ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

Winning in the land of the LibDems – a matter of perception and conscience

Karen Bradley was the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Manchester Withington at the last general election.  She now sends this canvass return from the London borough of Richmond-upon-Thames.

They’re well off and well educated, they admit that they’ve noticed a real improvement under this council but they can’t bring themselves to vote to retain it – because it’s a Conservative council.  That’s what I find when I knock on the doors of some of the residents of Richmond-upon-Thames, where I’m a candidate on 4th May.  There are two problems: perception and guilt.

Graeme Archer: From the frontline in Hackney

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Sunday 23rd April: Saturday was a beautiful day! So of course on Saturday I was uselessly at work in northern Italy. Sunday it rained all day, so of course I was out canvassing in Hoxton and Queensbridge wards in Hackney. What's this, you say, why not the ward where you're standing, Graeme, ie Victoria ward (right on the park, you know, with the lovely canal - "little Venice" they call it when it reaches Maida Vale, of course here it's just the Regent's canal; I dunno, why isn't Maida Vale known as Hackney's estuary? There's no justice is there?). We'll talk about Victoria LATER (candidates: yours truly, yours truly's other 'arf (the mighty Keith), and Steven Farquar). Here's a quick summary of the day. We were delivering pledge letters to postal voters (if you'd like to canvass with us: meet at the Cat and Mutton pub, Broadway Market E8, Monday 24th or any other evening, 7pm; call me on 07740 089 855 for directions, it's 12 minutes from Bethnal Green tube. You don't know what fun sin can be, until you've spent a night with Hackney Conservative Federation).

James Morris: From the frontline in Camden (II)

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We are entering what could be called the ‘fog of war’ phase of the campaign. Speculation is rife as to how well each party is doing and what they are doing in different wards. Will Labour’s vote fragment as in the general election of 2005? Will the Green’s spring a surprise? Will the Lib Dems make in roads into traditionally solid Labour wards? Is our vote increasing in the areas where we need to win? Nobody really knows the answer to any of these questions but they are questions which are pre-occupying the local candidates of all the main parties here in Camden right now.

In the Regent’s Park Ward we delivered 5,500 elections newsletters over the Easter weekend.  As many who have delivered in large council estates will know it is good to deliver early so that the trades buzzers give you access to the tower blocks. Once inside the high concentration of letter boxes gives you a sense of ‘delivery momentum’ an essential rhythm for the successful deliverer.  To the extent that local people here have not seen very much of the Conservatives in the last few years we have had some positive feedback on the newsletter; a few people have said to me that it is good that we are putting up a fight here; that we haven’t completely abandoned the place to Labour.

Adam Kellett: From the frontline in Croydon

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The London Borough of Croydon is seen as one of the Conservatives key targets for these Local Elections, and I am honoured to have been selected to contest Norbury ward. In theory it is Labour’s second most vulnerable ward, although the scale of demographic changes make comparisons with 2002 a risky business.

Labour have been in control of the Council for 12 years, and whilst most Norbury residents that have been there that long say it has gone downhill, many are new to the area and don’t know what it was once like. The general population drift is Southwards, with the result that the leafy wards of Croydon South are becoming more Conservative, whilst the wards of Croydon North and Central are receiving new residents from inner London Boroughs such as Lambeth and Southwark.

Norbury is an interesting case in that it is the most Northerly ward, but much of it could be described as leafy, and some areas are positively affluent. Sadly it has more than its fair share of “Champagne Socialists”. The good news from the doorsteps is that the Labour vote appears soft, with many “T’s” going down on the canvass sheets, whilst the “C’s” appear determined to turn out for us.

Labour are certainly worried about Norbury and put out several leaflets just before the election expense limits started. They also distributed a corny DVD that has been described as the worst home movie ever made. Cherie Blair and Ken Livingstone have also visited which is great news for us. No one seems to like her, and he has forced through a bus lane on the A23 that few wanted after one of his meaningless consultations.

James Morris: From the frontline in Camden

In the first of our local election Canvass Returns, James Morris reports from Camden.  If you would like to tell other ConservativeHome readers about your doorstep campaigning please email tim@conservativehome.com.  Please feel no need to follow James' format.  Please express yourself in your own way.

While the wider world debates climate change, ending child poverty and solving the problems of Africa the issues coming on the doorstep in the local election campaign here in Regents Park (in the London Borough of Camden) are a little more prosaic but no less important: the state of the common corridors in a council block which haven’t been cleaned for weeks; hypodermic needles littering a local alleyway; the inefficiencies of the Council housing department.

I am standing in the local elections in the London Borough of Camden in the Regents Park ward. It is rock solid Labour ward.  It is a ward which encompasses one of the most affluent areas in London – the outercircle of Regents Park where Sven Goran Erikkson lives with Nancy D’Olio and the Arsenal footballer Robert Pires (don’t think either of them are on the electoral register!) and some of the capitals most socially deprived areas in and around the Regents Park Estate. The ward also contains a substantial Bengali community.