There was evident apathy in a town that has seen better days, writes MARK HENNESSY, London Editor
WINSTON CHURCHILL gave his first speech as MP for Oldham from the steps of its old town hall, copied from the Temple of Ceres in Greece. Like much else in the Lancashire town, it has seen better days. Now blocked up, but draped with flags to cover up the worst of the decay, the building is in danger of collapse, though efforts have been made to slow its demise.
Pedestrians passing by yesterday seemed little interested in the Oldham East and Saddleworth byelection. In one pub, crowded even though it was just early afternoon, drinkers sat listening to a karaoke singer warbling, badly, his way through the lyrics of the UB 40 hit Kingston Town: “The night seems to fade/ But the moonlight lingers on/ There are wonders for everyone.”
On the street, a schoolboy called to another boy wearing a hoodie. “Were you not in today?” “No,” came the reply, “I couldn’t be bothered.” “Well, come on Monday, there’s a match on Wednesday.”
In Greens sandwich shop, a female customer chatted with counter staff about work: “Well, I need to get something with about 16 hours’ work. I’ve got to have some money coming in,” she said, with some desperation.
Throughout the constituency, a steady flow of voters came to the polling stations for the byelection caused by the ejection of Labour MP Phil Woolas from parliament for telling lies about an opponent.
The Liberal Democrats, who once held the seat for two years from 1995, stoutly insisted that Elwyn Watkins could take it back: “It’s going well,” said MP Tim Farron in the village of Saddleworth.
Like other Liberal Democrat MPs, Mr Farron has been a regular visitor to Oldham: “How long have I been here? Since November. In fact, you could say that I have been here since 1995.”
However, the scale of the Liberal Democrats’ campaign has irritated some voters: “They have put through an incredible amount of literature,” said Saddleworth resident Sheila Strutt, “It has been off-putting.”
However, the most obviously expensive campaign has come from the UK Independence Party, which wants to take the UK out of the European Union. Billboards are filled with exhortations to the locals to vote for its candidate, Paul Nuttall, while a large number of pubs in the town also seem to be on board his campaign.
On the road out to Saddleworth, a lone British National Party supporter stood on a busy junction, Union Jack in hand, urging drivers to vote for his party’s candidate, Derek Adams.
Though she voted Liberal Democrat last May, Ms Strutt has sympathy for the ousted Woolas: “Whenever we asked him to do something he always tried to help. He really tried to help. Maybe other candidates have said the same as he did, but it just came to light about him,” said Strutt, accompanied by her friend Michelle Scholes.
Just on the edge of the Saddleworth Moors, infamous because of murderers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, the village has been portrayed as the affluent end of a blighted constituency. “The way they all go on you’d swear that we were all millionaires, but we’re just ordinary people here. Me, I am just a peasant,” she said, with a chuckle as she left the polling station.