Who Exactly Are They? Norwich North

Next in our random tour is Conservative held Norwich North, recently changing hands in the 2009 By-election following Ian Gibson's (Lab) resignation during the expenses debacle.

By-election result

Chloe Smith (Conservative): 13591 (39.5%)
Chris Ostrowski (Labour): 6243 (18.2%)
April Pond (Liberal Democrat): 4803 (14.0%)
Glenn Tingle (UKIP): 4068 (11.8%)
Rupert Read (Green): 3350 (9.7%)
Craig Murray (Honest Man): 953 (2.8%)
Robert West (BNP): 941 (2.7%)
Bill Holden (Independent): 166 (0.5%)
Howling Laud (Loony): 144 (0.4%)
Anne Fryatt (NOTA): 59 (0.2%)
Thomas Burridge (Libertarian): 36 (0.1%)
Peter Baggs (Independent): 23 (0.1%)
Majority: 7348 (21.4%)

Current MP:

Chloe Smith (Conservative)
Website: www.chloesmith.org.uk





They Work For You Profile: www.theyworkforyou.com

Born 1982, Ashford. Educated at the University of York. Former aide to Gillian Shephard and Bernard Jenkin, proir to her election worked in professional services. First elected as MP for Norwich North 2009 by-election. Chloe lives in Norwich and enjoys cycling and playing badminton at a city club in her spare time. Chloe passionately enjoys the arts.



John Cook (Lab)
Website: http://norwichlabourparty.org.uk/johncook/ 
John was born and brought up in Norwich North constituency, in Thorpe St Andrew, attending St Williams Primary and Thorpe St Andrew High schools.
Over the years, John has served the local community as a scout leader, school governor, a Parish, District and County Councillor. John worked closely with Dr Ian Gibson from 1990, and was election agent to both Ian Gibson and Charles Clarke at the 1997 General Election.
Before taking up a paid post with Norwich Labour Party in 1996, John worked as a bank clerk, pensions clerk and Officer of Customs & Excise. He has been a trade unionist throughout his working life and a member of GMB for the past fourteen years.

 
David Stephen (Lib Dem)










Website: ?? Not mentioned on http://www.norwich.libdems.org/

David grew up in Luton and went to university in Cambridge and Essex but he has links with the Norwich area where he spent many holidays after his mother retired here. His eldest son married a Norwich girl, in Norwich, in 2004. If elected, he would move to the area.

(not much of a web presence other than a footnote on the Lib Dem national website).

  
Jess Goldfinch (Green)
Website: www.greenparty.org.uk

Jess is a 43 year old single mother of one daughter and works as a teaching assistant at a High School in Norwich North. She lives on Connaught Road and has been a Norwich resident for 12 years, during which time she was a City Councillor for Nelson ward from 2003 until 2006. A film fan, Jess is also currently writing a fun children’s book series on mental health.

  
Glenn Tingle (UKIP)
Website: www.ukip.org


An ex-Army medic with the Royal Army Medical Corps and runs a local construction company.

 


Bill Holden (Independent) 
Website: http://norwichnorth.com/ 

Educated at the Open University. Contested Norwich North 2005, 2009 by-election.


So that's Norwich North... Nice to see an independent running and this time it's the Liberals fielding the mystery candidate. This exercise is highlighting for me a real gap between the candidates and the electorate. If a reasonably web-savvy person is having problems getting any information about the people who are vying for my X on polling day then how many are voting blind?

I guess we tend to look for the logo rather than the name when we get our slip of cardboard at the village hall. We often cross the box for which party 'feels' right or to punish the party which has irritated us most recently. While MPs don't tend to oppose the party line (with some notable exceptions) I still feel it is worth knowing a bit about the person behind the rosette.

I find personality politics distasteful; voting for someone because they scrub up nice or speak emotively is a poor substitute for considering what they stand for. However the person who wins the seat will be the one you write to when your mum's care home is rubbish or the water company are screwing you for money you don't owe them. This is the person whose constituency clinic you'll be visiting if you're not happy about the bin collection or you want support for your charity endeavour. As such there needs to be a bridge between voters and election hopefuls.

I was impressed by the Green Party's endeavours in Norwich today; opening a mini cafe and ethical goods outlet on Dove St. with the opportunity to chat to the candidates. This kind of initiative, as well as good web campaign, helps to get people interested and makes the voter/ candidate relationship a more informed one.