Norwich Conservatives went mob handed to help our colleagues fighting a tough by-election in Aylsham for the county council seat. This is an odd contest, with two of the district councillors going head to head ... the LibDem candidate who topped the poll last May and the Conservative Ian Graham who also won election in the 3 seat ward. It was ultra close in 2005 - just 29 votes saw the Liberal Democrats gain the seat.
We were canvassing the Norfolk Homes area of the town and the result was very encouraging. Conservative supporters were very "out and proud" (as I had found in North Norfolk the week previously) and were happy to shout about the party's prospects. We spoke to probably half a dozen opposition supporters (I gather Labour just isn't an option round this way). However there were a big group - maybe a third - who claimed just not to have made up their minds. Now either this is the classic LibDem answer to a Tory canvasser ... and I must admit that some were so obviously Liberal that I put "L" on the canvass card despite their protests that they were undecided ... or this election has totally failed to catch the imagation of local people.
I have never understood the point of fibbing on the doorstep. However, if the reaction that up to a third of people are really undecided it says a lot about the weakness of the party attachment in the naughties.
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