A day in the life of an MP....Canvassing

When first asked to go out and shadow an MP from my home constituency I was daunted by the task, my knowledge of politics was scarce causing me to have a less than confident outlook on the situation. So on 27th April 2010, after many hours on the internet bolstering my thread bare political knowledge, I put my brave face on and went to meet Dave Radcliffe, Liberal Democrat for the Selly Oak area in Birmingham, for a day of local canvassing. We had a little chat before we set off and he seemed like a genuinely nice, down to earth bloke (except for the PhD he has in chemistry). I first asked him about the role he plays within the local community and how he keeps his constituents informed of his promises to them, the response he gave was “I deliver regular newsletters to keep residents in touch with local news and actions that I have taken on behalf of local people.”, which seems fair enough. When we finally got on the campaign trail the first few houses we stopped at where what he called “no shows” in other words nobody was home, or they saw us coming. After a few more door to door knocks and chats with some pleasant members of the public, one woman, who opened the door and saw it was the Lib Dem candidate, slammed the door in our face, from here on out I knew that Dave Radcliffe had a hard long day on the campaign trail ahead of him. Being in Selly Oak, an area of high student population, the inevitable happened we came upon student housing. Being a student myself I knew what was coming and being a seasoned campaigner, Dave Radcliffe had all the answers. After a few “no shows” we chatted to a few passive first time voters, similar to myself, who Dave thought he had a reasonable chance of convincing to vote Lib Dem. The next couple we spoke to were very outspoken and grilled Dave Radcliffe, which was what I was hoping for, and to be fair he answered them succinctly and directly, a policy which most politicians choose to ignore. After speaking to these students i asked him how he felt talking to first time voters - ”it’s interesting talking to first time voters to see their pre-conceived views on politics and their views on politicians, especially after the expenses scandal” was his response.
On the way round he was open to a few questions from me. He told me he’d been campaigning for the Liberal Democrats for 6 years whilst being employed by Birmingham University. He also has a PhD from Manchester University, so he is one of the sharpest tools in the box, as it were. I questioned him on the motivation it requires to go out and support the local community and his response was “I welcome the opportunity to attend residents meetings and work with community groups who are campaigning for improvements locally. Again I will attempt to resolve any issues which are raised at these meetings.” After being on the receiving end of many a candidate canvassing it was interesting to see behind the scenes and amount of preparation that goes into one of these campaigns and Dave Radcliffe that “a huge amount of preparation goes into canvassing and for a local and general election requires a lot more effort. But it’s all worth it if it helps to over voters”
When I asked him if he felt that he would continue to represent the Lib Dems in the Selly Oak area if he failed to win the seat, he responded positively saying "I have a record of action in Selly Oak, and will carry on working hard across the Selly Oak constituency.” So i think we can take this as a yes. In all likely hood the seat will stay Labour as it has been for many years, but a small swing in the percentage of votes may occur but nothing major. After the election I shall add an extra paragraph on the results of the election


POST ELECTION:
Not surprisingly to say the Lib Dems failed in overtaking either of the other two major parties, although they did manage to achieve a gain of 4.9%. This is no mean feat considering that the Selly Oak constituency has been a Labour strong hold for a number of years, in fact the percentage of votes for labour decreased. In a world of proportional representation this gain of 4.9% could have gone to helping the Lib Dems in a greater victory but in our first past the post voting system the Lib Dems had very little chance of gaining enough votes to overthrow the Labour party and the Conservatives When questioned about this Dave Radcliffe played down his role in the achievement and said that the first television debate was a major factor in swinging people’s opinions. Al