LEMBIT Opik says he has been left heartbroken by his general election defeat – and will leave it to the people of Montgomeryshire to decide whether he returns to stand in future.
The former Liberal Democrat MP also said he has no regrets over his high profile media image, saying, ‘I cannot change who I am’.
Clearly shocked by his loss, Mr Opik said he was more upset about not being able to carry out work in Montgomeryshire than not being part of any potential Conservative Liberal Democrat coalition.
He said: “I was devastated to lose, not too much because of what’s happening in parliament, but because it brings all my jobs I was working on in Montgomeryshire to a sudden end. The best thing about the job was working in Montgomeryshire and on projects for the area.
“It’s heart breaking, all that stopped in an instant and I just didn’t expect it.
The worst part is not what’s happening in London but what’s not happening in Montgomeryshire.”
When asked if he felt the public had voted in reaction to his media image Mr Opik said: “I don’t know the answer to that question. I do know the overwhelming majority of people who live in Newtown voted for me.
A lot of people quite like having a high profile MP. I get work done with a smile on my face and the fact that the tory vote went up so much means that it cannot just be about me.”
He added: “It’s how I am and as I say, we don’t know if that worked against me or not so I don’t regret being the person I am and I don’t know how much the impact on my result was. There are plenty of people will tell you it is, but a number of the people who have said it are were not supporting me in the first place and had a vested interest in using it against me.
“The public need to judge that, not me.
“At the same time as being on those shows I saved 180 jobs in Newtown, helped create 100 jobs in Montgomery and got the Yorkshire Building Society to come to Llanidloes.
“If the people want a quiet politician who just does the basics and rarely appears on anything other than the odd political radio show then I am the wrong man, but if people want someone who is as big in politics as in life then I’m the guy – but the people have to decide. This is not about me, it’s about the people of Montgomeryshire.”
Mr Opik also told the County Times he had questioned whether he should have done more to refute some of the negative press stories about him.
He said: “I sometimes wonder if I should have fought back harder when lies were being written about me and what felt like a campaign of negativity was being waged in the press, but in a way it’s not in my nature to be confrontational or litigious.
“I cannot change who I am. I work hard, I spent more time in parliament than any other MP from Wales, I asked more Parliamentary questions than anyone else, and since I don’t have a family or children I don’t regret having a high profile.”
Mr Opik said that he had been surprised by the result but drew parallels with the 1979 election when Tory Delwyn Williams ousted the Liberal Democrat Emlyn Hooson on the back of a national surge to the Conservative party.
He said: “What made it so surprising was the size of the swing. My vote came down a little which we expected but the Conservative vote went up a lot which we did not expect. It is clear what happened, our data and his showed we had more support but fewer of my voters went out to vote than his. The conservative voters were far more motivated to vote for him than mine were for me. What we don’t know is if that was to vote against me or for him.
“It’s interesting to note there’s a parallel between 1979 and now. In both cases an unpopular Labour Government lost and a popular Conservative party gained and there maybe some similarities in that.”
Mr Opik said he had not yet decided whether he would attempt to win back the seat and would leave it to the local Lib Dem membership and the people of Montgomeryshire to decide.
He said: “My heart says yes, my head says wait and see what people want. If the local party want me to and it’s what the constituents feel. It’s not really about me, this is about the membership and the public and I will be completely guided by them.”