Stephen Tall

It’s official: I will be the Lib Dem candidate in the 3rd May Oxford City Council elections, standing in Headington Hill & Northway ward.

This was the letter awaiting me on my return from work today:

The last time I stood for election — in neighbouring Headington ward — was 2004. Here’s my election special Focus leaflet… complete with all your Lib Dem faves: a bar-chart with squeeze message, ‘Working hard all year-round’ slogan, petition slip, and pot-hole action.

Lib Dem Focus, Headington ward, Oxford City Council (May 204)

I guess it worked (I won 61% of the vote and, ahem, the biggest majority in the city that year). It was a distinctly happier occasion than the council elections two years previously when I narrowly avoided becoming a poster boy for Lib Dem misery.

For the sake of posterity, here’s the earliest campaigning photo I have on my computer — circa 2002, with my soon-to-be Headington ward colleague (and former tutor), David Rundle: