It’s 12.30am on the Saturday morning before polling day. I’m answering e-mails and half listening to BBC News 24: ‘This weekend we’ll be giving out pledge cards in every constituency, sending our message right across the country.’ ‘Might help if we had more than five of the damn things to enlighten the electorate with, Tony!’ I growl at the TV, startling our CLP treasurer who has dozed off on the sofa whilst working out whether we can afford one or two more boxes of leaflets.
This is high-octane, modern campaigning, Dorset style. Standing for parliament is all about multi-tasking. In an unwinnable, it’s a bit hit and miss, but pleasantly informal at times. My speeches are written balancing papers on my lap at the same time as entertaining the toddler from next door while her mum nips to the shops. I laugh when I look at my notes later and find the crayoned outline of a little foot intermingled with employment statistics.
It can be lonely, spending hours trudging up and down driveways on your own. But the camaraderie that exists amongst activists is heartening.
Having called on my umpteenth Tory household for the afternoon and becoming a bit down in the mouth, I take refuge at the home of a local council candidate, where I am consoled with home baking and righteous indignation.
Despite standing in a relatively affluent area, I was struck by how many issues there still were that need to be dealt with. Our rural poor are some of our most excluded citizens, cut off from vocational and educational opportunities.
The one truly frustrating thing about standing in an unwinnable is the feeling that you only have until the election to sort out any problems that people bring to you. You know perfectly well that you aren’t going to be around to follow up on them afterwards.
Although there were moments of disheartenment, I marched into a Tory stronghold wearing Labour’s achievements like armour. My favourite occasions were when I had the chance to debate with my opponents. I was on such strong ground. In that respect, whilst the party rightly targets resources at the marginals, I always felt supported. It may sound trite but my job was easy – I just had to go out there and tell people the truth.