Campaign Diary - Day Eight Part II

In my genuine political excitement by the Tory manifesto (yes I want more power, I want more control over those who deliver my services, I want less government in my life and I want more say over how my money is spent) I had forgotten to fill you with what we had been up to!!

This morning was another early start - when are they not - and we headed straight out to the doorsteps of the City Centre to test the public opinion. There was a lot of Conservative support but here, far more than other places we have visited, many people wanted to hang fire and see the Tory manifesto before making a judgement. One interesting story to share - one gentleman said he was fed up with cries of "change"; the Greens, he said, offered change - but it was the wrong sort of change. "Being different doesn't make you right," he warned.

From the City and Thorpe Hamlet it was great to get together with Conservatives from across the East of England because Norwich was hosting the regional manifesto launch. We welcomed David Willetts, Shadow Universities Secretary, to the City and he made a passionate and humerous speech to activists. It was another high profile media event and a third senior Conservative in a week shows how seriously we are taking this seat. There's more to come in the next week too!

And with activists gathered, there was little to do afterwards than to head mob handed to the doorsteps and we went into Wensum and along the Dereham Road. We got a very friendly response and the issues raised included reform of the benefits system, education and anti-social behaviour.

Another day where I end up tired but happy!

May poll strategy U-turn for LibDems

The vast majority of political hacks in and around the City expect the LibDems to get a damn good kicking at the May elections. However, I am reliably informed that the yellow peril have come up with a cunning plan to avoid such a fate ... targeting.

The LibDems were once the Kings of Targeting ... knowing where to put their resources, being able to move on from seats they would win to the marginals and knowing when the pull out. But in recent years they have missed this point and have slogged around Nelson furiously (getting destroyed by the Greens) whilst at the same time losing out in Lakenham but a couple of dozen votes.

So, I'm told, they have decided that some wards are beyond their reach and others are worth the fight. Amazingly they seem to have given up against the Greens whilst believing that the fight is still on with Labour. So, Thorpe Hamlet with a 1 vote LibDem majority is set to be all-but abandoned whilst University Ward, with a 600-odd Labour majority, is to be targetted. Similarly, Town Close and Mancroft are to be thrown to the wall. Then in Lakenham and Mile Cross are to be the scenes of the LibDem final lines of trenches. Interesting stuff; a realisation that the Greens haven't yet hit their peak of popularity or a realisation that Labour can still be beaten in Norwich and that Brown isn't "top cat"?

I also know that this decision - probably driven by the new professional LibDem team who have taken over - hasn't gone down well with the Councillors, and their activist friends, who aren't going to get support.

This strategy could also frustrate Labour; they had planned on the LibDems slinking away in those wards freeing them up to defend other seats and also chase the new Labour fascination - Wensum Ward.

If the LibDems sort their game out, it could yet be a fascinating May election.

How one vote for Eileen Wyatt changed politics in Norwich

We had a friend round for dinner tonight and after a little discussion about the local election results it soon became clear that she may well have swung the whole poll in Norwich - and altered political history too.

You see, she did live in Thorpe Hamlet but very recently moved to Town Close. On the last day that it was legally possible to do so, she changed the electoral roll and did so in order to vote for Conservative candidate Eileen Wyatt, whom she had met and liked, despite normally being a Green Party voter.

Eileen came third and polled 620 votes - a historic high for the Tories in Town Close but a little away from winning. However, in Thorpe Hamlet the Greens lost by one vote and thus failed to become the country's first Green opposition party and thus Ramsay failed to become the first Green Leader of the Opposition.

When this dawned upon us both tonight it really made us think about the importance of a single vote in our democracy. Such tiny and insignificant acts have a huge part to play in shaping our democracy.

So as Cllr Ramsay settles back into the job of not being Leader of the Opposition, he might well curse Eileen Wyatt - a Tory candidate in another ward - who robbed him of the job he wanted!

(*** ps. I know everyone can find a case like this when it goes to a single vote - the EDP recently carried the story of a voter who was planning to vote Green but switched to the LibDems after being bombarded with Green leaflets which he thought was wasteful. But it's still good fun!)

(*** pps. My favourite random vote of the year goes to a lady whom I met when she was on Initial Teacher Training. She spent just a few hours in my company about three years ago - and rewarded the Conservative Party (in this case, Eve Collishaw) with her vote because I was kind to her.)