Zehra Zaidi was one of the Conservative candidates for the European Parliament in South West England at last Thursday's election. She records here her final week on the campaign trail and reflects on the results...
Monday
The final week of the European and local campaign kicked off on my birthday. Lots of fantastic birthday wishes left me smiling and on a high, but there was no time for celebrating as I headed off for a busy day of Gloucestershire campaigning.
Much of the day was spent in Stroud. Delivering leaflets in Cam & Dursley with the local PPC Neil Carmichael was a lot of fun. After one final steep climb in the torching heat, we headed to the Old Spot Pub in Dursley for a quick refreshment. Afterwards, I had a phone-in radio interview for Bristol University Radio to do in my oven-like car. We proceeded to Stonehouse to canvas for the superb local candidate, John Jeffreys. The day ended with birthday cake over my laptop – how many emails can you get in a day?
Tuesday
Traffic problems can seriously frustrate one’s day as I found out today. To make matters worse, my Tom Tom was playing up. Luckily for me, I love maps and plotted out alternative routes in the good old fashioned way.
The day began in South Gloucestershire at the majestic Tudor House Conservative Club in beautiful Chipping Sodbury. Whilst delivering and slightly out of breadth, I got a media call (not easy to take in the heat on a pavement holding bundles of leaflets!). Many residents were out in their gardens and plenty seemed to want to chat about Europe. One lady asked me what UKIP actually stood for besides one or two simplistic messages and what their MEPs actually did in Brussels?
Next stop was Kingswood to help Chris Skidmore, the local PPC. We had a storming delivery session, getting through more than what had been planned. Chris has put in a lot of hard work in Kingswood and it is showing – some of his campaigns have really hit the nail and the jobs club has been a great success. I then made my way to Bristol for the last in a series of public hustings - this time at the Counterslip Baptist Church.
Wednesday
The eve of polling had me scheduled to help in Chippenham. I spend the day out and about with three top unitary council candidates: Pete Hutton, Martin Singlehurst and Elizabeth Kennedy. It was an exceptionally efficient day but I did find it strange to keep hearing news of Labour’s implosion – even at the doorstep – the Cabinet seemed to be falling like flies. One local resident said, “When will they stop bickering and start running the country?”; another sadly said, “It is this lame duck Government that’s ruined the economy, and the country”; and somebody else remarked, “Do they know they have an election on Thursday?”. Quite (to all three).
Just before the evening session, we shared some eclairs and Mr. Kipling French Fancies over a cup of tea at the Chippenham and North Wiltshire Conservatives office. They are two of the many associations that I will miss not seeing on a regular basis now that the European campaign is at an end – but I will be back to help the excellent PPC Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones soon!
Thursday
Polling day was spent in my own constituency of the Forest of Dean. I started off in the early hours in Newent. After voting myself, I picked up literature and got out the vote in my village, Longhope, which is the largest in the Mid Dean county ward (and held by my own association chairman no less). After finishing there, I had half an hour “spare” – I went home, had a cup of tea (tea featured heavily during this campaign) and wrote a quick article on why people should use their vote. I pressed send on the email and literally ran out the door to meet Brian Robinson, our council candidate for Brooksdean.
Whilst campaigning, we started to hear some muffled noise coming through loudspeakers – it was the Labour get out the vote machine or rather, get out the vote car. One resident came up to me from his garden and asked if “my lot” were making that racket. “Typical of some politicians staying in their air-conditioned car, not pulling their sleeves up by knocking on doors and talking to people” he said. I handed him a leaflet – I just had had more proof if I ever needed of how important it was to get out and talk to locals, explain your policies and be seen actively within the constituency. Our Deputy-Chair (Political) joined us for the final hour of campaigning. As we wrapped up, we phoned around the constituency to see if anyone else needed help. All covered. I went home quite restless, but in the knowledge that we had done all that we possibly could.
Friday
After travelling for miles across the South West region (the largest in England) during this campaign, the verification and count for the Forest of Dean was being held five minutes from my house. Spirits were up. In between the verification and the count, I did a quick interview with Forest of Dean Community Radio.
The results brought jubilation – we won 8/9 of the available seats on the County Council (and in the last ward, lost out by only 200 votes). In Brooksdean where I was yesterday, the sitting Labour County Councillor and PPC was pushed into third place. Wow. News started flooding in of Conservative gains across the South West. The hard work seemed to have paid off, big time. We retained control of Gloucestershire and Dorset, gained seats in Bristol, won control in the newly created Wiltshire unitary authority, seized control in Devon and Somerset and became Cornwall's biggest party. We had trounced both Labour and the Liberal Democrats and our prospects for the general election seemed even better. News filtered in from other parts of the UK - the political map of the UK seemed to be awash with blue.
The day was not finished. First there was a Conservative briefing session for new councillors and later in the evening, I attended an association management meeting and executive meeting. One thing must be noted: in a campaign, you’re as good as the people around you and in the Forest of Dean, we had the most united, hardworking team you could find – and it showed in the results.
Back at home, I was glued to the TV. If anyone wanted to know how not to conduct a Cabinet reshuffle, refer to Gordon Brown. Caroline Flint resigning mid-press conference was classic. Labour lost its Local Government Secretary of State before polling day and now its’ Europe Minister before the Euro results were declared. The word ‘meltdown’ did not come close. Glenys Kinnock was enobled and replaced Caroline Flint – simply unbelievable. As observed by Martin Bright of the Spectator, with the quota of unelected peers in the Cabinet, we now had the most undemocratic Cabinet since the war. Either Brown did not think his MPs cut the grade or he could not rely on their loyalty or I suspected, a mixture of both.
Saturday
I got up quite early and was again transfixed by the news on the TV and blogosphere. Labour’s soap opera would be comedic were it not for the disastrous effect their lack of direction was having on the country.
Sunday
More than one year of intense campaigning reached its end at the European count for the South West region in Poole. We won 3 seats – my colleagues Giles Chichester, Julie Girling (pictured with me here) and Ashley Fox. We were the only Region with half the seats won by Conservative candidates and as the number of seats in the region were set to go down by one (due to EU enlargement), the Conservative Party essentially gained one seat from Labour. After abysmal local election results, Labour lost their only MEP in the West Country and polled fifth overall behind the Green Party (and in Cornwall, Labour came a shocking sixth behind the Cornish Nationalist Party).
My unease over the election of two BNP MEPs turned to exasperation at Labour for its failed policies and its failed leadership. If there was ever a need for a Conservative Government, it was now. Only the Conservative Party can bring in the policies that are desperately needed to fix the economy, our society and our politics. We have sensible policies on welfare reform and on immigration. Moreover, I do feel that there is a crucial role for the centre-right as a whole to play in this debate: a belief in individuals, not homogenous ethnic groups (that divides more than it unites); a belief in liberty and rolling back the nanny state that gives people more control over their lives. It is an empowering message and one that I am proud of.
So the campaign has ended and success all round. We worked very well as a team in the South West, from candidates to regional and association officers to agents to activists. There are simply too many people to thank for their support, commitment and good company. I couldn’t have ended the campaign at the count in Poole with better people. I am looking forward to working with them again to ensure success in the general election, whenever it is held.
