So I doubt many of you have been fixated by what's going on in British politics recently, but a little news.
An old friend of mine, Chloe Smith, has just been elected the Member of Parliament for Norwich North in a by-election (special election). Chloe is, at the tender age of 27, now the youngest member of the House of Commons, conferring upon her the title of Baby of the House (taken from Jo Swinson MP - a Lib Dem).
The US also has the Baby and the Father/Mother of the House: the Dean of the House of Representative is Rep John Dingell (D, MI-15) and the Senate Pro Temis Sen Robert Byrd (D-WV) is also the Dean of the Senate. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) is the Baby of the Senate, and in the House it is 27-year-old Aaron Schock (R, IL-18).
Chloe will take her place on the Green Benches in October, when Parliament returns from its record 82-day recess. She will be forced to refight her seat within the year - any time between October and June 4th 2010 - depending when the Prime Minister requests that the Queen dissolve Parliament and trigger a General Election.
The by-election was one consequence of the Expenses Scandal, which has dominated British politics this year. Many, many MPs were accused of fiddling their expenses, abusing their second homes allowance (including 'flipping' properties to avoid Capital Gains Tax) and generally taking liberties with taxpayers' money.
One of them, a generally well-thought-of chap called Dr Ian Gibson was hauled before the Labour Party's Star Chamber to answer to accusations he had let his daughter live rent free in his second home and then sold it to her for a mark-down price. He was considered to have been treated harshly by the Party, which allowed many MPs including Cabinet Ministers to get away with far, far worse. In an act of revenge, he resigned immediately, forcing a by-election that everyone knew Labour would lose.
Gibson had a majority of 5,500 - a healthy size that would withstand all but a landslide Conservative election victory. Chloe was a 50/50 shot against Gibson if the Tories had a reasonable (but not huge) polling lead, as he commanded a decent personal vote. As soon as he stepped down, Labour were thrown into disarray.
They chose 28-year-old Chris Ostrowski, a Christian Socialist who had been to university near Norwich. He was forced immediately to explain why he had been a Conservative party member only a few years earlier, before catching Swine Flu, putting off visits from Cabinet Ministers, and leading Labour to fall from 44% in 2005 to a mere 18.2% in the by-election. He was in hospital, so his wife gave his very gracious concession speech on his behalf.
The Lib Dems selected April Pond who rather ironically (after the expenses scandal in which MPs were claiming for Duck Islands and to have their Moats cleaned) was revealed to have a moat herself. Their famous by-election unit is looking rather the worse for wear since Lord Chris Rennard gave up the reins.
The Greens were looking at their best chance in a by-election ever - they are the second party on Norwich Council - but they could only manage 5th place in spite of a vry good candidate in Rupert Read. UKIP - the Eurosceptics - came 4th and the BNP 6th.
The Conservatives threw everything at this by-election, and it showed - on 2/3rds of the turnout at the last General Election, they increased their vote to 39.5% from 33%. Labour fell from 44% to 18.2%. Chloe enters Parliament with a majority of about 7,400 which should see her re-elected at the next General Election.
The 'swing' - movement of votes between the parties - was massive: about 16.9% from Labour to the Conservatives. If repeated nationally, most of the Labour Cabinet would lose their safe seats at the next election. Labour won a landslide in 1997 on a swing of only 10% (albeit from a higher base than David Cameron enjoys).
Unless something significant changes before the next General Election (like replacing the Prime Minister), Labour could be looking at their most devastating defeat in a General Eleciton since they became a major party. The Liberal Democrats' policy of 'equidistance' means that they are not capitalising on Labour's collapse any more than they did on the Conservative collapse in 1997. Rather the opposition to the more-liberal Conservatives is split between hardline Eurosceptics in UKIP, old socialists in Labour, liberals in the Lib Dems, ecologicals in the Greens, racists of the BNP and the nationalist parties of Scotland and Wales. The more fragmented that opposition, the better the Conservatives will do at the next election.
I'd like to wish Chloe the very best of luck as she looks to fill the shoes of Dr Ian Gibson. She's exceeded expectations in this seat, and has quite a career ahead of her.