Govan by-election special, Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon loses Govan by-election, the ‘Fall of Sturgeon Empire’, no SNP Cllr in Govan, ‘Night of Shame’ as SNP direct abuse to independent candidate at polling station

Dear All

Yesterday was a ‘day of days’!

It was the ‘Fall of the Sturgeon Empire’.

The winner of the Govan by-election was Labour Party member, John Andrew Kane, who along with the party ran a remarkable, well organised and slick campaign.

The Labour Party deserved their win, they flooded the Ward with their activists, and it certain showed in the end result.

Labour was quick to claim the morale-boosting victory over the SNP.

As to George Laird, well, I didn’t come last.

During the day, I was subject to SNP abuse at polling station, unfortunately for the SNP abuser, a local woman who was chatting with me told him to ‘shut the fuck up’ and ‘mind your own fucking business’ when he shouted at me not to talk to her. 

She really didn’t like that and let rip.

So, that tactic backfired on the SNP.

The next thing the SNP did was to make a malicious complaint to the polling station staff that I was harassing people.

That tactic also backfired on the SNP as when the Police turned up and asked if everything was okay, I related the incident, they asked me if I wanted to file a complaint, I choose not to, the guy was an angry wee man with a massive chip on shoulder, God is punishing him enough.

So, having failed to silence me, the next thing to happen was the SNP putting 7 people at the same gate that I was standing at, normally; you would have a single activist through-out the day, rotated out after a few hours.

That tactic backfired on the SNP as well; I continued to speak to my neighbours as they came along to vote.

Third time lucky for the SNP!

No, everything the SNP did; didn’t have any effect on how I campaigned.

While standing in this campaign I was subject to a vile Nationalist supporter's hate campaign which no other candidate endured in this contest.

That failed to work also, oh dear, how sad, never mind. 

Rather than the SNP clique having a laugh at my expense, it was the opposite, I set myself goals, and I completed all of them.

As a first time candidate I knew that winning was not possible, however, my goal was to prove I was a credible candidate, run an effective campaign which both Labour and SNP couldn’t fail to notice.

On the doorstep talking to neighbours, I ran a positive campaign on local issues.

One of my goals was to take votes from the SNP in Govan, that goal was achieved; I took SNP votes away from them and spoke to many people about why they shouldn’t vote SNP.  

Govan is now, the only electoral ward in the city without any Nationalist Councillor.

What goes around comes around.

When I attended the count, I was hoping not to finish last, and to my surprise I was eliminated at stage nine. 

The Team Sturgeon clique where looking terribly upset, like little upset budgies without access to trill.

The ‘Hunter legacy’ is gone in Govan.

Normally, SNP usually produce a better campaign, this campaign wasn’t well organised from what I saw, at Govan Cross on the Saturday, they even couldn’t position their stall in the right place. Can't position a wallpaper pasting table, oh dear, how sad, never mind. 

I saw many of Team Sturgeon’s little gang who previously wouldn’t be caught dead doing real activism and it showed, and I am not talking about the angry wee Pollok activist from earlier.

Councillor Gordon Matheson, Labour leader of the council said:

"There's no way the SNP can spin their way out of this dramatic result.  What odds would the bookies have given a year ago on Govan ward being SNP-free? With less than 12 months until the referendum, support for the nationalists has slumped in Glasgow. Councillor John Kane joins a strong Labour administration which continues to focus on the issues that matter to people, not the abstraction of separatism."

I had a quick chat with many of the Labour people who seemed genuinely surprised how high I finished especially when they knew the situation I faced.

On the doorstep talking to my neighbours, particularly women, I found that Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is still Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

As well as the normal Nicola Sturgeon’s an arsehole comments from mostly women, my favourite comment came from a woman who said that Nicola Sturgeon needed to get her eyebrows done. I laughed along with her husband; well politics is a funny old game.

Labour has suffered two historic parliamentary by-election defeats in Govan to the SNP, these things happen; however, yesterday's result was the latest of a disappointing run of results for nationalists.

The destruction of the SNP on the ground in Govan proves exactly what I have been saying for some time; there is a genuine lack of talent in the SNP.

Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon invested a lot of political capital in an SNP win and just like the Glasgow University result; she failed to deliver a victory.

And Nicola Sturgeon is going to lose the Scottish independence referendum, not smart enough.

My former SNP colleagues looked upset when they saw me, some looked angry from the distance, but the overall feeling was of their depression at the count, they sat in a row heads down like sparrows on a telephone pole wire at one point.

I had a great night, all objectives achieved.

The ‘Hunter’ legacy in Govan is gone.

Taxi for Hunter junior, taxi for Hunter junior!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University