Tooting Labour Hold – footage from one hell of a night

Some of the footage from Thursday night. Awesome, awesome experience. Thanks to Luke Waterfield for digging this up.

Hustings in Tooting

Last night I had the pleasure to go to a Hustings in Tooting in the lead-up to the election on the 6th of May.

In my mind, there was only one winner, Sadiq Khan. Sadiq spoke passionately and authoritatively on issues that local Tooting residents face everyday. Affordable high-quality university places; protecting our economy from double dip recession; protection for developing world communities and our own shores from the threat of  devastating climate change; sweeping voting reform to get rid of the first past the post system that is clearly flawed; and importantly for me on a personal level, a real and understanding answer on immigration.

Sadiq put all of his points in the context of Tooting, how these issues will affect us as residents.  Sadiq outlined how he and Labour have worked to ensure Tooting is a great place to live. This has resulted in lower unemployment, better schools and a vastly improved St George’s Hospital. As he said in his opening address, as a Tooting boy born and bred, he “walks in our shoes”, so by using the same services and amenities as the rest of us, he understands what issues are important to we residents.

The other candidates ranged from the slick to the all over the place.  The UKIP representative was the consummate stereotype of his party, anti-Europe, pro public service cuts, anti-climate change. The Green candidate was very amusing and thoughtful in his answers, many of which I support and applaud, but he will be the first to admit he has no chance under the first-past-the-post system, something Labour is going to change if they get back in and the public choose the Alternative Vote Plus system in a referendum. The Independent seems passionate on her issues, but again can’t win because of the electoral system. The Lib-Dem didn’t get the support that the Clegg bounce would have assured him and Mr Clarke of the Conservatives was slick, but his points were straight from the Tory manifesto, rather than focusing on Tooting issues. Sadiq has proven himself to be a MP who will fight for Tooting residents and I don’t know if we would get that to the same extent from any other candidate.

I also question the debate format. There was no real opportunity for acutal debate or rebuttal. Each speaker had two minutes to make his point and move on, thereby leaving no time for rebuttal or proper discussion.

All-in-all it was a fascinating night and it raised many questions about the viability about many of the candidates in my mind.

Campaigning literature gaffe in Tooting

I got this through my letter box the other day. Have a look at how the Tooting Lib-Dems have spelt Iraq in their pamphlet below. I think it is supposed to be intentional as they mention Labour’s serial errors. But I  think that might be worse as the spelling isn’t explained or re-referenced in the pamphlet. It just looks like a typo, a massive massive typo.

Really?

Campaigning for Sadiq Khan

In my free time I’ve been campaigning for Sadiq Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting for the past 8-9 months since I moved to the area.It has been fantastic to get involved. I’ve met some fantastic new people – it’s true that Labour might not have the money that the Tories do, but they certainly have an enormously energetic level of active support and the team in Tooting are a hard-working, welcoming bunch.

Sadiq has worked exceptionally hard for the people of Tooting since he was first elected in 2005. He was born and raised in the area so he has a natural affinity with the people and a deep-rooted understanding of the issues Tooting residents face. For more information on Sadiq, have a look at his website. It is a new address because he can’t use his old website anymore due to campaigning rules.

He was kind enough to agree to post a message for my blog which is below.

Sorry – I’ve been busy, but that’s no excuse

My sincerest apologies for not blogging in so so long. This is exactly what I would advise a blogger should never do, but I guess I’ll have to live with a do as I say, not as I do philosophy for now.

Just to give you a brief update of my last  weeks, I have been;

• Helping out with Sadiq Khan MP’s campaign in Tooting. It feels good here, I think we will win it and Mark Clarke and the Tories seem increasingly all over the place. We had the Tooting Action Day last week which was about 6 hours of canvassing and envelope stuffing. Sounds awful, but it is great to hang out with people as passionate as I am. Plus it is a pleasure to help out Sadiq any way I can. Bring on the election.
• I’ve been helping manage the launch of the Labour Campaign for International Development. I’m election and media manager for the group and again, it is great to work with people who share my passions. I won’t go into too much detail, but follow my link and you can get a good idea of what we’ve put into place.
• I’ve been reading. Firstly Kafka’s  The Trial irritating. Secondly David Plouffe’s story of how he managed Obama’s campaign in the brilliant The Audacity to Win – read it.
• I’ve been saving the world. Work has been fantastic, I’ve been seeing the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pneumococcal Disease Prevention in the Developing World transition itself to the APPG for Global Action against Childhood Pneumonia as well as partaking in some pretty high-profile campaigns, which I probably shouldn’t discuss here.
• I’ve been watching Mad Men, brilliant.
• I’ve been planning some holidays, I’m looking forward to it

There’s plenty more, I’ll add to this list when I think about it. I’ll add hyperlinks soon too.

Canvassing in Tooting

I had the pleasure of joining the Tooting Labour Party team canvassing with local MP Sadiq Khan today. We canvassed around the Hazelhurst Estate area and again, the results were pretty positive. Most people in the area I meet suggest they will vote Labour, with only a few previous Labour voters suggesting they are wavering.

This is obviously good news, and I think that in the not to distant future, probably early in the New Year, the focus of canvassing will change from purely trying to convince people to vote Labour, but to also make sure they actually get out and vote. I think that is one of the big challenges for Labour, ensuring people who may become slightly more apathetic, that they have to get out and vote.

Canvassing with Sadiq Khan MP in Tooting

More of a diary update, rather than a comment piece.

I’ve been recently toying with the idea of joining a political party and as I’ve no doubt you have realised that my preference is for the Labour Party.

Well, I have recently volunteered with Sadiq Khan’s (Lab-Tooting) office offering to do what I can and when I can. Well, today I joined his team out canvassing in the local area. Sadiq has quite impressive and seemed really engaged with the local constituents. If they had a problem he was really keen to speak with them to see what he could do. A couple of people seemed really impressed that he was there to listen and said they would vote for him because of it. I’m sure if every Labour MP and PPC can do the same, Labour has more than a chance at the next election.

But anyway, I enjoyed it and I know I’ll be back to help in the coming weeks.