Zac Goldsmith is basically a good person. I think. His father, Sir James, wasn’t. But he shouldn’t be punished for that. You can’t choose your parents. Though if you are being selective, an offshore billionaire would be right up there with ‘loving, caring, nurturing’ on most lists.

So Zac was the Conservative Party MP for Richmond, posh place over in the SW of London. Not a million miles from Heathrow, making it convenient for the locals to whizz off regularly to their second homes in Grasse, Tuscany, Como, but far enough that its not THAT big a problem as it is to those who live in Hounslow.

Zac decided to stand to be mayor of London. But failed. Not just because he’s wetter than a thunderstorm in a rainforest but also because Sadiq Kahn was the better candidate. Never mind, he’s still an MP.

But he put his reputation on fighting the expansion of Heathrow. He was the ‘people’s anti-expansionist’ for that airport. And they decided to do just that; expand Heathrow. Zac was pissed, his own Conservative government passed it, against all his expressed wishes. So he resigned his MP-ness. So he could fight the constituency again, this time as an ‘independent’ on a ‘protect Richmond from Heathrow’ ticket.

Meanwhile, in case you missed it, we had Brexit. Ok, you would have to be dead to have missed it, but I’m just sayin’. Brexit. Zac was a big ‘out’ campaigner. Whereas Richmond, who he represented at the time, was 73% in favour of ‘remain’.

So Thursday’s by-election in Richmond was about 2 things. Heathrow’s expansion, which won’t happen for 10 years, if at all (the proposed runway thing has been bounced out of parliament numerous times before), and about Brexit.

The Lib Dems canvassed strongly on Europe. Massively. To the virtual exclusion of all else. Zac banged on about Heathrow, because its all he knows. Labour did nothing. Not relating to anything relevant; they’re stuck in 1917 Russia. The Tories didn’t field a candidate, out of respect to Zac. So the lib-dems won. The people of Richmond feel way more strongly about Europe than they do about a few more planes whizzing overhead.

That means the Libs now have about 10 mps. And they’re already talking about ‘landslides’ and ‘labour are finished’ and the next election. No-one learns; by-elections are for protest, general elections are never predicted by them.

Happy Saturday

A xxxx