Nine days until Crewe and Nantwich vote. On CentreRight yesterday evening Louise Bagshawe described the buzz of activity on the ground. Today's national newspapers also carry a number of reports on this important by-election. David Cameron was there again yesterday and attacked Labour's attempt to fight a class war-based campaign. Labour do, however, now appear to be retreating a little from this much-derided approach. Google click ads paid for by Labour were entitled 'Tory Boy Timpson'. They are now using 'Tamsin Dunwoody - one of us' instead. ...Even though she lives in Wales! Labour are also having problem with their candidate's name. They've corrected it now but they mis-spelt Tamsin as Tamsyn on the official campaign website:
It's not as bad as the "excellance for all" that recently appeared on one Labour site.
Ben Brogan noted yesterday that all frontbenchers risk their job if they don't campaign at least three times. Candidates are also under pressure. They received this message from John Maples MP:
"We expect those candidates to help unless you have some compelling excuse. We are keeping a record of who helps and how much, so make sure you stay in our good books!"
One candidate who has been active in Crewe described the email as "clumsy bullying".
37 people have now pledged to come on the ConservativeHome London to Crewe coach. There's still room for more! If you cannot make it to Crewe & Nantwich in person, you can help out either at the CCHQ call centre or by making calls from home. To confirm, please send an e-mail to [email protected] with “call centre” or “home calls” in the subject line.
Posted below is a latest Tory leaflet. The two-sided communication targets the bread and butter issues of tax and living costs. Click on the images to enlarge them.