Another furiously busy long weekend. I spent most of Friday working on campaign items, followed by a branch meeting of Horsell and Woodham in the evening. Yesterday, my other half and I spent most of the day in the kitchen – more of which later – followed by helping out and attending the Carol Concert at Horsell Village Hall. Today, we have presented the fruits of our kitchen labours at the Horsell and Woodham Conservatives Christmas Lunch, which as fundraising and membership vice-chairman, I have organised.

So another wonderfully “Horselly” weekend. The Mosaic Choir was absolutely fantastic yesterday evening and sung with great competence and wit. A number of their pieces were modern alternatives to traditional favourites and the version of 12 Days of Christmas was very funny. The event raised a great deal of money for Woking Lions and Horsell Village Hall and we have to recognise the efforts of Dorothy Smith, Penny Kramer and Roger Chamberlain from the HVH side, along with Janice Worgan.

Party events are perhaps slightly less worthy from a general point of view but raise funds for the political process, which however cynical one may be about it is at least better than no political process at all. My other half and I spent yesterday making various desserts to cater for the 35 people who turned up to support us today. Cllrs Anne Murray and Mike Smith provided the main course and Jonathan Lord attended a Horsell event yet again, showing his continuing commitment to support activists at every level as they support him. I’ve said before that I’m lucky to have a great branch behind my campaign – it can’t be overstated.

There isn’t a particular point to this post other than to note what a great pleasure it is to have such a full diary and meet so many good people who support these events – both political and non-political. Where you live is what you make it, something it is heartening that so people in Horsell understand.

Jonathan Lord

Last week, my post on Jonathan Lord’s selection was taken down by someone hacking into my WordPress account. Very petty. It also raised hackles that I appeared to “forget” that there was an election for us to fight if he was to become the next MP for Woking. No, I haven’t forgotten that, hence my many, many posts on the next election. The point about elections, for those who haven’t forgotten that they are happening but have perhaps forgotten how to win them, is to convince as many people as possible that a candidate is the person who will best represent their views and interests.

I am confident that in Jonathan, we have a candidate who is experienced in campaigning, who is an excellent performer on the doorstep and who talks with people easily and fluently about the issues that concern them. Hence, I believe he will be the next MP for Woking – if you can’t say that about the candidate you are campaigning for, why on earth would you be campaigning for them?

Today I went to a very enjoyable lunch event at the house of Cllrs Michael Smith and Anne Murray, which was well-attended and at which Jonathan spoke eloquently and spontaneously about the challenges we face as a party and a country. It reminded me again of the reason that he was selected – at the Open Primary he captured the imagination and support of the hall and was a clear winner on the night.

His CV is impressive – he has been a deputy leader of Westminster City Council, one of the country’s foremost local authorities and ran Anne Milton’s successful campaign to re-capture Guildford in 2005. All the evidence based on recent electoral history told us that the Liberal Democrats should have held onto Guildford – but they didn’t because of Jonathan’s excellent campaign and those involved in it. In June, he was heavily involved in the Guildford county campaign where the Liberal Democrats were pushed out of two Guildford seats and a third, Worplesdon, was turned from a marginal into a safe seat.

He is a proven campaigner, a superb speaker and is excellent one-on-one with people. He is local – I know that won’t stop his opponents trying to place Guildford as 40 miles away instead of four – and he will become more so as the campaign progresses. We know that the Liberal Democrats are targetting Woking, having given up in Guildford not in small part due to Jonathan’s efforts. I don’t blame them – but we will be ready with a candidate who they are going to have to work harder than in Guildford and South West Surrey combined if they are to beat.

Today, the Horsell and Woodham branch that saw Ben Carasco elected in Horsell pledged it was 100% behind Jonathan Lord in Woking and I am confident that with a smart strategy and dedicated teamwork we will be able to put Woking out of reach of the Liberal Democrats. But whatever the result, it should be one hell of a campaign and I for one am looking forward to it.