If Richmond is to be seen as victory for a Progressive Alliance, Lib Dems must reciprocate.

The Liberal Democrats have produced a stunning byelection victory to unseat Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park, overturning a 23,000 majority to remove the former Conservative MP in a vote which they may well be seen as shifting the Byelection from the reason Goldsmith resigned. Opposition to the Heathrow expansion to a de facto plebiscite on the government’s Brexit plans.


In one of the more unusual and closely contested byelections of recent years, which may be used to support a Progressive Alliance  the Conservatives, Greens and Ukip stepped aside entirely. The Tories decided to not oppose Goldsmith, Ukip backed him and the Greens threw their support behind Olney and the Lib Dems/

According to Wikipedia

.The results in the EU referendum on 23 June 2016 were reported by local authority, and, as the constituency consists of parts of two local authorities, the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, the exact referendum vote in Richmond Park is not known. However, Chris Hanretty, a Reader in Politics at the University of East Anglia, estimated through a demographic model that Richmond Park had one of the dozen lowest 'Leave' votes in the entire country. His latest estimates suggest that 27.7% of Richmond Park voters voted 'Leave', and thus that 72.3% voted 'Remain'.

By-election 2016: Richmond Park^[57][58][59]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrat	Sarah Olney	20,510	49.68	+30.41
	Independent	Zac Goldsmith	18,638	45.15	-13.06
	Labour	Christian Wolmar	1,515	3.67	-8.67
	Monster Raving Loony	Howling Laud Hope	184	0.45	N/A
	Independent	Fiona Syms	173	0.42	N/A
	Christian Peoples	Dominic Francis Stockford	164	0.40	N/A
	One Love	Maharaja Jammu and Kashmir	67	0.16	N/A
	No label	David Powell	32	0.08	N/A
Majority			1,872	4.53
Turnout			41,367	53.44	-23.01
	Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative		Swing	+21.73

2015 general election[edit]

General Election 2015: Richmond Park^[60][61][62]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Zac Goldsmith	34,404	58.21	+8.5
	Liberal Democrat	Robin Meltzer	11,389	19.27	-23.5
	Labour	Sachin Patel	7,296	12.34	+7.3
	Green	Andrée Frieze	3,548	6.00	+5.0
	UKIP	Sam Naz	2,464	4.17	+3.0
Majority			23,015	38.94	+32.0
Turnout			59,101	76.5	-0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+16.0

This may well be used as an example of a Progressive Alliance something I fully endorse.

But if this is to continue then the Lib Dems need to stop tactics such as a fake newspaper put through his door. It’s more convincing than the usual literature used by political parties, and even goes as far as including reports from “a senior Gazette reporter” who does not exist. 

Goldsmith tactic ts in Richmond in the past have been controversial, but there is no excuse for this.

The Greens stood down in this Election and openly backed the Lib Dem candidate.

Hopefully we will see the Liberal Democrats reciprocate   in favour of the Greens, or will Richmond convince the Lib Dems that they do not need a "Progressive Alliance " and go it alone.

I welcome the Lib Dems  victory but lets be clear a Progressive Alliance must be more then just opposing Brexit or the Tories, but be forward thinking in many areas including the constitution.

It also means an end to the dirty tactics (successful as they are ) that the Lib Dems constantly use.