CAMPAIGN TRAIL:FOR A while yesterday, John Doyle looked as if he was going to become the United Kingdom's very own "Joe the Plumber", the American who briefly upset Barack Obama's 2008 race for the White House.
Doyle, who runs two pubs in Swindon and nearby Wooten Bassett, had come to stand outside the Drove People’s Centre to complain about the collapsing pub trade, increased business rates, and impending bankruptcy.
The British prime minister was inside meeting parents and children in the Jelly Tots nursery centre, though the Tory-controlled council issued a last-minute order barring accompanying media from entering.
Denying political bias, the council said it was obliged by law to bar “electioneering” on council property, and pointed out that it had blocked leading Conservatives in recent weeks.
Criticising the council, a Labour aide said they found it “extraordinary”, adding that Gordon Brown, when told about it, had decided to go ahead without the press, “because he didn’t want to disappoint the parents and children”.
Climate change secretary Ed Miliband emerged, hoping to be seen to express a mature regret about the council’s action, only to be ambushed by Doyle, with some help from a tabloid reporter.
“Why don’t you come to the poorer parts of town?” Mr Doyle railed. “What is Gordon Brown doing to the pub trade? You don’t give a damn about the poorer people. You all just want to be film-stars.”
Miliband, who does rather look like a 1950s actor, made his escape as quickly as was decent, though Labour staffers stood glum as Doyle was enveloped by journalists, who heard about his business difficulties.
“I went bankrupt six years ago, and I am going to go bankrupt again, unless somebody helps. They tell us to get out there and work for ourselves, but then they do nothing to help us,” he declared.
“I am going to vote the Liberal Democrats, because they are different. It gives me hope. These Conservatives and Labour have done nothing for business. We’re all working for less than we had 15 years ago.”
Television cameras crowded around and producers stood on the footpath, debating with studios about going “live to Swindon” to interview Doyle, with comparisons already being made to Sam “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher.
Wurzelbacher became a sensation after he was filmed in Ohio questioning Obama about his small business tax plans, only later to be used by Republican candidate Senator John McCain as an example of middle-class America.
Since then, Wurzelbacher has put aside his tools and now spends much of his time giving motivational speeches.
In a bid to ensure that Doyle did not morph into Wurzelbacher, a Brown aide came out to offer him a meeting with the prime minister, once he had finished with parents and children.
Ten minutes later, the publican emerged pacified, giving the victory salute. “I was shaking, I thought he wouldn’t talk down to me, but he didn’t. He sat me down and he listened to me.” Labour staffers began to relax.
“They say he isn’t a human being. I found him to be more of a human being than anyone else I have met. I was blaming him, yes I was, but he is only one man. We can’t put everything on his shoulders,” the publican went on.
The Labour leader, he said, had promised that outgoing Labour MP Anne Snelgrove would help him to deal with demands for nearly £2,000 a month in rates from the local councils.
So would Doyle vote Labour: “Yes, yes, I think so. I was blaming, I was, but that’s was just my way to get to speak to him.”
The Labour leader can only hope that other voters are equally persuadable in the days ahead.
