Each week of the campaign, a panel of candidates standing in different seats around the country will give ConservativeHome readers a flavour of how things are going in their patch. Here are the despatches from the first three panel members. Later today we will publish the thoughts of the remaining panel members - John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk), Louise Bagshawe (Corby) and Stuart Andrew (Pudsey).
Well it was an incredible relief when the starting gun was finally fired and we were officially off with the campaign in Sutton and Cheam. Having been in a “long campaign” status since January, to see the Prime Minister finally get in his car on Tuesday and make the short journey to Buckingham Palace and kick start the campaign for real was a great feeling.
Tuesday saw us deliver our first 72 hour piece of literature across the whole constituency - about 36,000 households - which left Wednesday free for a parade down the Main Sutton High Street and for all our posters to go up.
What never ceases to amaze me about a General Election Campaign is the incredible range of activity – from banging in nails for posters to a visit by Iain Duncan Smith; from delivering literature to a hustings at the Chamber of Commerce; from late night correspondence to meeting with voters on the doors; from blowing up 150 helium balloons at 7am to answering questions on economic policy – all of it is has been crammed into this week.
The highlight of the week has to be David Cameron’s visit on Saturday morning. It was the most beautiful morning and we had gathered in Cheam to meet him, whilst running our NHS street stall. Although the visit had been kept confidential, word had spread like wildfire that a top Conservative was coming. When he arrived everyone wanted to meet him and wish him luck. He even met our local hairdresser who is also called David Cameron and wished him well as well as offering top tips on hair styling!
Lee Martin - Sunderland CentralWe’ve expected Gordon to go for 6 May forever. Yet somehow events have a habit of reducing even the most professional campaigns to a shambles. So there we were Day 1, me determined to lead from the front, assembled in the car park of the Bluebell pub ready for our first proper leafleting session of the campaign when the texts start arriving to tell me Gordon’s called it. With each bleep of the phone my mind turns to all the things that we’ve still got to get sorted and my calm just shatters – if only someone hadn’t stolen my ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ mug! The rest of the day is consumed by calls to the printers and the team.
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