Each week a different PPC provides us with an insight into life as a candidate and gives us a flavour of their own campaign and interests. If you are a candidate and are keen to be featured, please email Jonathan Isaby.
This week's diary is written by Annunziata Rees-Mogg, candidate for
Somerton and Frome in Somerset. The seat was gained in 1997 by the Liberal Democrat, David Heath, who has held it with a three-figure majority ever since. With boundary changes coming in at the next election, Annunziata has to overturn a notional Lib Dem majority of 595 in order to gain the seat, which will entail achieving a swing of less than 1%. Annunziata is a freelance journalist who fought Abervaon at the last general election. She was selected at an open primary in October 2006.
There is nothing like starting with a cliché - so a week might be a long time in politics but it’s a few seconds in the travails of a Parliamentary candidate. As I sit in the Somerset sunshine reflecting back on the last week it is amazing how quickly it has flown by.
Monday 6th April
Monday is never my most exciting day, so I’ll keep it brief. In the morning I speak to my constituency office and decide on what events - past and future - we are going to use as press stories. Spend the rest of the day writing up press releases before heading off to see a couple of friends in the evening. The highlight of the day was finishing Infidel, My Story by Aayan Hirsi Ali - a remarkable woman who used politics to fight for what she believed in. (Tip: no matter how many people tell you that Berocca is great, never take it at night unless you want to finish a particularly good book: it makes a double espresso seem like a sedative…)
Tuesday 7th April
Yet more admin. Normally my weekdays would be stuffed with political meetings but as Parliament is on recess it is much quieter and I take the opportunity to reply to various e-mails from voters in Somerton & Frome. Never know what to expect, today I had a query from an ex-soldier who was based in Palestine when Israel was created, asking for an update on my views of the situation in the Middle East post the Israeli elections; another on an alleged planning permission scam; mixed in with the usual fears about local schools, health services and the state of the economy. Muse briefly on how many fewer people are mentioning the environment since the credit crunch began. In Somerset we are fortunate to have a low unemployment rate, but job insecurity is rife and many people are working fewer days or hours a week - let alone all the pensioners whose savings now reap scant rewards. There is a huge hidden toll in the official figures. Get an e-mail from Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt agreeing to receive a petition that I am running with local pubs to help save their businesses. They will be delighted to find out they can come up to Westminster to represent Somerset pubs.
At the moment I am mid switch over from my association website to a fully revamped one of my own. The preparation is huge, time consuming and very dull. I won’t bore you with the details but once the admin is out of the way I settle back to writing a few more pages, intros, picture captions etc. The deadline for going live is terrifyingly close and the whole process is far more stressful than I had imagined. Yet again I thank God for Cindi - our recently recruited campaign organiser, my agent Mark and my wonderful chairman. Without their help none of this would ever happen.
Once I’ve done as much as I can for the website, I head off to see the organiser of the Atlantic Bridge. Last year I went on a fascinating trip the organisation arranged to the US for some candidates to learn and see more about American politics. Another sign the credit crunch is hitting - the return tour has been indefinitely postponed owing to lack of funds.
Wednesday 8th April
Phew, at last I have a bit of me time. I turned 30 a fortnight ago today and my mother and I head out present shopping and then I meet up with an old friend. A really good day - and it helps get back the perspective that not everyone in the world spends their whole time obsessing about politics. It doesn’t stop the phone ringing though, so have to repeatedly interrupt shopping with arranging meetings, both in Somerton & Frome and with a shadow cabinet member, answering queries and responding to S&F constituents. When I get home I spot the e-mails have been piling up. Harass a local councillor who has not answered a lady’s query about her wheelie bin and spend a lot of time investigating how one of our towns can save their market place.
Thursday 9th April
Press notices have to go out for what the local Conservatives and I are doing over the bank holiday weekend. Iain Duncan Smith has agreed to come down here for an event, so agree a date with my brother’s constituency of Somerset North East as IDS wants to speak to both at once. He will go down brilliantly around here - his social cohesion ideas are extremely popular. Once those are sorted I jump in the car to get back to Somerset. Panic about what to take with me - living in two places has great bonuses but it is a nightmare remembering to have the right clothes / camera / glasses / computer / files / phone charger etc etc in the right place. I will be in Somerset for the next ten days, so better not leave anything behind.
Finally get in the car - as I always do on Thursday lunchtime - but have forgotten that it is the great Easter getaway. Takes me three and a half hours instead of the normal two, mainly because of the bottle neck as the A303 becomes single carriageway. Think again about how damaging it is to West Country business that we don’t have an arterial road connecting us to the South East.
Mind you, with a constituency covering 900 square miles to fight, I am pretty used to the inside of my car. Since Christmas I’ve spent over 150 hours driving (or nearly 11 hours a week), which I often use as an opportunity to listen to political biographies interspersed with trying to learn basic Italian, though I still find being behind the wheel a frustrating waste of time when I could be out campaigning. I guess there is little choice if you’re fighting a constituency that is a 55-mile drive from one end to the other.
En route I have to stop for lunch - so the drive-thru MacDonald’s it is. The candidates’ diet really is truly appalling.
I thought I would get to my home in Mells with about an hour to sort things out before canvassing, but the A303 put paid to that. Drive straight to Stoke St Michael, a small village in one of our target County Council divisions, and hit the streets. It is not hot, but having done a couple of estates and pegged it up and down a dozen very steep drives it begins to feel warm despite the drizzle. Still, I can’t wait for summer campaigning. When I worked at the Daily Telegraph, some colleagues seemed to think I went to the Med every weekend, instead it was District Council elections and I just spent all weekend out knocking on doors in the sunshine. Great for the tan and great for my usually abysmal fitness.
The story on the doorstep was the same and as depressing as ever. The economy is really worrying people. Lots of people also queried the power of the government to invade our lives and keep databases on us. Sadly, the events at the G20 have yet again undermined the public’s belief in the police and surprise, surprise politicians are just seen as scam artists. It is no use explaining that as a candidate I do not get a penny in expenses or salary - they just believe that we are all in it for ourselves. The anger is palpable and other than wholesale change in the system of how our MPs are remunerated as well as greater transparency and answerability, I don’t see how it will change.
Get home at 9pm and gobble some food my wonderful mother has made before jumping back on the computer to go through some of the website stuff I did earlier in the week.
Friday 10th April
It is Good Friday and therefore not quite my normal week. Thanks to a few very generous people, I usually have a brilliant secretary come and help with all my admin. For the first 18 months of being a candidate I found this almost overwhelming. The first survey I sent out got over 6,000 replies and I dutifully waded through replying and contacting each respondent. Today, another 150 letters are waiting and we sort through them, although we only have half a day. It is hard going but we make a lot of progress. Those who have put phone numbers in get a call, e-mail addresses get an e-mail and then the letter… Some take a lot of research to reply to effectively, as a candidate I have found I’ve become a mini-expert on an incredibly wide range of subjects. It sometimes seems never-ending but I know that the issues people write to me about are of real concern to them and I feel it is my duty to try and help - or explain - where I can. Some letters are heartbreaking, others funny and some just plain worrying.
At lunchtime, my mother and I head to Frome to do the Easter weekend shopping. With five grown-up children plus spouses living nearby (along with ten grandchildren) my parents’ house is always on the go. I love having them all around - and can always head off to my computer for a bit of peace and quiet.
Once we’ve done the shopping, we drive to a local garage to meet a local organic farmer from whom we are buying lamb. It happens to be a convenient half-way point but I can’t help thinking as these packages get exchanged for money that we must look rather dodgy hanging out by the pumps. The farmer is also worried by the Government’s invasion of our privacy and the disrespect shown by - and to - the police. Whilst individually our local policemen and women - with the support of PCSOs - do the job as best they can, they are let down by the target-driven system. How can we sort this out? It needs a total reassessment of what the police are there to do. Perhaps the American saying of “To Serve and Protect” should be brought in here.
Off to church for Mass. It’s a bit of a family affair and I run into one of my brothers with his wife and children. We discuss Somerset policing as I have a meeting with the police next week. It is wonderful having him standing as the next door candidate - so many local issues overlap and as we’ve always got on well, we work efficiently as a team when needed. At the same time, the two constituencies have striking differences, so luckily we are not in each others’ pockets.
Head home to dinner with my parents. My father has written about the June elections for the Mail on Sunday so we discuss how we all see the outcomes. Every meal with my parents is like a think tank discussion. We don’t always see eye to eye but views are debated and facts shared. It is no wonder that all five of us children have such strong - yet differing - political beliefs. Since the moment we learnt to talk we have been encouraged to think for ourselves and find the answers we need.
Saturday 11th April
This morning is the village opening of our new shop. Last year the village I live in decided to take over the running of our local shop as it was going to close down. Everyone in the village has joined in - donating to the co-operative fund, baking cakes, sourcing suppliers, helping with the revamp of the building. There is real excitement as we all turn up to see what the new stock and layout is like. Dozens of people arrive to see the ribbon cut and then fight to be the first through the door. There is a heightened excitement as this shop is “ours”. Politically, co-ops may not be my favourite but there is something wonderful about the sense of community this project has inspired in our village - and I am glad that it is a growing trend across Somerset as our local amenities struggle to survive. As I have been running a Local Shops campaign since the New Year, it is great to be involved in such a project.
Having grabbed a couple of samples of the new catering service the shop is providing, I dash off to go canvassing in Cranmore, another key local village. Despite various - mainly national - issues coming up on the doorstep I am left with the overwhelming feeling of despair. People don’t seem to believe that politicians can change things - and that if they do is just meddling generated by self-interest. We really need to grasp this nettle if the Conservatives win the next election. I get increasingly infuriated by the fact that the canvass sheets are in alphabetical (rather than numerical) order, which makes accurate recording nigh on impossible and hugely time consuming.
Once we finish the village, I drive into Frome to go to Homebase. I am rather dreading it as it is Easter Saturday and the news has been telling me all day that this is the second busiest time of the year. I am surprised as I pull up to the car park that there are plenty of spaces - and once inside I realise there is not a single queue. Having bought my seeds I chat to the girl on the till - she says it has been “not too bad all day”. This is despite all the adverts, discounts and freebies. I think again about the man I canvassed earlier in the day who thinks we’ll be out of this recession by Christmas. I like optimism, I couldn’t be a candidate if I didn’t believe we could change things for the better, but I can’t share his view. This feels really bad.
Back at home I head straight for a straggly corner of the garden where the lawn is patchy and ragged. I figure that a yard square should be sufficient for my herbs, strawberries, garlic and chillies I am going to put under the DIY propagator I’ve designed. Breaking up the not so perky turf is back breaking - but eventually I am ready to seed and cover over to keep the late frost out. The potatoes will have to wait as they have not yet sprouted enough to be planted. As I churn up the soil I ponder why, when four of the last six US Presidents have been left-handed, all gardening and kitchen utensils are still only available in mainstream shops for right handers. It is getting dark and I grab some food and relax in front of Sky News.
The ten o’clock news is all about Damian McBride’s tactic of slurring Conservative politicians. Sadly, I can’t say I’m vaguely surprised. I had always assumed that was what Alastair Campbell was up to anyway. Locally I am determined to run a positive campaign - sadly my opponent does not follow the same school of thought. However, my most amusing libel to date was something I stumbled on earlier this week when looking myself up on Google for my website. Apparently, I am an actress and starred alongside Mick Jagger in The Performance. Truth be told, the only time I acted at all was at school and as The Performance was made in 1970 I wasn’t even born at the time. The mind boggles.
Go to bed and continue reading A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka. I’m rather late in the day reading this best-seller but my family have a long standing habit of passing on books which can sometimes be a rather slow process.
Sunday 12th April
Easter Sunday so it’s off to Church again. It is packed and despite the little church being in a small Somerset town there are people of every age, race and physical ability. This is what I see as a real melting pot of cultures, everyone coming together from all parts of the community. It is good to see so many young people in the congregation - babies next to strangers in their nineties. It is a joyful service and everyone walks out with a air of spring about them.
Home for lunch and a photo session for the website with my niece who is taking photography A-level and now typing this in the warm sunshine. Tomorrow I will be helping out manning a stall at our annual village fete. Tuesday it’s a whole day of meetings about the website, Wednesday meeting the local police and babysitting my 10 year old niece, Thursday back on the doorstep, Friday admin, Saturday canvassing and street campaigning. It is undoubtedly a varied and enjoyable life being a candidate - but I thank my lucky stars that I work with such great people and have such a supportive family. Without them it would not be possible.
(Photos are Copyright Maud Craigie)
Next week's Diary will be written by Gareth Johnson, PPC for Dartford. Last week's was written by Richard Cook.