The biggest Election bribe of all time?

[max_tranmere]

I saw something in a book about the Humber Estuary in the north-east of England, and about the enourmous bridge that spans it. It describes this bridge as an amazing engineering feat and that it was the longest bridge in the world when it was built in the late-1960's. It holds the title of the fifth longest bridge on earth today. This interested me and I thought I would read about it online. The bridge has a tower at either end and is so long that, even though both of the towers are exactly vertical, the distance between the tops of them is slightly differnt from the distance between the bottoms of them because of the curve of the earth.

But I was kind of surprised at how this incredible bridge ended up there. That area of the country may have needed a bridge but so do numerous other places. Generally things like this end up in or near very big cities, by very significant motorway networks, etc. But Hull? No offense to the people of the area but why there, I thought. I mean, are they next going to build the world's tallest building in Taunton? Or many the world's most expensive and complex underground railway underneath Norwich?

My research revealed that Horold Wilson's government in the late-1960's had no majority and the MP there, and this seat of Hull was very marginal, suddenly died. In order to save his Government, Wilson sent his Transport minister Barbara Castle to Hull and the locals were told that if they vote for the Labour candidate in the forthcoming by-election in Hull, the Labour government would build them the world's longest bridge, which would link their town to the other side of the Humber Estuary and cut the driving distance from Hull to Grimsby by 50 miles. The locals were impressed, Labour won back the seat at the by-election, and Harold Wilson and his cronies continued in office.

This is incredible and proves that politicians will do anything, and spend untold amounts of public money, to keep themselves in office. Can anyone think of a bigger election bride EVER in British history than this? I can't.

[jimslip]

Margaret Thatcher flogging off council flats and everything else that the tax payers of this country had paid for, BT, British Gas, British Rail etc.

The big free for all, where Thatch sold to us what we already owned!!cigar!

[Bob Singleton]

Nicely spun.

A bridge crossing the Humber had been mooted since the 1930s, so the story you tell, that, in a desperate attempt to shore up his Government, Wilson suddenly thought of building a bridge to garner votes, is somewhat far fetched even by the standards of your normally febrile imagination!

Wikipedia is NOT a reliable source of information, and people with your level of stupidity should be kept well away from it lest you believe everything to be found there.

For a start, at the time of the Hull North by-election in early 1966, Wilson still had a majority (albeit only 4), so for you to say "My research revealed that Harold Wilson's government in the late-1960's had no majority" shows just how flawed your research is.

If I were back at Uni marking student's papers, you'd get a D for your efforts.

[max_tranmere]

There were winners and losers with the council house sales. If you go to Barking or Dagenham in Essex for example they regard Maggie as a saint. I remember her going there electioneering, in the early-2000s I think, and she was getting a heroes welcome.

So many people there, and in other places where working class people for the first time had the opportunity to own their own homes - and it being an investment for them which they could profit from selling later - were and still are very pleased she did it.

I always remember Harold MacMillan saying that Thatcher was 'flogging off the family silver'. As I said on another post some months back when this came up, he should have noted that it was 'the family' who were buying it back also.

[jimslip]

These were the country's assets and not for Thatch or anyone else to flog off for votes.

[max_tranmere]

I was always of the view that she sold off council houses to save the Govt money, and sold off the Utilities to break monopolies which would bring in competition and therefore provide a better deal for the public as through competing against rivals companies within these sectors would trim their prices and provide a better product. As far as I know that was her thinking, how could she have got more votes out of it - other than by, I suppose maybe through creating a larger middle class, the 'property owning democracy' as some called it, those new 'middle class people' might be inclined to vote Tory. Taxes were able to be cut through money raised from these things which helped her I guess.

[Nob3y]

Dagenham and Barking are no longer in essex.
They used to be before the war but since greater london was expanded after the war the boarder with essex was pushed out and now does not start until past the london borough of havering.
The address however still has essex in it.Quite why the address wasnt changed over to a london post code must have been down to eiher cost or the simple fact they couldnt be bothered.

[planeterotica]

I can remember when the bridge was opened as i was truck driving at the time and use to make regular runs to Hull, it was a godsend to anyone who use to make that journey and was long overdue !wink!

[max_tranmere]

When the Greater London Suberbs were established in, I think, the 1960s, many areas became part of London but bizarelly remain part of the Home Counties too. If you head out of south-east London, from Eltham on the A2 you are in Kent as soon as you hit Bexley - this place has a Kent postcode but is in Greater London and has been for nearly 50 years. The same is true of Crayford. It is only just before you get to Dartford that you see a large statement sign next to the hard-shoulder of the A2 stating "KENT", meaning you are officially entering the county. All these areas around the edge of London are sort of in London and sort of in the Home counties too. You are right they should have officiallly changed it, not kept it half and half.

[max_tranmere]

It's interesting that you remember it before and after the bridge was built. The saving in the travel time must have made a huge differnce to journeys around that region. And the thing was only constructed so a Labour Prime Minister could keep himself in office!

I heard once that during the Winter Of Discontent in 1979 Hull became known as 'siege city' as nothing went in and nothing came out. All the strikers had to do was block the Humber Bridge and another main road into the city and the place was sealed off.