By Jonathan Isaby
After a stopover in my beloved university city of York on Wednesday night, I travelled to Barnsley Central yesterday - site of the latest parliamentary by-election - with three of the current York Tories joining me in the Isabymobile for the trip.
The by-election - caused by the resignation of the disgraced (and now jailed) ex-Labour MP Eric Illsley - takes place next Thursday and James Hockney (with whom I am pictured here) is donning the blue rosette in a seat which has been a Labour stronghold for over 75 years.
James stood next door in Barnsley East at last year's general election - the only candidate from any of the three main parties to have a track record of campaigning in the area - and has been heartened by the number of MPs and activists coming to lend him a hand. Yesterday MPs Michael Fallon, Guy Opperman and Martin Vickers were among those doing their bit and there will be an especially big push tomorrow, the final Saturday of the campaign. Details of how to get involved are at the bottom of this post.
So what did we find as we knocked on doors in what is, on paper, such a safe Labour seat?
Well, apart from a slightly higher than average count of menacing dogs (with one such example pictured on the left), the reaction we got from voters to whom we spoke was, on one level, rather encouraging.
There was much discontent about the number of people who now seem to be happily better off on benefits than in work and a crackdown on this was felt to be needed.
People spoke in highly sceptical tones about the amount of power which has been ceded to Brussels.
There was anger about how immigration has got out of control over recent years.
The local council was castigated for an appalling record of failing to keep the roads in a good state of repair (I, and my car, can vouch for that) and for wasting money on new offices and vanity projects of no interest to most residents.
Who oversaw unprecedented uncontrolled immigration over recent years? Labour.
Who ceded more and more power to Brussels and without consulting the people over the last decade? Labour.
And who allowed a benefits system to flourish where work doesn't pay? You know the answer - Labour.
On all those issues mentioned above, and others, as James and his campaign manager, Nigel Adams MP have already explained on ConHome, Labour have failed the people of Barnsley.
Moreover, the concerns of the voters I met yesterday in respect of all those issues chime with the Conservative point of view - and Conservatives are campaigning locally and acting nationally, giving a voice to those people's concerns.
So how many of the voters expressing all those concerns will be voting Conservative next week? The frank answer is: not enough to pull off a shock victory in Labour's 52nd safest seat - although Labour should not be complacent for one moment: there is much disillusion with politics overall and all eyes will be on how low the turnout goes and the level of support for the fringe parties.
But it was hugely frustrating for me as a Conservative to find people who agree with my views refusing to back the party which promotes them (and I remember exactly the same phenomenon when campaigning in 1997 in Easington, Co Durham).
Despite the party having failed so many, there is a cultural, almost theological, attachment to voting Labour in this seat, because it's just what people and their families have always done. And the stark truth is that considerable swathes of the community have not forgiven - and swear they will never forgive - the Conservative governments of the 1980s for the coal pit closures and therefore refuse to countenance voting Conservative - even if we are singing from the same hymn sheet on the issues which matter most to them.
I'm afraid the Tory brand is far from detoxified in a seat like Barnsley Central and I'm all ears for ideas as to how we can try and speed up that process.
But for now, James Hockney and his team are fighting a valiant campaign.
Here are the messages on his latest leaflet arriving on people's doormats:
And here is the insert which readers of the Barnsley Chronicle will find when they purchase the paper today:
Anyone wishing to assist James's campaign should email [email protected]. The campaign centre is situated at The Coach House, Berneslai Close (Off Churchfield), Barnsley, S70 2BQ, which is ten minutes from Barnsley railway station and easily accessible from the M1. Should you not be able to make the trip, you can also email to offer to do telephone canvassing from wherever you happen to be.
Pictured below are Michael Fallon MP with Tom, Iain and Phil from the University of York Conservative and Unionist Association in the blazing Barnsley sunshine yesterday afternoon.