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 Gareth McKeever, who was selected in July 2008 for Westmorland and Lonsdale, a beautiful constituency covering much of the Lake District. Belfast-born Gareth was educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and quit his job as a stockbroker on his selection to move to Kendal and campaign full-time. The seat was gained at the last general election by the Liberal Democrats, who will defend a notional majority of 806. ConHome recently reported the news that his campaign office had been burnt down in a fire. You can contribute to his campaign and read more about him on his website.
Monday 1st March
Monday morning is admin, press releases and phone calls; Monday afternoon is canvassing. I much prefer the latter and this Monday we are in Kendal.
In aftermath of our fire (a suspected arson attack - click here to read the local newspaper's report) there is even more correspondence to deal with and happily much of it brings offers of help and good wishes. Local people have been tremendously supportive.
The canvassing response is very encouraging and we find many people who voted Lib Dem in 2005 switching to us as they realise that a vote for the Lib Dems only serves to keep Gordon Brown in No.10.
Monday evening I have a church group meeting. We have a great night and the evening flies by.
Tuesday 2nd March
Our March leaflet is starting to hit doorsteps and a large number marked for hand-delivery have just arrived at our temporary office, my house. I will be glad to move into our new offices next week. We have delivered a piece of literature to every home in the constituency every month for seven months. All the money to do this has been raised locally and they have proved a big hit with many local people glad to hear from us so regularly. When I was selected back in July 2008 one of my priorities was to get us communicating on a more regular basis. We have a great team of deliverers across the constituency and everyone is working incredibly hard to win the seat back.
I spend the first few hours of the morning drafting campaign literature and making a few calls before joining the canvass team. We are once again campaigning in Kendal and we have a great day. There is disbelief on the doorstep that the polls have narrowed as much as they have and everyone is understandably very worried about the prospect of a hung Parliament, where nothing would get done.
Tuesday evening I have dinner with senior management from the Lake District National Park and we have a very productive catch-up, discussing a variety of important local issues such as affordable housing and green transport within the park.
Wednesday 3rd March
We are out in Kendal first thing and have a stand in the middle of town, giving out balloons and collecting signatures to support our campaign to keep the New Road car park. The local Lib Dem council wants to grass it over but with a shortage of affordable parking in Kendal we are determined to keep it open. We have lots of encouraging support and after a quick lunch we head out canvassing in Kendal.
In the evening I go to a house party where some local people have invited their friends and neighbours to meet me. After a quick supper people start to arrive and a lively discussion ensues. One theme emerging is that people want to know what David Cameron will be like if he is our next PM. I answer that this is a ‘1979 election’ and not an ‘1997 election’. In 1979 we had a leader of the opposition whom many were unsure about but who became one of the strongest and most decisive Prime Ministers we have ever had. In 1997 we had a charismatic, enthusiastic and popular leader of the opposition who governed by focus group, took the country to a war on the most tenuous basis and who stood by as his Chancellor put our economy on its knees.
Thursday 4th March It is an early start to the day with a business prayer breakfast in Windermere followed by a day campaigning in Ambleside. The sky is blue and the air crisp and it is hard to imagine anywhere more beautiful.
We have canvass teams across the constituency, with a core team that travels around. Jenny is my canvassing organiser and when we turn up she will typically have four or five people there to help. Today we have ten so we split into two teams and manage to cover a big swath of the town.
Like Kendal earlier in the week, Ambleside wants a change of Government. One woman who has always voted Lib Dem tells me that she is switching to us in order to get rid of Gordon Brown and she is one of many.
I get home around 5pm, return a few calls, have a quick change and then head out to a charity concert being put on by one of our local schools, Queen Katherine in aid of a local charity of which I am a Patron. The concert is wonderful and the students are incredibly impressive. Queen Katherine is one of a number of first class comprehensives in South Lakeland and the evening is a big success.
Friday 5th March
I start the day off at another excellent local school, Dallam, located in Milnthorpe, where I meet a large part of the sixth-form. We have a great discussion and they really put me through my paces with some very incisive questions. These young people are not only very bright but also very politically aware and I learn a great deal.
I dash back to Kendal mid-am for a TV interview. We are offering a reward for information leading to a conviction and the media are keen to run the story. The offices are still unsafe to enter and remain boarded up. The interview makes me a little late and I join the canvass team on the doorstep in Arnside. Another very encouraging day, another excellent lunch and another late afternoon cup of tea & slice of home-made cake.
Friday evening is spent catching up on admin. I knock off around 8.30pm for a Thai take-away from the Chang Thai in Kendal and a night in on my own. My girlfriend Clare is in Paris this week and I am really looking forward to Monday when she arrives back.
Saturday 6th March
I have a morning speaking engagement with a local women’s group. Many of them are worried that if we do not win in Westmorland & Lonsdale we are very unlikely to return a Conservative Government. I fear they are right.
After a quick lunch in Milnthorpe I meet the team in Holme and we spend the rest of the day canvassing. Quite a few people are still unsure how they will vote and are leaning our way as they realise that the choice is between a Conservative Government or five more years of Gordon Brown.
In the evening I have a friend’s 40th birthday in Staveley before going to a dinner with local people in Coniston.
Sunday 7th March
A leisurely start to the day before going to the morning service at my church, St Thomas’, Kendal.
I spend the afternoon catching up on admin and then head to Sedbergh to meet with sixth-formers at Sedbergh School. In the evening I have a dinner in Dent where some local people have invited friends and neighbours to meet me.
The school visit is very interesting. These young people are very concerned about what sort of future they will inherit and the economy is at the top of their agenda. The dinner in Dent also goes well and there is a general view that a hung parliament would be a disaster.
I arrive home after midnight and scan the press. The polls are still narrow. Westmorland & Lonsdale is a key marginal and may be the seat that tips us from a Hung Parliament to a Conservative Government. On the doorstep people are realising this and I go to bed knowing that success is there to be grasped.
> Last week's Diary was written by Ed Northover, PPC for Leyton and Wanstead
