Help, help! Canvass, canvass! That was my day yesterday. In the afternoon it became clear that the latest boxes of envelopes and the boxes of letters in our HQ were unlikely to get together without extra help. So – I sat on the phone doing what candidates do: telephoning people and asking them to come down to HQ to get them stuffed! This was really the first time I had called for extra help to get a task done – and people just said yes. It was amazing really – and people are incredibly kind.

Canvassing in Crouch End in the evening. One road was virtually solid Lib Dem and the others pretty good. The reason people gave on the door step for voting for me was overwhelmingly the hard work fighting for the local area. Iraq was occasionally raised – but not nearly as much as in other areas I have canvassed and Hornsey Town Hall came up a couple of times. I asked one woman who raised the issue if she had come to the ‘hustings’ on the Town Hall the night before. She said she hadn’t because she could not bear the group organising it. There seems to be a real split in the community over the ‘who’ – not the ‘what’ – of the Town Hall.

John Stevens, an ex Tory MEP who came over to the Lib Dems some years back, had come over to help for the evening. Two passers by stopped to talk to us – both Tories, both voting Lib Dem. They said that the Tories didn’t want to win this election because there was such financial trouble going to hit in a couple of years time – that Tories wanted Labour to be in government for that downturn – and then they could march in to save the day at the ensuing election. We all have our theories…!

Early morning station leafleting at Harringay Station. Get opportunity to see how the clear up I got done is holding up. Things are better – but still not good enough. I wish we could persuade Haringey Council to relay the little bit of road coming down to the station entrance and improve the paving – so that the little shops would feel better and smarten themselves up – and then people would feel great as they came for their morning train. A benign circle!

Lots of people saying they are voting for us. Lots of waves. Lots of smiles. Lots of leaflets taken. Hope it augers well!

Then paperwork and stuffing are the order of the day, followed by Crouch End for People hustings in the evening. Fantastic turn out – CEfP are very professional at marketing and always good at organising big meetings.

Hornsey Town Hall and its future is the key local issue in the Crouch End area and people care passionately about its future. But there are two ‘groups’ with very similar visions – but disagreements over who should be in charge of the process taking it from council ownership to independent trust.

The vision is for a cultural/educational and community use and a beautifully restored building – possibly an anchor tenant such as the National Youth Theatre, and a cinema, community facilities and so on.

On the one hand there is a Trust set up by Crouch End for People and on the other a Community Partnership Board who are made up of representatives of the community (including a couple of people who have been involved with Crouch End for People, but no formal CEfP rep).

I just want them to work together and put their weapons down. If all the skills and talents and commitment on both sides were put into delivering the Town Hall future that people want – and less on having a go at each other – the better the community would be served!

Getting a new school for Crouch End is a big issue in the area. The background – the TUC are closing their Crouch End site and it’s now due to become a local school instead.

Good news in the end – but at first the TUC were looking into selling off the site to developers instead. Now – at the time, I campaigned with my colleagues and residents to pressure them to look at the school option rather than just sell the site to the highest bidder. We also had numerous meetings with council staff to push this issue along from their end too.

I’ve pointed this out, and it seems to have got under Labour’s skin!

First I knew of this was when the press get in touch saying the TUC’s general secretary (Brendan Barber) is claiming I’d never lobbied him. That’s easy to put to rest – out from the files comes my letter to him and the reply back from the Assistant General Secretary.

Then the story changes. Now the press say the TUC are saying, yes I may have been in touch – but they’d already made up their mind by then to go for a school. So – out come the files again, and this time it’s the official email from the TUC at the time saying they hadn’t made up their minds which gets dusted off.

Bit careless of the TUC all this forgetting what they did and said at the time. I await the next claim from the TUC with interest!

Hornsey Station 7am – bright and cheery. Then solid paperwork and emails until the afternoon when I change to phoning people to ask for various help, support etc.

News comes in from Camden Labour that Labour here has sent out an email for urgent help from Camden activists to come into Hornsey & Wood Green on the Wednesday afternoon – promising that they will be back in their own constituency by 6pm. Obviously worried!

Latest odds from the bookies on me winning – cut again, hurrah! Then phone canvassing in the evening.

9am – everyone arrives for the weekly campaign team meeting at my house. We all report to the campaign manager – what has happened in each of the wards we are looking after as to whether all the leaflets have got out, any problems, plans for the coming week etc.

Everyone then sweeps out to campaign. I spend a couple of hours organising for help to come in from across our activists in London to accomplish various tasks we have coming up in the last week – then head off to HQ.

Out canvassing in Hornsey ward – noticeable increase in people coming up to say that they are voting for me and us (generally switching from Labour). Lots of waves, smiles, hellos and good lucks – all good stuff at this point in the campaign. The sort of signs you hope for if there is to be a big swing.

Then go off to canvass Alexandra ward. We do some of the roads where passions have been running very high over traffic issues. So pleasantly surprised at just how positive the response is on the doorstep. Much still to do to sort out the traffic issues in the area though!