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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 07 November 2008

From left: Utah resident Natalie Dansie with Cllr James Murray, Islington resident and Labour Party member John Greenshields, and Labour party member Tim Nuthall

Makes a change: Town Hall rivals united by the Obama campaign

AMERICA’S president elect, Barack Obama, has brought a moment’s harmony to the bitter Lib Dem/Labour Town Hall in-fighting – by uniting two opposing Islington councillors.
While they may not agree on politics in Islington, across the Atlantic, Lib Dem councillor Lucy Watt and Labour’s councillor James Murray were able to put their differences aside to fight on the same side for Obama.
Cllr Murray went door-knocking in Las Vegas and watched the results with the Nevada State Democrat Party at the Rio Casino.
He said: “The east coast had finished counting before we’d finished knocking on doors. Obama had just got over the magic number of seats when we finished. I was thrilled.”
He added: “America has a different feel, you feel there’s a sort of right-wing undercurrent you don’t have much in Islington. I wanted to help because we need a good progressive leader across the world.
“There’s a strong connection between Labour and the Democrats and between the unions.”
Both councillors paid for their own trips and went away during the council’s half-term break.
Cllr Watt, who originally went over to New York to support Alex Bols – governor of St Aloysius and Ambler Primary School – in the city’s marathon.
She joined the campaign trail in Pennsylvania, a swing state.
She said: “I’ve been really excited by Barack Obama. He believes in involving people, and was against the war in Iraq.
“He is trying to build a new political consensus, a middle ground, without compromising on issues that really matter, like the environment and social equality.”
She added: “It’s amazing to see Bush go – but for him to be replaced by Obama is the greatest thing I have witnessed in my adult lifetime.
“The top job in the world has really gone to the top man this time.”

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