I nearly canvassed Kylie Minogue's grandmother
April 17, 2007 12:00 AM
Easter, Passover, Vaisakhi and other seasonal greetings to you all. And above all canvassing greetings too. Hasn't it been fantastic weather for delivering, canvassing and campaigning?
Aberdeenshire and Ceredigion have been looking at their beautiful best and there is lots of very productive work on the ground. Nora Radcliffe and John Davies are proving excellent candidates - but both will be very tight and important contests. I hope every single member in Scotland and Wales will be pulling the stops out between now and the 3rd May in these seats and across the two countries. And I hope any colleagues in England in areas with no elections will either make a visit to help north of Hadrian's Wall or west of Offa's Dyke, or contact Cowley Street to offer help with telephone canvassing.
Obviously there is much frenetic activity going on in England too. I was really encouraged by our mayoral campaign in Bedford, and by our campaigns in Luton, Bath & North East Somerset, Canterbury and Sheffield when I have been there in recent days. And in case you are wondering, all these places were looking beautiful too!
Two moments of the campaign so far were very nearly very exciting. In south Wales, where we are now making good progress in the valleys, I thought for about half an hour I was going to have the chance of canvassing Kylie Minogue's grandmother. Sadly further investigation revealed that although her great uncle still lives in Maesteg the grandparents appeared to have ended up in Australia. (Our excellent campaign team nonetheless came second in the pub quiz that night as a consolation prize) And then in Walkley in Sheffield we combined a very successful canvass of the betting shop with a bet of £10 each way on 'Simon' for the Grand National and a promise of splitting the winnings to support local campaign funds. Sadly the fifth fence from home tripped us up. So immediate fame and fortune have eluded us temporarily again.
There is, however, a moral here somewhere. Every race has to be run until you cross the finishing line. One of the common factors in Ceredigion, Cardiff and Canterbury, Scotland and Sheffield, Bedford and Bath is that very small numbers of votes may well turn a large number of seats and therefore make all the difference between winning and losing not just the ward or the seat but control of the council. Our influence in the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and English and Scottish councils will be decided by the success of campaigning in the remaining days before May 3rd. Nothing less than contacting every voter should be the aim.
Last year we made a net gain of 17 seats in local authority by-elections - only one behind the Tories. Over the same period Labour made a net loss of 9 seats. This year so far we have made a net gain of 2 seats - no other party including the Tories has made a net gain this year. The moral is 'where we work, we win'.
Sadly however, every year we lose valued colleagues. Just in recent days our leader in North Somerset, Councillor Alan Hockridge, died after a day out campaigning in his beloved county. To his widow, Carol, his daughter, his granddaughter and colleagues we send our thanks, condolences and support.
To the rest of you I say in his honour and in honour of all those who have campaigned to build up our party over the last fifty years to our great and ever improving position - no slacking, be positive, give people good reasons for voting for us - and leave no opportunity missed.
What would you like to do next?
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