The Blair Peach Project

Had a fantastic time in Ealing Southall last night.
Managed to get a couple of hours in getting out the vote.
I'd campaigned there the previous week and couldn't get over the fact that some shops were displaying posters of all three main candidates.

Arrived at our campaign HQ in Southall - a fantastic Indian restaurant.
Our aim was to get as many Labour supporters out to vote at their nearest polling station - in my area this was Blair Peach School.

I got paired with Sen from Surbiton, a member of Tamils for Labour. I ran the book as Sen knocked up the houses that had indicated they might vote Labour. The reaction was very positive on the doorstep. One man - almost in indignation - told me: "I've voted for Labour for 30 years - who else would I vote for."
The reported turn-out was a worry - we'd heard figures of 38% - so we were fighting for every vote.

As it was, it wasn't close. The Bollywood Glamour of Tony Lit failed to convince voters. They chose the person they felt would best serve them - a decent and hard-working local candidate.

Well done to Joan Ryan, Tom Watson and Keith Vaz. A difficult campaign but a fantastic result. Seeing Tory strategist Grant Shapps trying to justify a 0.9% increase in the Tory share of the vote as a good result on Sky News has just become one of my highlights of the year so far.