BY-ELECTIONS BLOG REPORTS FROM HARTLEPOOL

By-elections Blog has been in the thick of the action in Hartlepool on the final Saturday of the campaign.

We approached Hartlepool from the South along the A689. The fields were full of orange and black diamonds which must be worrying for Jeremy Middleton.

As the fields gave way to the houses, the diamonds had to compete for space with some huge photo-posters proclaiming "Wright on your side", while the bill boards had been bought up by UKIP.

I did see two Conservative posters and even one yellow Loony party poster caught my eye.

All of this wet my appetite for what was to come as we moved along York Road.

The curbside barriers near the Middleton Grange shopping centre had been hi-jacked by Batman and UKIP, who had tied large yellow banners to them.

If these had failed to grab your attention then the noise from three or four loud hailers and the sight of Batman & Co. battling for space among the stalls of half a dozen other candidates could leave nobody in any doubt that the by-election circus was in town.

We parked the car and walked to Middleton Grange. Cat women handed us a leaflet followed closely by Batman & Robin. They were all supporting Paul Watson, the Fathers 4 Justice candidate who was
mingling among the shoppers, wearing a purple suit and carrying a large purple flag.

The next encounter was with a chap from UKIP. His leaflet said:

"Vote UK Independence Party and get our country back"
and
"Vote for Stephen Allison - The local man with Hartlepool's best interests at heart"

Next came the first of the stalls, One man from the Middleton camp, sat at a poster covered table, was handing out leaflets:

"And remember, according to a recent opinion poll for Channel 4 News, the Lib Dems are 33% behind Labour in Hartlepool. They can't win here, so a vote for them is a wasted vote"

I'm not sure that says much for what a vote for the Conservative would be worth given that the same poll put them 40% behind Labour, but there you are.

The next stall was Respect. They had stickers, badges and a large newspaper style leaflet proclaiming

"VOTE JOHN BLOOM - SAVE OUR HOSPITAL"

Other issues covered include: "Make Hartlepool a NO GO area for toxic dumping" and "Bring the troops home". There is also a message from George Galloway about Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Opposite the Respect stall we found Iris Ryder, the Green Party candidate, who was being careful only to hand out leaflets to those who asked for them. Given that most of the other leaflets being handed out were ending up on the ground, this seemed like a good idea for the party most associated with saving the planets resources and recycling.

She had a few words to say about this and also talked of "dirty tricks" by her opponents, such as disappearing placards while her back was turned. The leaflets set out the Greens policies on The Ghost Fleet, Hospital Closure, War & Terrorism, Migration, Europe, Jobs and Nuclear Power.

Next came Labour and the Lib Dems, who seemed to be fighting for the same spot. The Lib Dems were handing out leaflets about the Hospital:

"Labour's former Council Leader admits that they will not rule out closure of the hospital in the long term"

This was combined with collecting more signatures for their

"Save Our Hospital" petition.

Labour's approach was to hand out CD's containing the "Drunk, flanked by an angry dog or undressed" message from "Jody come lately".

Last but not least there was the English Democrats candidate, complete with his England flag and coffin. "Your Country Needs Your Vote" he shouts while handing out leaflets calling for an English parliament and a St. George's day bank holiday.

It was time to take a look at the party offices, which are all to be found in, or just off, York Road.

We started at the UKIP office, then came the Greens and Labour, which is in South Road. Here we found some demonstrators from the Pensions Action Group, with placards and leaflets. They were protesting about their treatment under the Labour government.

"Labour stole my pension" said one board while others depicted Tony Blair as Dick Turpin.

Next comes the Respect office complete with a double decker bus, which spent most of the afternoon driving up and down the main street blasting out that old Blues Brothers song - "Respect".

They were keen to advertise their evening of film and discussion, with film director Ken Loach and George Galloway, to be held on Tuesday evening.

Only two offices to go and next was the Liberal Democrats. Here we found Batman in action again. Fathers 4 Justice were protesting about Jody Dunn, who works in the field of Family Law in her job as a barrister. The empty building across the road has been taken over by the Labour Party who have decorated it with a series of large posters attacking the Lib Deems as being soft on yobs, drugs and crime.

The final stop was the Conservative office. No protests here, maybe this message to Batman did the trick?