My Day Twenty Six

10 stop tour of London gave us a chance to see some of our great ministers standing for re-election, and catch up with some new candidates who we hope will bring their own contributions to the Palace that is Westminster. It’s not a usual bank holiday Sunday (no sit down family lunch, no running round the local park, no reading the same Horrid Henry book six times in a row) – but a great day nonetheless.  So, on the hour, from the top, this was our day:

10am Eltham with Clive Efford
Hearing from local police about how they make the neighbourhood safe.

11am Camberwell and Peckham with Harriet Harman
Watching music and dance at Inspire community centre and a rousing speech from Gordon about valuing our public services

12pm Streatham with Chukka Ummuna
Gordon invited by Bishop Parkinson to speak from the pulpit of the Church of the New Testament, Brixton Hill – a chance to reaffirm his most fundamental belief: that when people are in trouble should never walk by on the other side (and to meet Chukka's mum!)

1pm Dulwich and West Norwood with Tessa Jowell
Despite the rain we were out door knocking in Poplar Road – not sure whether people answering the doors were more surprised to see the PM or Labour activist Trudy Goodwin who is so familiar from the Bill!

2pm Tooting with Sadiq Khan
Gordon rallying speech to Sadiq’s activists and BAME media who are all very interested in Sadiq as the first Asian and first Muslim MP to attend cabinet (and the first minister in the whole Western world to perform Hajj while in office). Listen to it here.

3pm Hammersmith with Andy Slaughter
Prunella Scales and Gordon do a walk through the local Tesco superstore -  staff say there are at least 30 people shopping each day around 4 in the morning - this is the store that never sleeps (a bit like I feel!)

4pm Harrow West with Gareth Thomas
Gareth is not only a brilliant champion of the Co-Operative movement (and he’s been key to building the relationship between the co-op and PiggyBankKids, for which I will be forever grateful), he’s also a ferocious fighter for Harrow, and you can tell it’s appreciated by the huge energy we felt walking in to his campaign office – big cheers for Gordon as he details how Labour will fight back in the next few days

5pm Westminster North with Karen Buck
Big Westminster welcome to Gordon when he gets out the car, despite being a little later than planned - another great MP far too good to lose.

6pm Hampstead and Kilburn with Glenda Jackson
A lovely (and very Hampstead!) afternoon, meeting Sadie Frost and Meg Matthews and Michelle Collins outside a gastro pub and  all squeeeeeezing into upstairs room as more people had come than we expected. A final rousing stump speech from Gordon before…
 
7pm London Region Telephone Canvassing office with Frank Dobson
Gordon calls some new members of the Labour Party - they had literally joined in the previous hour or so, and had a call from Gordon thanking them for their support, and inviting them to join Labour’s doorstep army for the final push. Over 3 million contacts have been made with voters by Labour campaigners since the start of the year. That’s why I know, that whatever the papers say, it’s still #gameon.