They still don't get it, part 2174

I live in the costituency of Hendon. In the general election on 6 May it was a key Labour/Tory marginal, with Labour's incumbent, Andrew Dismore, trying to hold off the charge of Matthew Offord. He failed (after a recount) by 106 votes.

The fact of his defeat was hardly a surprise, given the general Tory gains. His response to it was another matter. Within hours he was talking about legal action to challenge the result. There may well be something in his claims of problems with postal votes and queues and other issues at polls (although he was hardly unique in suffering from those issues).

What was surprising was his claim that "I don't think there was anything me or my team could have done. If we had had more support in door knocking I think we could have won." That statement drips with the sort of misunderstanding by politicians that characterised the whole of the expenses scandal that beset the rotten Parliament.

The reason Dismore didn't get more Labour supporters knocking up the vote was because of their distate for the issues in which he became embroiled:

- the failure to declare an interest in 90 (ninety!) parliamentary questions he asked after returning from trips to Cyprus funded by the Republic of Cyprus Parliament;

- his view that despite representing an easily commutable seat 10 miles from Parliament (in North London) he needed to designate his flat there as his second home and claim £34,000 in second home allowances for it (whilst living in a flat in West London), before switching his main residence to Hendon; and

- his spurious attempts to justify both those positions (see linked articles), and the utter irony that he was actually in a position of authority with regard to MPs' standards at the time.

The fact people like me weren't actively supporting his campaign, the fact he didn't have more people knocking on doors, the fact he lost the seat, is due to the contempt people feel for the actions of him and his cronies through the expenses scandal, and their failure to hold their hands up to their responsibilities when found out.

I received a letter from Dismore, in response to a question about MPs' attempts to exempt themselves from the Freedom of Information Act to avoid expenses details being published, where he said:

"Personally, whilst I see this transparency as essential, I am not convinced that many people will be potentially interested in trawling through the records - certainly, to go through mine would be an extremely boring exercise, I think."

I received that on 5 February 2009, a couple of months before the Daily Telegraph broke the expenses story. Looking back, it seems likely Dismore was well aware that the public would find his expenses anything but 'boring'. Indeed, the public would probably take such an interest that he would find himself in trouble at the election.

I can't say I am pleased the Tories have 'won' the election. I can't say I am pleased progressive parties will now probably take a back seat. I can't say I have enjoyed the triumph of personality over substance of this election. But on a local, personal level, I am not sad that a man who played the system to extremes, tried to wriggle into a justification when found out, and then still didn't understand when defeated why traditional supporters hadn't lent him their support, got kicked out.