Snapshots of the second week of the campaign from ConservativeHome's panel of candidates - Part one

Each week of the campaign, a panel of candidates standing in different seats around the country is giving ConservativeHome readers a flavour of how things are going in their patch.

Here are the despatches from the first three panel members. Later today we will publish the thoughts of the remaining panel members - John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk), Louise Bagshawe (Corby) and Stuart Andrew (Pudsey).

Philippa Stroud - Sutton and Cheam

The week kicked off with high excitement as Boris descended on Sutton. It was great to have him out on the campaign trail. All you have to do is venture onto Sutton High Street with him and you get mobbed!

Tuesday saw the launch of the manifesto. Sutton and Cheam as a constituency is divided into three communities and residents of Worcester Park always tell me that they feel forgotten – so we did our mini launch of the manifesto in Worcester Park, much to the delight of local shopkeepers.

Obviously the biggest news of the week has been the debates followed by a surge in the polls from the Liberal Democrats. I don’t know if other Lib Dem marginals are behaving the same as here, but in Sutton people have seen the Lib Dems for the last 22 years. They know that they do not bring value for money and that it is time for a change. We spent all of Saturday canvassing. What we found was that our Conservatives were Conservative and our liberals were liberals but that many were saying that it was time for a change and that they really did not want Gordon Brown as Prime Minister.

Hannah Foster - Exeter

Tuesday saw the campaign launch for Devon on Exeter’s fantastic Quay.  Mark Francois came and we launched the manifesto with Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot) and Neil Parish (Tiverton & Honiton) with lots of local media. 

We followed with an amazing canvass; covering  most of a polling district in a couple of hours as there were so many of us. It was not a core area and the response was really good. 

On Wednesday we had a surprise visit from Andrew Lansley, former Student President at Exeter University. Canvassing generally pretty good  - there are still a good portion of people (30% in some places) who really are undecided about how they will vote or even if they will vote at all. They will decide it here.

I have to say I have not seen any big pro-Lib Dem swing on the doorstep, despite what the media are reporting! We have had our sixth hustings as of last night.

Lee Martin - Sunderland Central

The week starts with The Guardian publishing the profile piece on Sunderland Central I worked with them on last week under the headline ‘Cameron’s wild card’. The 'voters may just take a punt for change on a Tory who is rough and unpolished’ subtext leads one exiled friend to text suggesting I sack my stylist.

Tuesday starts with Jimmy replacing a whole load of my correx boards that were stolen from farmers' fields and ends with a late night call to say that my face has been cut out of the replacement boards. Next day I get the Sunderland Echo to photograph me with my head in the hole and a smile on my face. The story gives us a fantastic amount of free publicity and overshadows Cherie Blair’s visit to a Sure Start centre on an estate that has been devastated by her husband’s flagship housing stock transfer policy.

Each week of the campaign, a panel of candidates standing in different seats around the country is giving ConservativeHome readers a flavour of how things are going in their patch.

Here are the despatches from the first three panel members. Later today we will publish the thoughts of the remaining panel members - John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk), Louise Bagshawe (Corby) and Stuart Andrew (Pudsey).

Philippa Stroud - Sutton and Cheam

The week kicked off with high excitement as Boris descended on Sutton. It was great to have him out on the campaign trail. All you have to do is venture onto Sutton High Street with him and you get mobbed!

Tuesday saw the launch of the manifesto. Sutton and Cheam as a constituency is divided into three communities and residents of Worcester Park always tell me that they feel forgotten – so we did our mini launch of the manifesto in Worcester Park, much to the delight of local shopkeepers.

Obviously the biggest news of the week has been the debates followed by a surge in the polls from the Liberal Democrats. I don’t know if other Lib Dem marginals are behaving the same as here, but in Sutton people have seen the Lib Dems for the last 22 years. They know that they do not bring value for money and that it is time for a change. We spent all of Saturday canvassing. What we found was that our Conservatives were Conservative and our liberals were liberals but that many were saying that it was time for a change and that they really did not want Gordon Brown as Prime Minister.

Hannah Foster - Exeter

Tuesday saw the campaign launch for Devon on Exeter’s fantastic Quay.  Mark Francois came and we launched the manifesto with Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot) and Neil Parish (Tiverton & Honiton) with lots of local media. 

We followed with an amazing canvass; covering  most of a polling district in a couple of hours as there were so many of us. It was not a core area and the response was really good. 

On Wednesday we had a surprise visit from Andrew Lansley, former Student President at Exeter University. Canvassing generally pretty good  - there are still a good portion of people (30% in some places) who really are undecided about how they will vote or even if they will vote at all. They will decide it here.

I have to say I have not seen any big pro-Lib Dem swing on the doorstep, despite what the media are reporting! We have had our sixth hustings as of last night.

Lee Martin - Sunderland Central

The week starts with The Guardian publishing the profile piece on Sunderland Central I worked with them on last week under the headline ‘Cameron’s wild card’. The 'voters may just take a punt for change on a Tory who is rough and unpolished’ subtext leads one exiled friend to text suggesting I sack my stylist.

Tuesday starts with Jimmy replacing a whole load of my correx boards that were stolen from farmers' fields and ends with a late night call to say that my face has been cut out of the replacement boards. Next day I get the Sunderland Echo to photograph me with my head in the hole and a smile on my face. The story gives us a fantastic amount of free publicity and overshadows Cherie Blair’s visit to a Sure Start centre on an estate that has been devastated by her husband’s flagship housing stock transfer policy.

The week also saw my first – and last – hustings with the Labour and Lib Dem candidates at Age UK. Hands up those who intend to vote, it started. Everyone’s hands shot up. Hands up who is a member of the Labour Party would have got an equally good response. Deliveries continue apace as we try to counter the GMB-funded Labour deluge – six bits of literature in little more than a week. At least it all says ‘It’s Labour or Tory’ so they’re doing the third party squeeze for us.

The response on the doorstep is generally good but a lot of people are still to make up their minds. Many are waiting for the Leaders' Debates. Watch the TV debate – hated the TV set – hope Sky do better.

The weekend is just a mass of leafleting. With around 27,000 postal votes set to land on doormats across Sunderland Central in a week’s time Saturday 24th is effectively our election day. Traditionally, the bulk of postal voters return their ballot straightaway in Sunderland. I’ve a hunch people will sit on them longer this time. The TV debates might make sure of that.

With week two of the campaign proper almost over I head over to Washington for a catch-up with Hilary, our Treasurer, to go over the budgets – true enough we have gone over the budgets and candidate's wrists well and truly slapped.  Not the time to rein in the spending now so if anyone wants to help get the ‘rough Tory’ elected - you can donate via my website!