I'll say it at the start: I'm no fan of the sort of campaign Labour is running in Crewe and Nantwich. As I think I've said before, I never even tell the electorate in our Ward that we have got an opponent, never mind give them credence by telling people who they are. The sort of negative campaigning that is currently taking place seems to me to be counter productive.... but is it?

The Liberal Democrats (and their forerunners the Liberals) have made an art form of it in by-elections for decades... with some considerable success. The campaign against Peter Tatchell by Simon Hughes in Bermondsey was a particularly nasty and spiteful example. Tatchell was badly treated by some in the Labour Party, it must be said, but Liberal canvassers wore "I've been kissed by Peter Tatchell" badges and distributed leaflets emphasising the need to make a "straight choice" were a disgrace. The subsequent attempts to justify those actions were pathetic. At least Hughes later admitted it was a wrong thing to do.

So to be lectured by Liberal Democrats about the Campaign in Crewe and Nantwich appears to go from low to new low... just about takes the biscuit! The Liberals invented lowlife election campaigns, and now seem to want to put the genie back in the bottle. I suspect they are getting their excuses in early.