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’s diary is written by Alex Story, who has been candidate for Wakefield since June 2007. Aside from having represented Britain at the Olympics as a rower, Alex has worked as a financial journalist and an investment banker. Although Wakefield has not elected a Conservative MP since the 1930s, favourable boundary changes mean that Alex now requires a swing of 8.8% to overturn the notional Labour majority which will be defended by the Labour MP, Mary Creagh.
Friday 14th August
Arrived in Wakefield on the 10am train for a meeting with my agent. The Alan Duncan story is running its course and the public aren’t in the mood for anything that sounds like MPs being unremorseful. And neither should they be. They make life on the doorstep immensely difficult at times because they can’t sensibly be defended.
Our meeting at the Wakefield party's Zetland Street HQ mainly involves dealing with mail and the inevitable glut of conference fringe invitations. By afternoon we are out on the street in Crigglestone with a few activists for a canvassing session. We have been doing this for over two years now and we really enjoy it. It never ceases to amaze me how much we learn from people.
At 7pm we are back at Zetland Street for a meeting with local councillors about how the campaign is going in their individual wards and how resources will be used over the remainder of the campaign. It goes well and there is general agreement. By 9pm we are in “Harry’s Bar”, the Real Ale drinking HQ of the Wakefield campaign team. I can’t really drink too much as I have a half marathon to run in eleven hours time...
Saturday 15th August
The half marathon is in support of Wakefield Hospice and I am joined by Antony Calvert my colleague from the neighbouring Wakefield constituency of Morley and Outwood. The hospice sits, literally, on the border of our two constituencies. Amanda Shaw (my Fundraising Director) and James Maughan a very generous supporter, also join in.
We are starting from the hospice and running around Wakefield for 13 miles. I get off to a good start as we pound the streets of Wakefield. We reach the half way mark at around 50 minutes in. I can’t decide whether it is easier to run on grass or tarmac. But as we pass the Wakefield ASDA store, who kindly supplied us with the bottled water needed for the run, I am comfortable and just in front. I can see that Antony and James are the same, despite Antony pretending that he would struggle to do five miles.
We ran out into the countryside through Calder Grove and Netherton and then down into Horbury Bridge. For someone my size running downhill is a nightmare. I was a rower not a runner. The stress on the knees is immense so I take it steady. Antony and James have no such problems. I drop well behind. I turn back towards Wakefield and I am maybe three miles out from the finish. It is getting harder to keep going but I am hoping to finish in less than two hours.
As I arrive at the finish line I am greeted by Antony who has already taken his trainers off. I did it - two hours and ten minutes. It seems that we have raised around £1,500, but money is still coming in. Wakefield Hospice needs all the financial help it can get and I am glad that we have been able to do our little bit. It was Amanda’s idea and despite her injured leg she made it to the end.
Sunday 16th August
My agent said that it was his wedding anniversary so he would not be working today. But, by 11am he is outside the door waiting for me. He never gives up. We are going to spend the afternoon canvassing from where we left off on Friday.
Over the last two years particularly, the one subject that is mentioned on practically every doorstep, from the ramshackle cottage to manicure-lawned mansion, is immigration. It is right up there with the economy and MPs' expenses. We ignore this at our peril. People have had enough and they are fed up with being called racists because they dare to even talk about it. Even so, they still seem to feel the need to apologise before they do. That shouldn’t be so.
Another thing people have become tired of is the more idiotic demands of the "Health and Safety Taliban". They use the same tactics as the defenders of mass immigration. If you dare question the efficacy of their diktats, it is met with the ludicrous accusation that you don’t care about people’s safety, in an attempt to stifle any dissent or debate.
Monday 17th August
The Dan Hannan/NHS non-story is running but at least with this story you can debate the issues that Dan raises with the people. Due to a dearth of good political stories, the media are allowing the left to twist what Dan has said into a “Tories will close the NHS down” type headline. Of course the glaring flaw in any such plan by David Cameron, were it even remotely true, is that most of his party depend on the NHS as their primary healthcare provider... including me and practically everyone I know! Still, that doesn’t stop the left from distorting the actuality.
The NHS is raised frequently on the doorstep today but most people seem wise enough to realise that it is all a storm in the political tea-cup. It does though, raise the opportunity to debate NHS service levels, in comparison to similar systems run by our main European competitors. Most people seem to agree that it would be dangerous were the NHS to be beyond criticism. Although the left seem to think such debate is tantamount to treason.
Tuesday 18th August
Wakefield is crying out for change. The City of Wakefield and its mainly Conservative voting western side, doesn’t even have a proper swimming pool! It hasn’t had one for three years, can you believe? The closure of the old Sun Lane baths was announced by the Labour council the day after the 2006 local elections. A replacement has been long mooted but soil has not yet been broken.
Wakefield hasn’t elected a Conservative MP since 1932, although Labour’s majority was as narrow as 360 votes back in 1983. But it is now a very different place than it was, even in 2005. The local activists have wheedled Labour’s majority on the council down to just one seat, which they narrowly clung on to by just 37 votes. I am pleased to have played some part in that achievement.
Wakefield has areas that require serious attention to deal with the social and other problems, whilst having other parts that exude natural beauty. Some of the past planning decisions appear to have been taken by people with no basic understanding of the subject. Appalling concrete creations of the 1960s blight the city in Kirkgate. Conversely, the more impressive buildings in Westgate have not been exploited to the full. Wakefield has much potential if there was just a little vision.
Wednesday 19th August
Today I am meeting with a number of local business people in Zetland St. The same issues always raise their heads and one key problem is the cost of employing people. Overbearing amounts of red tape and the time spent having to fill in questionnaires from various government departments wanting statistical information, are also issues.
We spend the rest of the day canvassing again. I have walked pretty much every street of this constituency in two years. I know all of it extremely well. Now we are doing it again and using the data from Merlin to try and visit the people who weren’t in the first time around.
Tonight there is a scheduled telephone canvassing session at Zetland St where we have our own 12-line telephone canvassing facilities paid for by donations to our campaign. This is a good way of keeping the older members of the association involved. They work to a prepared script and it adds to the work we do door to door.
The really heartening thing, and I think our main achievement over the last two years, is that the people realise how tentative Labour’s grip on Wakefield now is, whereas two years ago I felt like I was taking on the Germans in a penalty shoot out... I might get close and the crowd wished me well, but ultimately they believed that the Germans would still win... Not any more. People really believe that the Conservatives can and will win in Wakefield and they fully understand how every vote counts in the city these days.
Thursday 20th August
Another matter with which I became loosely involved in June appears to be growing (no pun intended). This involves planning permission for a composting site. There are real concerns about the release of bioaerosols (spores) which cause irritation in the lungs and nasal passages and can even cause death in some cases. We have decided that we need to do some research to see how real the risk is at this site. Fortunately my agent has at least some knowledge of this area of law which makes life a little easier as we know where to look.
We feel that what is really needed here is an objective assessment by a recognised research body. Sheffield Hallam University have done research in this area so we have advised the local residents association that this ought to be their next port of call. In the meantime we are writing again to the WMD Planning Dept to further express our concerns about the application and how it has been handled.
I have to leave early to travel to Paris but I feel that we have had a positive week and got much done. It is hard work but it is paying benefits. I’ll be back on Saturday for a meeting about a major sporting development that will put Wakefield on the map. As a former Olympian it really excites me.
Last week's Diary was written by Alan Wright, PPC for Hartlepool.