I think it’s too big a mountain to climb in that short a space of time, and I think the Labour party is saying that because they’ve got a very divided local party, they’re not happy with the candidate, they can’t get anyone out to canvass, and when they put the coaches on to go from the hall in Manchester to the office in Heywood, only 23 people got on one… they were expecting hundreds. So I think that Labour have talked it up to try to scare their own party machine into getting… I could be wrong, but the one thing about Heywood that is different is in South Shields there were 23,000 postal votes, in Heywood and Middleton it’s about nine three or nine four I think it is, and that obviously makes a fundamental difference to our chances.'

Ms. Hardman had earlier reported:
'I hear that there is a fierce debate going on in Ukip between those who want to divert resources from Clacton to Heywood in order to give the fight a real go, and those who think it best to focus efforts on Carswell’s seat. Currently Heywood is not getting anything like the attention Clacton is, and party high command has not been convinced that it’s worth changing things. They also claim there is more of an effort in Clacton from the Tories than Carswell’s former party lets on, and don’t want to take anything for granted.'

Could it be that the Labour Party is trying to scare their supporters to turn out as Farage is saying?  Or is there a serious threat to the Labour Party candidate? 

I spoke to a member of the Green Party in Rochdale over the weekend, and he'd just been out on a stall in Heywood, he told me that the feeling in Heywood among the public was one of general apathy.  He suggested that the Labour candidate was 'thick with Danczuk', and that some members and supporters of the Labour Party in Heywood were disillusioned.  He further claimed that Jim Dobbin had regarded Danczuk as a rather poor MP.

It ought to be remembered that some people were either excluded or defected from the Labour Party some years ago in around 2010 because of allegations about Mr. Danczuk's behaviour on a holiday in Alicante, Spain.  At that time there was an acrimonious dispute within the local Labour Party which was both personal and political, and some of those people who left Labour then are now believed to have joined the Green Party.  Hence, it is understandable that they may be critical of Simon Danczuk.

Meanwhile, Simon Danczuk in an article in the Rochdale Observer on Saturday the 13th, September launched an attack on the number of asylum seekers coming to Rochdale.  A report had just stated that Greater Manchester is handling one in six of all Britain's asylum seekers, and Simon Danczuk MP for Rocdale told The Observer:
'This is a cause for concern.  What we need is for Rochdale to take fewer asylum seekers, not more.'

Clearly Mr. Danczuk is determined to take the ground of public concern over asylum seekers before Ukip occupies it.