Conservatives and Liberal Democrats may be in alliance, but in north Yorkshire they are still enemies, writes MARK HENNESSY
HOWARD KEAL sat in a coffee shop on Malton’s sun-drenched square on Saturday, where hundreds mingled and enjoyed the tastes of cheeses from the Dales and organic pork – and seethed.
Keal, the Liberal Democrat candidate in the Thirsk and Malton byelection, to be held next Thursday, is bidding for a rare triumph for his party in a land known more for the bucolic charms of James Herriot than politics red in tooth and claw.
The election in the constituency, which should have been held on May 6th with the other 649 House of Commons constituencies, was postponed after the UK Independence Party candidate, John Boakes, died last month.
The Conservative candidate, Anne McIntosh, should win here, since this has been Tory territory for decades: it was briefly captured by Elizabeth Shields for the Liberal Democrats in a 1986 byelection, but possession returned in a year.
However, two-thirds of its territory is new to her, since her previous seat disappeared in a boundary review, though she ousted John Greenaway, who had represented the Malton end of the new constituency when he was MP for Ryedale.
Not everybody is happy that she did. Last September, Conservative members attempted to throw her off the ticket; but she survived, though passions still run deep, if quietly, about her success over Greenaway.
On Saturday, Malton’s Conservative Association carried just one tiny McIntosh election poster in its window, but her place on the Conservatives A-list of favoured candidates has ensured the presence of senior party figures such as William Hague.
Keal, on the other hand, has not enjoyed such support from his leader, Nick Clegg: “Well, he is busy right now, but you might ask him to come when you see him,” he says, just a little dryly.
Relations between McIntosh and Keal are poisonous. Last Thursday, during a bad-tempered public hustings in St Michael’s Church in Malton, McIntosh alleged that Keal had taken £40,000 in council expenses.
Keal, however, points out that he gets a £3,500-a-year councillor’s allowances, as does everyone else, before quickly pointing out that McIntosh was one of those MPs who had to pay back expenses.
Indeed, McIntosh’s decision to attack Keal can be put down to his focus on her conduct, with his website listing her questioned claims and the fact that she was one of 21 Conservative MPs to vote against expenses reform in 2008.
The election is the first to be held following the creation of the coalition, but, also, the first where the public will have been given some of the detail of the spending cuts to come. Chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne will today outline £6 billion worth of cutbacks, with a sizeable proportion coming from regional development bodies, such as the one working in Yorkshire.
During a weekend visit to support his party’s Thirsk-born, but London-resident candidate, Jonathan Roberts, former Labour deputy prime minister John Prescott urged voters to vote against the government.
“Voters here are in the unique position of voting on a manifesto that was never put to the electorate. It’s like a referendum. There are a lot of disappointed Liberals here, and likewise Tories.
“This is a chance like all byelections for people to say, ‘Hang on a minute’,” said Prescott, who brought his Prescott Express campaign bus left idle since May 6th out for one final tour before he heads for the House of Lords.
So far national issues have not intruded too obviously. Instead, the locals are worried about jobs; farming’s future and the high cost of housing for locals facing competition from holiday home owners.
“We need a council tax on holiday homes. Charge them enough to deter people from buying; and the income from those who have enough money not to worry about the bill would pay for affordable housing,” said Keal.
UKIP candidate Toby Horton acknowledges that the district “has a very strong Conservative tradition”, but he goes on, “they are now part of what is essentially a soft-left coalition”.
Thursday’s result will be examined closely for signals about what it might mean nationally, but, particularly, for the Liberal Democrats, who have benefited from tactical voting in the past.
Using figures from the 2005 election, the Conservatives should enjoy a 14,000 majority in the constituency over Labour – though Keal insists that Labour will not figure significantly this time.
"For the first time in decades it is possible to vote for the Liberal Democrats in government, and it is a fantastic feeling to be able to knock on the doors and say that," he told The Irish Times.
His party’s influence has already been felt: “We are the moderate, constraining and restraining force on the Conservatives. They would have taken a lurch to the right if they had got in on their own.”
Though the bookmakers have him as an outsider, Keal takes comfort from a May 6th council byelection in Malton’s sister town of Norton, where a Liberal Democrat candidate beat a Conservative.
“I have a strong record here: on local flood defences in Malton,” said Keal, whose own house was twice ruined by floods in 1999 and 2000. “That is what got me involved in local campaigning.” His fight to get to the Commons has come at a cost, since he has been working practically full-time on politics since he was selected as a candidate three years ago, without pay.
His wife Di’s salary from her job with the Alzheimer’s Society has paid the bills since: “The last family holiday was four years ago, so all of the family have sacrificed. I had better win, hadn’t I?” he said.