Horsell Action Day

There’s nothing better than a bit of politics when the sun’s shining, people are in and willing to talk and the parliamentary candidate is getting greeted on the street by people who recognise him from literature. But so it was this morning when we held an Action Day in Horsell for my campaign along with Jonathan Lord.

I’ve read an awful lot of baseless rubbish about him elsewhere and in some election literature, which I have addressed previously. While our opponents campaign on the importance of locality because they have little else to recommend their candidate, Jonathan is interested in meeting people to demonstrate the broad portfolio of personal and political skills that we believe would make him a strong and effective MP for Woking. It seems that people in Horsell High Street this morning understood this.

Far from quizzing him about where he lives – as Lib Dem activists have been asked to do if he calls – they are concentrating on the big picture. That is that we need someone to stand up in parliament and argue Woking’s case to the highest democratic authority in the land and that person needs to be charismatic and credible. He was greeted warmly both on the doorstep and in the street this morning by people from all parts of the village who can see what he would offer Woking as our representative if they back him on May 6.

It’s a common theme of Lib Dem literature to erect barriers - a barrier between Jonathan and his party, a barrier between Jonathan and Woking or between anyone else and the people they want to represent. Well, those barriers are all very well as election tools but they don’t exist in reality. As Conservatives, we must not talk the language of barriers, problems and disconnects but of accessibility, solutions and relationships – and watching Jonathan’s reception in Horsell this morning demonstrated to me the value of that approach and why I believe that ultimately it will win through.