A rather good distant second

A distant second place might not be an obvious electoral trigger for pleasure, but given what an electoral desert much of east London has been for the Liberal Democrats for a long time, not only to stand a candidate and fight an election campaign, but also to top it all by finishing second is a promising sign of rejuvenating grassroots. This isn’t anything like the party’s past heydays, but progressing back to contesting elections and not finishing bottom of the pile is far from trivial progress in many areas.

Jonathan Calder recently rightly talked about how the Liberal Democrats need more good third places. Sheree Miller and the Boleyn ward team has gone one better and got a second place:

Labour: 1,440 (72%, +6%)
Sheree Miller (Lib Dem): 181 (9%, +9%)
Conservative: 171 (9%, -12%)
Green: 117 (6%, +6%)
Ukip: 78 (4%, +4%)
Independent 10 (1%)