No, King was a good constituency M.P in that she was good at constituency work. She voted differently to what her constituents wanted over Iraq but that is not the same thing.
During Galloway's stint as Hillhead/Kelvin's M.P he had a reputation for being bloody atrocious at constituency work. He hardly ever held surgeries, hardly ever responded to letters etc, and spent most of his time getting a tan in Portugal.
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Dunno about Keighley; we did well across the textiles marginals (even Woolas got re-elected) with the exception of Rochdale (where some pretty foul stuff went on as well...) it might well have been closer than it was had they not run, although I think Cryer would have hung on.
The BNP have done pretty well in Barking recently (having a counciller or two) and Hodge is a very, very controversual M.P
Controversial on account of what.
Re: King. Well, those Bangla Deshis on the street in the pre-election coverage were sort of like "Well, the only times she's
ever shown up were to celebrate the area's Jewish past, surrounded by bodyguards." Which does not sound as if she ever developed the sort of bond that good constituency work is supposed to create. I don't know about Galloway. Anyways as I've pointed out I wouldn't have voted for him. Withdrawing now is not a sane policy, for one thing. I'd have likely voted for Respect in Sparkbrook & Small Heath anyways, but only because the candidate was a Muslim
woman and the British parliament needs those (same reason I'd have voted Labour in Brent East). Oh, and because Godsiff is Godsiff.
