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Lib Dems chose a leader yesterday. Less of their members turned out to vote than they did in the previous leadership election. Could it be because they didn't have much to vote for? In any case they chose the calamity over the other one.

Calamity

The Lib Dems are quickly losing their middle of the road 'nice party' image as the leadership contest between two essentially identical candidates came to life when one of them called the other one a 'calamity'. However - given that the two candidates are almost exactly the same no one is sure which one said it about the other. All very confusing, but the Lib Dems drift into irrelevance continues apace.

Fraternal Greetings

The campaign momentum builds with planned action coming up. I have also been busy enlisting the help of neighbouring branches and this has been quite successful so far. I think the success is due to them looking over their shoulder at the opposition in the next ward.

Feeling good - getting ready to start the attack.

Empaneled - time to start the telephone calling

I have been told that I have be empaneled as a candidate and so I can now start working on the branch to get the nomination. All is on track so far.

In other news I have takers for the phone bank and activity is starting to build.

The program begins. Time to ready ourselves for the coming battle.

Ming's departure - bigger than you think

It all happened a bit quickly last night - after a two part squeeze in the poll (but mainly a Tory squeeze) Ming Campbell resigned as leader of the Lib Dems. The leadership campaign and the subsequent direction of the Lib Dems could be a minor yet decisive decider of the next General Election.. Do they go right and fight the Tory ground or go they go far left of centre and fight against Labour. Interesting times - can the Lib Dems fight and expand or will they go back to the pre-1997 level of MPs?

The Moral Argument

I love the cinema and I love films - especially the films that remind you why you're into politics and why you fight for a better world. I saw Amazing Grace which is a truly inspiring story about the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire led by William Wilberforce and the fearless abolitionists who fought against the vested interests of the time to win one of the most famous parliamentary victories of the progressive movement.

I also like going to church to recalibrate the old moral compass and this last weekend I heard about the modern slave trade which is entirely monstrous and needs to be put to an end. A movement called Stop The Traffik is attempting to bring the issue to the United Nations as only a global response can bring this to an end. I would urge any readers to use the link below and sign up. The moral argument is undeniable. Slavery must end within our lifetime and for good.

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/

Train Treats

I went out with my brother last night in his part of the county and I took the late train home back to my little town. On the way the train past through the seat I stood in last year and a number of this town's residents were on the train.

It was a Monday night and while I'd had a little drink with my brother before we went to see a show these people were kaylied. I looked at them and the thing is I remember some of them from school. I wondered what had become of some of the people I had grown up with.

There is a big job to do to turn this town round as how do you reverse such decline - the young people who need to change the place have either left or are still in the old town and are slowly wasting their lives.

A very big challenge. A lot to do.

To Go, Or Not To Go ....

The question of a snap General Election troubles me as I cannot see the necessity. I think the party machine in my neck of the woods will mobilise and we'll campaign by numbers - but do we really need to go to the country? It is a bit cold .....

But maybe it comes down to breaking the back of the Cameron phenomenon and throw the opposition into utter confusion. Maybe it is worth it.

To go, or not to go .... I wouldn't. But I am ready if the call comes.

Cracking Campaign

Good campaign in the offing and the Libs won't see it coming. A local decoy has been deployed to draw attention away from me - time to appear far away when I am in fact near.

On a more sombre note Hamer Shawcross of the British Bullsh*t Foundation may be retiring. Don't do it Hamer!

Can I Ask You A Few Quick Questions?

After some time trying to build some consensus about the approach to campaigning across the whole constituency I have come the conclusion that not everyone is up to a level of sophistication to pull off what I would want each ward party to do. So it is time to work with each ward party to try and raise their game a bit at a time.

My focus will be the marginals and the hopeless and let the wards which have very few challengers do their thing and wait for them to get to such a level that they will ask for my help. A long term plan, but the best I can do.

Time to get the people phoning to ask for voter intention. All I need is 50 volunteers .... here we go.

I'll vote for you when ....

A very big day in politics with the exit of Blair and the rise of Brown. The Westminster Village is probably flooded with rumour of who is defecting, who will be in the Cabinet, and what the PM's wife will be wearing when she gets the milk from the doorstep in the morning.

Here in Yorkshire we are also experiencing a flood - but it is a real one. Half the County seems to be under water and it is a million miles away from courtly fun in Westminster. I sometimes wish I had the sense to get a job down there like a sensible careerist. Hey-ho.

But as I reflect on the excellent words of Blair & Brown, I can't help wonder if those people who say on the doorstep that they will not vote Labour "until you've got rid of Blair" will flock back to us in numbers. Or are these people non-voters who are Labour supporters who just can't think of anything more imaginative to get rid of you from the doorstep. May 2008 will tell.

Death By Committee

Slightly tired. I increasingly find the admin of the Party frustrating as new ideas do not wash well with them. You come up with a strategy and require resources which the Party does have and a committee is appointed to look into it and report. By the time they come back your opponents who know they need to campaign to stay alive have already outdone you. Death by Committee.

First Salvo

The last couple of weeks have brought surprises. The first is an awful lot of thank yous - not to me mind, to the electorate. Councillors are now wanting to do work between elections and the first salvo is a thank you letter. The second thing is that councillors want content for newsletters as they want to take credit for new schemes and successes in their wards before the opposition do. I feel pleased that I may have been listened to but I hope that the frantic printing is accompanied by frantic delivery.

Revolution?

The post election meeting was a bit different than my forecast. The councillors who were returned who fought hard were clearly sending out the message that we can't rely on people to turn out in droves and they were positive about starting up a low level campaign straight away.

The councillors who hadn't campaigned and had seen their votes drop are now suddenly aware that things can't continue as they are. People were positive about my campaign and I was thanked for flying the flag.

A good meeting. I was very surprised.

Autopsy

The constituency party will meet soon to carry out the annual autopsy that follow the elections. The candidates who were returned without challenge will see the fact that the kept no canvass records during the election as a virtue. They will say that they don't need to canvass as everyone has a good general feeling Labour and they don't like to ask how they vote. The trend for these no-knocker branches is a decline in ward turnout and a decline in Labour vote but no decline in the oppositions vote. I often wonder if it would take the loss of a candidate to make them realise they have to work.

A couple of wards have already smelled the coffee and are keeping records and working their collective arses off identifying voters and pulling them out on the day. In theses ward the turnout is up and Labour vote is going up and their opponents are static or are seeing their vote fall. A good trend.

The ward I contested will be moaned about as virtually none of the branch members came out. My campaign was fought with outside help. I have some work to do but I have kept the confidence of the constituency chair and the MP, so I should have a good chance of having support to rebuild the branch and get going for next year. I just need to go on a charm offensive.

Taking Stock

After some number crunching over the weekend I have realised that all I need to do over the next twelve months is change the minds of 400 or so voters and the seat I fought could be won for Labour. Ideas for campaign literature are forming. All I need now is some workers to deliver it or a fund raising team to pay for mailings.

The Count

We held the line in our neck of the woods with no significant losses and no significant change. Some votes quite close to the wire which may wake up some of our lot to the necessity of working harder.

I didn't overturn the incumbent but came out with a respectable percentage given the short nature of the campaign. It has whet my appetite for more and hasn't put me off having another go. But this time I'll have 52 weeks to have a go rather than the 6 weeks or so I had this year. Time to pilot my ideas for change and hope they work.

Not a bad year for Labour, not a breakthrough years for the Tories (especially in the North), and a woeful year for the Lib Dems.

On The Street

Postal votes out, pushing for the last votes. People are refreshingly honest on the door but not impolite. I am enjoying the campaign and have got some voters to display posters! It is hard to re-light the fire in a ward where Labour hasn't been in power for some time. But lets have a go.

Shoe Leather

My feet hurt. All leaflets out and a personal letter to postal voters. Time to rest up, mark up the data collected and then get ready for the final push.

Tumbleweed

The local media (who shall remain nameless) have covered the local elections in the following fashion:

candidate A
candidate B
candidate C

And that's it. No debate, no room for candidates to cast their ideas for the relevant ward. I spoke to one of the senior journalists at one of the papers and I was told that they didn't have enough room for such stories and the word purdah was mentioned. I usually associate the word purdah with public bodies not making any major decisions whilst elections are on - not for private newspapers.

I can half understand not reporting in detail on local elections as each camp will shout "undue influence" whenever they report on the other candidate. But given the elections effect how local services will be run I find it shocking that the papers aren't giving more coverage. But then again I am a candidate - so I am a bit biased at the moment.

Canvassing In The Sun

Today I had a campaign day in the sun. Good weather, leafleting & canvassing and a good drink after. It makes campaigning worth it.

Someone's knocking at the door

I had a kind of naked lunch moment this week when out on the door. I came across a man who had not been knocked by anyone for the Labour Party for over 20 years. It was a sobering moment where my campaign seemed a little hopeless. However, the man did say he would vote for me.

It seems that the place I am campaigning is massively politically stagnant as there does not seem to be the sort of cut and thrust politics that I am more accustom to. Time will tell.

But I have a feeling that this might not be a isolated case. If we are not prepared as a party to engage with the public then we cannot set the agenda and we have to fight rearguard actions when we are challenged by an organised opposition party. It makes me think that the promises to "do stuff between elections" that everybody in the party says after May needs to be acted on.

Taking Up The Mantle

In the past few days I have been formally made a candidate in the local elections. I met the officers of the branch today and I have a Herculean task ahead. I am now living it for real and I feel I am about to get a baptism of fire. Taking up the Mantle for Labour in less than friendly times ... here I go!

The Famous Five

We've just ended the warm up period for the canvassing in my corner of the constituency and this week we start the campaign proper. The hardest thing I have found in marshalling some of our activists is 1) to convince canvassers to call at homes with known voters and with people new to the area, and 2) to get them to voter ID people using the script.

The voter ID script (or the "famous five" questions) is a challenge for people who have previously knocked on doors and simply said "you're voting Labour in May" without actually noting down the answer given. I have resorted to a compromise - ask whether they voted Labour at the last general election, whether they vote in local election and whether they'll support our candidate. So five become three.

Now I know I sound like I have a constant downer on some of our more senior activists but I do trust their judgement on reading people on the door. I love the enthusiasm of some of our younger activist who stick to the script, but sometimes the script doesn't flow and it sounds wrong on the doorstep and turns people off.

All this being said - the cornerstone of all this is the person who marshalls the activists, gives them the doors to knock, and takes down the results. We do not have the people all over the constituency to do what I and fellow activists do in my corner of the constituency. This means we have people doing lots of work without taking the results and as such we cannot maximise our turnout. This is one of the biggest problems we face as party and one that we need to tackle before times get really tough.

We've Only Just Got BBC 1 in Colour ...

The Labour Party in the heartlands is a wonderful place to work as a young Labour activist who is trying to make an impact. The Party is full of same people who have essentially run the organisation since the 1970's and employ very much the same method of electioneering. These methods include some ancient Reading pads with voter ID full of Labour promises from when Thatcher was smashing the Unions in the 1980's. Things have moved on and we're still agreeing the minutes from the last meeting.

It almost feels like working with the gruff stereotypes from Life on Mars, but I can't really claim the authentic 70's knowledge given I wasn't born in that decade. But I have found that trying to introduce the idea of a database for collecting voter ID to the Old Guard is almost like asking them to pilot a Space Shuttle.

So I have started this blog to explore some ideas for changing the local party and I invite comment from my colleagues in marginal seats who have to fight like mad from street to street to keep Labour members in power to pass on any tips they have used for either utilising the Old Guard or ... retiring them.

Thanks for looking in and I look forward to some humorous narrative in what are for us all in the Party much harder times.