Bermondsey thirty years later

[afleitch]

44.2% swing, the highest in by-election history.

It's a complicated election. I looked through the literature a while back after a Lib Dem friend claimed that the worst smearing probably came from John O'Grady the 'Real Bermondsey Labour' candidate. His literature is fairly mild mostly making inferences to Tatchell's 'militant' tendency so it doesn't compare the Simon Hughes' 'Straight Choice' or a cartoon of him punching Tatchell in a boxing ring.

O'Grady was apparently doing well until the end of the campaign which was around the time the Liberals upped the anti. However Tatchell was an awful candidate and ran an awful campaign and tried to retreat back into the closet. In terms of British elections, it's no Miranda Grell. The campaign even pales in comparison to the openly homophobic campaigns you still find in the States today.