GB On The Road - Milton Keynes

The Labour Campaign at the Netherfield Shops - Tuesday 20th April 2010

As I got out of my car at the car park at the Netherfield shops outside of my office I bumped in to Veronica and Theresa with their Vote Labour rosettes on giving out leaflets and offering voters the chance to meet the candidate Dr Phyllis Starkey for Milton Keynes South.
I had a brief chat with Veronica aware not to delay her for long as she had a job to do Phyllis must have been further down the shopping parade as I could not see her.
I got off Theresa a leaflet on pensions and family friendly Labour policies produced by USDAW for Labour and a Dr Phyllis Starkey pledge/contact card very professional!
Veronica had also invited me to a curry evening.
Later as I left the office I saw them again as they were in the tent put up by Woughton Community Council for the doggy pitstop in the shopping parade with various water bowls left out ready for some furry customers but none were about.
Just as I was about to leave the office Cllr Kevin Wilson turned up collecting leaflets left earlier by Steve Coventry, he said he was going to hang around outside to see if any one will turn up to help him leaflet on Netherfield but sadly no one did turn up.
I eventually got home and got a phone call it was Veronica the start time had changed to 8:00pm to accomodate Cllr Kevin Wilson , Cllr Nigel Long pulled out due to exhaustion and I could either go to her house and walk to the Curry House at the local centre on Emerson Valley or meet them all there.
I felt so guilty not turning up but like Nigel I was just so, so tired so just stayed at home sorry Veronica hope I am forgiven?

Website Training at Kevin Wilson's House - Sunday 18th April 2010

Recieved a text message from Andrew Pakes in the morning to say he was at the Suffolk Punch pub car park on Heelands to meet up to go leafleting from 10:30am I got the message too late as I was clearing three smashed Budweisher bottles on the pavement and on the road around my and my neighbours cars, I managed to fill a whole Sainsbury's bag up with the broken glass and made a neighbour jump as she was cutting her lawn telling her to be careful when driving away.
Had a phone call from Cllr Kevin Wilson to arrange training to update the Milton Keynes Labour Party website.
I got to his house on Coffee Hall at 7:30pm he had Sky News on in his living room which had a rolling update on the polls which is very good but sadly I can't get Sky so BBC News 24 will have to do.
He perched his lap top to one side as he navigated the back office of the site with me trying to follow as I held the printed notes up so that he could refer too them.
I was also shown an excellent website that tracked all the polls with rolling commentary and was continuely updated after refreshing the page on a regular basis.
As I left Kevin said I was offically the Milton Keynes Labour Party IT person what a responsiblity!

GB on the Road Tour - Saturday 17th April 2010

Got home very late at night on the morning of the Saturday after being out with friends, and saw the answer phone red light flashing, the message was from Oliver at the Labour Party inviting me to attend the visit by the Prime Minister on Saturday at 1:00pm for a 2:00pm start and the event would last for an hour and to ring him back if I was interested and he would give me the location.
I got up at 8:00am and rang him back but there was only a voice mail so left a message to say yes I would be very much interested and gave him my mobile number.
I went to the Centre MK to get some photographs developed and the mobile rang it was Oliver had to go outside as the signal was very weak, he gave me the location and asked me my date of birth email address and said I must bring a photo ID with me.
I got to the Open University early the press had arrived and party workers were milling about along with serveral Police Officers.
Out on the grassed area outside the Berrill Theatre were some party members that I knew and had a chat in lovely sunny and hot weather.
A nice lady party worker with a Americian accent came up to me and we chatted she said last night was the first since the start of the General Election she had slept in her own bed it would appear that she runs her own business and was asked by the party to come back and work with them through out the campaign, she knew Andrew Pakes and said her husband knew him when he was President of the NUS, security moved us on to another patch of grass just as the Prime Ministeral Jag and two Range Rovers appeared and swooshed passed us, I got my camera out and with out thinking I steped off the kerb and was told to step back I said I had better not upset security, I was distracted so never caught the PM on camera.
We were then allowed in and I talked to a few party members I knew before we could register.
Former MP Brian White was there Paul Stanyer Victoria Whalley Jan Lloyd Janet Irons Hillary Saunders Kevin and Pam Wilson Martin Petchey Dr Phyllis Starkey Andrew Pakes and Pete Marland.
When I registed and gave my name Helen Naylor Development Officer at the Labour Party introduced herself as she had emailed me with the details of todays event and said it was nice to meet me she also asked for my photo Id so I produced my driving license!
Just as I was going to go in to the Theatre I noticed Gordon Brown walking down the stairs and so missed a good opportunity to take a better photograph of him.
I sat well to the rear of the theatre behind reserved seats for party workers and the media.
Over the stage was a screen with GB on the Road on it.
Gordon Brown was introduced by a newscaster I regonised but could not remember his name and looked very relaxed cracked a few funny gags and walked up and down the stage as he spoke, he was launching the Forces Manifesto and as he was going through various conflicts through out the world there were slides on the big screen, all was going well until the last slide did not work when he spoke about the religions common themes, so he read them on the auto cue.
There then followed a Question and Answer session and very high tech questions were displayed on the screen from Twitter followers.
David Milliband MP Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Bob Ainsworth MP Defence Secretary arrived late as they got stuck in traffic on the M1, other ministers in attendance were Douglas Alexander MP Secretary of State for International Development and Glenys Kinnock Minister in the House of Lords for Africa.
The whole session lasted for an hour and a half, the Prime Minister left the stage and shook a few hands in the audience.
One party member was upset that there was someone behind her tapping away on a laptop I tried to explain that he probably had a deadline on his article to send to his editor and that these events are not for us party members but the media the poor chap like me looked very embarrassed as he walked passed, another member wanted to ask the PM questions on domestic issues but again I had to explain that todays election grid was all about international affairs and not just a party event.
Rob Middleton in the lobby said to me that I looked very smart as he normally sees me in jeans I said I felt I had to make an effort Pete told me that they both went to another location on what looked like an educational campus and had to ring Kevin to say nobody had appeared to have turned up and was told they were not in the right place.
I also saw Veronica Belcher who informed me that she was Glenys Kinnock's driver for the event, when Glenys came through the lobby door a party member came up to her with a laminated photograph of a tearful Margeret Thatcher leaving Downing Street in her Jaguar and said this is for you and lest we forget she advised she could put it on her fridge door Glenys face did grimace when Mrs Thatcher was mentioned must of brought back bad memories of Neil Kinnock's battles with her and the Labour Party to get it electable.
Pete Marland asked if I could take Pauline Wallis home to Conniburrow which I did we had a nice chat as we left the OU in glourious sunshine.

Leaders Debate - Thursday 15th April 2010

I went to the shops after I left work to buy some nibbles and hunker down for the evening to watch at 8:30pm on ITV 1 the first and historic Leaders Debate hosted by Alistair Stewart.
After sitting through the full 90 minutes I have to say like all the pundits and polls afterwards I felt Nick Clegg had won on presentation David Cameron was very poor.
Speaking to party members afterwards and co-workers they all thought I had good stamina to have sat through it all, some did not watch it at all and others flicked through the other channels and came back to it.
As some one who has sat through to four in the morning watching the Obama - McCain Presidential Debates in November 2009, I was concerned that it would all be a bit flat like those were, especially as all party teams had agreed on 76 rules, but there was none of it lots of interactions and challenging and some cross questioning too.
There is no doubt that this will a set piece event at every general election from now on.

It's Now Official

I recieved an email today from Cllr Kevin Wilson with an attachment of the official list of candidates for the local elections, from Milton Keynes Council it is now official that I am the Labour Party candidate for Newport Pagnall North.
I met the Mayor Cllr Euan Henderson at a function opening a revamped Coffee Hall park who said I notice you are a candidate at Newport Pagnall he told me that he has represented the area for 29 years and is standing down along with his wife the Mayoress Cllr Irene Henderson after 28 years.
I also noticed on the candidates list that my former manager Jeanette Green who had I worked for in 1989 at her company William Green and Partners, is the Conservative's candidate in Newport Pagnall North, would be great if I could get more votes than her even though I get on well with her.

Leafleting on Monkston - Sunday 11th April 2010

First to arrive at Monkston at 10:30am only Andrew Pakes turned up waited a few minutes but in the end it was only us, Pete Marland was catching up on the printing.
A bit cold but dry and sunny weather in the end I was sweating wearing my fleece, we managed to cover a lot of the estate, which is very nice but the roads were never ending and could get quite lost with out a map.
One house had ballons outside with a banner over the letter box so I could not get a leaflet through, indicating some lucky girl's hen party that was about to take place very girly and pink.
As Andrew said it would be interesting to see how the area will age in 20 years time.

Leafleting on Bradville - Saturday 10th April 2010

Arrived at the Labour Hall at 2:00pm and met Andrew and Cllr Martin Petchey in the car park, Rob Middleton arrived after me.
We all drove to the heart of Bradville and this time I paired with Martin.
At one stage he left me to leaflet the close where my Grandparents used to live I hoped for old times sack that I would be able to put a leaflet through the door of their bungalow and sadly for the second time it was not to be last time one of my comrades beat me too it this time the elderly owners were out and were working on their caravan he said he did not want a leaflet it upset me more than usual as I deep down wanted to tell him of my connection with his property all those years a go.
Things got worse a few houses down when putting a leaflet through the door it set the dogs off barking and I heard a voice shout out not another leaflet (I noticed leafleting earlier that a curry house leaflet and the Yellow pages were only half pushed through properties so I felt I was doing their job for them by pushing them through along with my leaflet so I guess residents were getting a bit fed up.)
My mood did not improve somewhat when Andrew saw me and asked if I needed a bath chair and was I all right Rob Middleton said I looked as if I was so exhausted are they trying to say something?
Perhaps I was being over sensitive due to my earlier emotional incident.
Postscript: I was saddened to see on News 24 about the plane crash near the Katyn monument to the slaughter by the former Soviet Union of hundreds of Polish soldiers in the second world war how ironic that this happened on the 70th anniversary the Polish President and his wife the top millatary brass Polish MP's the clergy and the Banking Elite had all died a whole generation of leaders wiped out who were members of Solidarity fighting the communist regime.
It was heartbreaking seeing the scenes of the plane wreckage and mourners outside of the Warsaw Palace and the row of empty chairs at the Russian cereomony.
This was the worse event to happen to Poland since the second world war what a cruel twist of fate.
I texted sisters Magda and Kasia Zamojska who went back to Poland for the Easter holidays saying what terrible news and I was thinking of their Country at this differcult time they both texted me back thanking me for my kind words

Leafleting on Springfield - Saturday 10th April 2010

Arrived at 10:30am in very hot glourious sunshine had a good turnout of helpers too.
I was teamed up with Cllr Jess Holroyd I managed to get in to three out of four block of flats, at the fourth block of flats I pressed the Tradesman enterance and a loud piercing noise which seem to go on for ages and still I could not open the lobby door so I left quickly in case I upset the residents and lose Andrew some votes!
At one street Jess decided to take her coat off and put her leaflets and bag down on some old chairs left outside one of the properties.
A couple of streets later she exclaimed that she had mislaid her handbag and obviously wanted to search for it and could not remember where she had left it I suggested she want back to the street where she put everything on the old dumped chairs, she asked if I could lend her some money all I had was £5 which I gave her as she said she may need it to make a phone call home.
I carried on in her abscence leafleting and met up with her once I finished and was thankful to me for remembering the possible location as the handbag was still there luckily the owner had not gone to the tip in the meantime to get rid of the Chairs.
Once we had finished we met up with the rest of Team Labour and Cllr Hillary Saunders was there as she had turned up later wearing her Labour Rosette something I had not considered doing I went to the shop to buy a bottle of coke and drove home.
I was so exhausted I left as the rest went on to leaflet Downs Barn how do they do it I felt so guilty but they are younger than me!
Once I got home I saw a letter from Milton Keynes Council it was my confirmation that my nomination as a candidate was valid, the proposer was Andrew Pakes and the seconder was his father.

Chasing Channel Four

I had asked Andrew Pakes at yesterdays rally if he wouldn't mind if I gave Kate at Channel 4 his contact details as I felt he could answer her questions better than me, he readily agreed.
I rang Kate during my lunch break she was surprised that I had got back to her so quickly, I said to her that as a humble foot soldier Andrew would have his finger more on the pulse on the election campaign grid, Kate kindly replied that she wanted to concentrate on the foot soldier rather than is always the case the candidates in an election.
I noticed in the afternoon that I had a missed called from Vera Productions I wondered why Kate had called back she had left a message on the voice mail to say to keep in contact and let her know the areas in Milton Keynes the Labour Party will be concentrating on in the future of the campaign, but for the moment the production team will be heading to Yorkshire and possibly coming to Milton Keynes later on.
I recieved another voice mail from a guy called Andrew who said he had spoken to Kate and could I ring him back as he had a few questions to ask me.
After work I drove to the Centre MK and parked up and returned his call and was told he was on the other line then I could see his number on my mobile as a call waiting and tried to answer it but got cut off, I rang back again and was told he was still on the phone so I asked if he could ring me back.
As I was walking inside the shopping centre the phone rang it was Andrew but he was so faint I could not hear him and the phone got cut off, I went in to Boots and the phone went off again it was the same again and the call got cut off.
I went out of Boots and the phone started ringing yet again this time I could hear him I sat down and Andrew said Channel 4 will be broadcasting in Milton Keynes soon and wanted to know what I thought were the issues in Milton Keynes, in no particular order I thought they were the economy, education work life balance all because of the amount of young professionals living in Milton Keynes with young families.
I was asked about Immigration, public transport issues and the car parking problems on the new estates and at Central Milton Keynes and the campaign to have a preservation order on the shopping centre, and the maternity department in special measures at the Milton Keynes General Hospital he said he had also spoken to Cllr Norman Miles and Andrew Pakes and they had covered similar issues.
I must have been on the phone for half an hour and the lady sitting next to her barrow I could see was straining to hear what I was saying.
Andrew thanked me for my time and said he had better let me get on with my shopping.

Kick off with an Election Rally

Yesterday was the Milton Keynes Labour Party General Election rally at the Stadium MK in the Clydesdale Suite with Dr Phyllis Starkey MP, Andrew Pakes PPC for Milton Keynes North and Cllr Norman Miles Leader of the Labour Group on Milton Keynes Council with Cllr Kevin Wilson chairing the proceedings, the guest speaker was the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports Ben Bradshaw MP for Exeter, kick off was 7:30pm.
Luckily I had to clerk a Community Development Committee meeting with a very short agenda which finished at aroundabout 6:50pm and so hot footed it to pick up Cllr Janet Richardson on Netherfield.
Oh and before I go on earlier in the day I had a phone call from a nice lady called Kate a Researcher from Vera Productions on Channel Four, it would seem she had come across my blog and wanted to know more about the campaigning I am involved in there's me thinking no one read it and was just doing this for a bit of fun don't think i'll ever get to the status of Iain Dale or Will Straw though! but it was nice to be complimented, it would appear that she is going to run a programme on people like me in marginal seats campaigning rather than the candidates during the General Election, she asked me if I would find out the areas the Labour Party will be campaigning in and the level of activity that will be taking place to see if it was worth taking it further, which I agreed I would do and ring her back tommorrow.
Now returning to the Stadium MK Rally we had to go through the Hilton Doubletree Hotel which had recently opened all very plush and with a really deep red carpets and seating but who am I to complain.
Once I got to the the top of the stairs Pete Marland slapped a sticker on me saying "A Future Fair for All Vote Labour 2010" in red of course!
In the conference suite Andrew Pakes must of seen me holding my camera as I was going to take photographs of the event for the Milton Keynes Labour Party Facebook Group page which I administer, he asked if I would be the official photographer for the night and produced a monster camera as I am only used to simple shoot and go digital camera's.
I sat in the front row with Cllr Richardson and Cllr Kevin Wilson sat at the top table waiting for everyone to arrive he noticed the camera and said that I would be needed to take a photograph with the Minister Phyllis, Andrew and Norman Miles separately my heart sank this could be a disaster when Andrew earlier gave me a crash course in using the camera it was fine when I tried on my own I said to Janet sitting next to me how come I cannot see through the view finder she said laughing helps if you take the cap off DOH!
Brian White was with a steward who opened the balcony doors on to the viewing stand looking on to the football pitch and the huge MKDons sign in the background I tried to look confident in front of them all and had to try at different angles to get them all in and get this MK Dons sign in too a nightmare but I got there and everyone seemed quite happy with the results.
I could relax when Andrew said there was no need to take any of the speechs so thankfully I could go back to using my trusty digital camera.
Cllr Kevin Wilson brought the proceedings to order and introduced Cllr Brian White who had to leave shortly to attend a Council Scrutiny meeting, it must of been a bitter sweet moment for the former MP but he made a good point that if Andrew is elected he would be the first MP to have been born and grown up in the area.
Ben Bradshaw MP made a very inspiring speech and answered questions afterwards as he too had to rush off to do some more campaigning.
Both Dr Phyllis Starkey MP and Andrew Pakes made very good rousing speeches all good anti Tory stuff to get the blood pumping.
Poor Cllr Norman Miles needed to remind everyone we also had a Labour Party local Election Manifesto to launch amid the fury of a General Election he said the Manifesto will concentrate on good quality housing tackling anti social behaviour etc.
After the speeches I asked Phyllis if I could have a photograph taken with her as after 13 years taking photographs with her at different functions I had never had my photograph taken with her I also had a photograph taken with Andrew Pakes.
Pete Marland approached me to ask if I would sign Andrew's nomination paper which I duly did.
All in all a great venue a great rally to get us all off on to a flying start and great as well to catch up with some good friends in the Labour family.

Oh My God I spotted A UKIP Poster!

As I was driving home there was a bus that stopped in front of me at the traffic lights in Central Milton Keynes which had a UKIP poster on it, it was stuck on in a haphazard way as it was half stuck over the Scania sign, I can't even remember what the slogan was so can't of been that good.
Had Parliament TV on my laptop, Vera Baird MP for Redcar was speaking on the Equality Bill in the Wash out stage before Parliament is prologued on April 12th she has the most seductive voice but very school marmaish and gives the impression you would not want to cross her, as I went on Members Net where for £9.00p I could have sent out 30 leaflets to be posted to target voters it did not say if they would be local or around the Country, you can choose between various templates depending on the subject you wanted to write about I chose to write about my experiences of the NHS (as the instructions said you must only write about your own experiences.)
You can also upload a photograph of yourself and sign off under your own name and then pay for them, you also get sent a copy of your personalised card as a souvenir.
Unluckily for me I typed everything out and uploaded my photograph and when I clicked on the button to be shown a PDF document of my card my system froze on me which followed by lots of swearing and violence towards my laptop, and had to start all over again when it came to paying for them I put my card number in but did not space the sections of the numbers out and so it refused payment (again lots of swearing) when I went back and made the corrections it worked! so look forward to recieving my finished product in the post.
Useless facts on the General Election for you:
a) All three main party leaders have young children
b) This is the first General Election campaign for all the three main party leaders
c) This is the first General Election where there will be televised debates with the three main party leaders
If I come across any more useless facts I will let you know.
Post script The Guardian Newspaper today has done me proud not only is there eleven pages covering the General Election but an essential pull out guide too also I have a slight nagging toothache which is making me feel grumpy which I keep hoping will go away as i'm scared of dentists and begrudge paying for treatment from my hard earned cash, Denis Healy former Labour Chancellor of the 70's Wilson and Callaghan Government's in his autobiography said his teeth kept playing him up in times of stress and said come the revolution he would advise people to have all their teeth pulled out I now tend to agree with him.

First Day of the General Election 2010

Drove in to work today from the Easter break I hoped to have been out over the weekend leafleting with the Labour Party PPC for Milton Keynes North Andrew Pakes and Team Labour in Bradwell but suffered from a burst mouth ulcer which surprisingly left me so drained I felt like a frail eighty year old so could only rest and watch events nationally on BBC News 24 and read The Guardian and sad I know clips from You Tube of the 1974 General Elections as so many pundits said this General Election will be the closes since that year.
I was working away getting the agenda out of the Community Development Committee checking my emails etc regreting that I had no medium that I could use to hear live when the Prime Minister went to the Palace, one City Councillor came in to the office from leafleting and could not tell me if the election had been called, but another Parish Councillor who rang me without prompting confirmed the starting gun had been fired and the General Election was away, and was asking me constitional questions on if Gordon Brown lost his seat but Labour had won what would happen and who would become Prime Minister.
One work colleague brought in a Labour Newsletter put through her door over the weekend that had a photograph of me in a group shot with Dr Phyllis Starkey MP and said we looked like a funny family as the headline above it was about campaigning for families, I replied that I am part of the Labour family I was quite chuffed that I thought of that.
I drove home in lovely sunshine and once home I watched News 24 to see the Prime Minister driving to the Palace and the Queen being flown from Balmoral and walking across her green back yard to have her audience with Gordon Brown.
Once he got back to Downing Street he spoke with the whole of the Cabinet standing next to him asking for a clear mandate from the British Public.
I quite enjoyed seeing the former Deputy Leader and Prime Minister John Prescott being interviewed energised and going to Carlile in his Battle Bus tommorrow I hope that I have as much energy and passion at 71 as he has, it was sad to hear when he said that it was the last time today that he walked in to Parliament after 40 years as a MP and the first election after fighting ten elections that he would not be coming back to Westminister, he even blandished his very tattered pledge card where he said the Labour Government had delivered on them all and unlike David Cameron's Tories people knew where the party stood and had very clear policies, the interviewer did ask if he will go to the Lords but he did laugh saying that he was unsure but Pauline has made her views known so we shall see.
Same great natural justice when Nick Griffin MEP and leader of the BNP starting to attack Labour when questioned about a former BNP press officer who was trying to get him killed and the screen froze and they had to cut the rest of the interview.
There then followed Jeremy Vine's swingometer which showed the Tories would need a 6.9% swing to even obtain a one seat majority and an analist of all the polls so far in April.
Lastly shots were shown of Gordon Brown returning back to Downing Street after a first full day's campaigning which previously showed him with Sarah Brown on his first train journey meeting train passengers and at a cafeteria where a young man asking if he wanted a job his female counterpart said she could fix him up with one oh dear that gave the comentator a field day about his future career prospects!
I really felt the election had started when I put my vote Labour posters up in my window the only posters in my close and so stands out a mile.
Just waiting now for my vote Andrew Pakes Window and car posters then I will be really fired up.