Each week a different PPC provides us with an insight into life as a candidate and gives us a flavour of their own campaign and interests. If you are a candidate and are keen to be featured, please email Jonathan Isaby.
This week we are featuring Priti Patel, who is candidate
for the newly-created constituency of Witham in Essex. Priti fought Nottingham North in 2005, but in Witham she will be defending a notional Conservative majority of 7,241 in a seat which draws on segments of four existing Conservative seats. You can read more about Priti and her campaign on her website.
Bank Holiday Monday 25th May
A funny day today in our household, as having been up most of the night with my "I don’t want to sleep" baby, I plan my week only having first organised baby and then husband for their week ahead; childcare, baby activities, provisions etc, followed by my day job bits, which even when on leave (for the elections) still must be maintained. Family and work sorted for the week, I then head into Witham to deliver election addresses and for the first time during the campaign I run into a Labour helper. We swap notes on how it’s been going and then the rain kicks in. All in all a typical British bank holiday!
Tuesday 26th May
I wake up early with no access to work email (which is a problem) and an issue to deal with (also a problem), but importantly we have blue skies so better weather for getting things done. I head straight out to campaign with my Chairman in his County Council patch. His patch is huge and we travel miles together covering remote rural farms to rural villages to new housing developments. We have at the same time met some really strong and remarkably upbeat supporters.
Wednesday 27th May I have spent this morning delivering leaflets and talking to people in the more challenging parts of Witham. Talking to parents during half term is always interesting as they are under pressure to keep the kids occupied and entertained which when you are on a very low income and have limited resources is not always easy. In the case of the parents I spoke to, they are more concerned about keeping their kids safe as opposed to politics. Many pointed out that the last few weeks have been a bad advert for everyone involved in politics and that there is "no trust out there for any of them anymore".
While our national politicians refer to "people’s anger" about the expenses issue, I am genuinely struck by the extent of people’s disgust and distrust towards politicians at every level because of what is going on. I share their disgust and it is clear that people here want to see the current wrongs corrected. If the people of Witham had their way, they’d been marching the politicians out of Parliament straight to the nearest Police Station - a view that I have difficulty disagreeing with.
Having explained that there will be new blood in Parliament after the next election and that we are not all the same, I leave that estate thinking that Westminster has a lot to answer for and question for the first time whether I really want to be associated with politics at all.
Thursday 28th May
Had a long chat with friends and my dad last night about the current political situation, all of whom despite their words of support and encouragement to me agree with the local sentiment here that all politicians should be barbecued!
So with that kind of encouragement, I can only stick with the plan today to cover off those parts of the constituency where election address delivery is still outstanding. So off to Silver End where I meet many retired former Crittall’s workers tendering their very beautiful gardens. Silver End is a distinctive local village and a real gem. It was built in the 1920s in the form of a garden village by Crittall's to house their workers. The houses are just fascinating to look at: 1920s style "modern" design, flat roofs and distinctive Crittall metal windows. This is really is a very distinctive part of the constituency which has a nostalgic feel to it. Back to office to help stuff pledge letters for our Witham Northern candidate and thank volunteers for their effort, time and dedication to the campaign. They have been real superstars!
The national news is again terrible regarding expenses (more resignations), however an issue of interest to me today is news from Europe about its role in responding to the financial crisis. There has been talk for a while about the creation of a single European financial regulator which in nutshell will bring the City under closer EU control and cut the role of the Financial Services Authority through this new EU regulatory machinery. In short, more regulatory power transferred to Brussels and it looks as if it is going to happen and soon. I can only assume that both the Government and the FSA were asleep at the wheel while these negotiations took place. That said, I do think that as we head towards polling day, we Conservatives will have to shout just that little bit louder about "putting Britain’s interests first".
Friday 29th May
Less than a week to polling day! Good job too. I’ve noticed that everyone at campaign HQ is counting down the days, plus weariness is starting to show all round. Even my tough, no nonsense Chairman is showing the signs of weariness too.
However, weariness is of course not helped by the hot weather (great though it is!) which makes the delivery of pledge letters in attire more suited to a British holiday resort rather than Terling’s idyllic country lanes interesting. I have however had very positive feedback while walking around (both sartorially and politically), which quite frankly in light of the current national political meltdown is good news, reassuring and weirdly motivating. Surely this can’t be a bad end to what has been quite a gruelling week?!
Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st May
Weekend should mean family time, but today two friends have kindly come up to help from London. It is also very hot, like heatwave hot, so it’s back to the summer wear and sun block for our delivery of pledge cards across parts of Witham Southern. Like any candidate I am happy to talk to anyone which is why Saturday can be quite a good day to see more people and have a general chat, although it has to be said that once again, politics is not registering very positively with those who I’ve been speaking too.
Having been out during what felt like the hottest part of the day, I decide to cool off by spending some time in the afternoon catching up on emails. Not a week goes by without someone making contact asking for assistance with an issue which is where our various councillors and existing MPs come into play. Some of the cases do make my blood boil, especially when you hear of instances of people being treated badly by parts of the state or having their concerns totally dismissed for no apparent reason. Most of May was dominated by two significant planning issues; new homes on a green field site and a proposed waste plant - both controversial with significant implications for the local community. This week road traffic and speed issues dominate; issues on which our local councillors have worked hard to deliver some important road safety measures in parts of the constituency.
The final week of the campaign will see us all working round the clock but it should be interesting and fun. As I sign off we are discussing the logistics for the various election counts as for the County Council elections our counts are spread across two days and three different locations. It’s been a hectic week and one which has nationally been overshadowed by the expenses issue. Winning back public trust in politics will not be easy, neither will turning our country around from this dreadful economic mess that we are all in - but then again when has our party ever run away from a challenge?
Next week's Diary will be written by Andrea Leadsom, PPC for South Northamptonshire. Last week we featured Diaries from Richard Graham (Gloucester) and Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire).
