Sarah T goes to Peckham

Yesterday evening was Local Party Executive night, so I arrived at a bungalow in Kingsbury to do my Secretarial duty and, I am pleased to report, it was a short meeting. This allowed me to get home in time to watch Question Time, not something I generally do, but on this occasion, Brent's very own Sarah Teather was on. It's not often that the media do anything in Peckham that doesn't mention crime, deprivation or racial tension, so I was intrigued to see what sort of audience turned up.

I have to confess that Sarah had not made a huge impression on me as a South Londoner, even as a South Londoner on the Regional Executive. Slightly fierce looking, a bit of a workaholic, not really the sort of person I would naturally warm too. If she knew who I was, she probably wouldn't be likely to warm to me either. Apparently, I was on her Parliamentary approval panel, although I don't claim to remember it (admittedly, there are dozens of people, good, bad and indifferent, whose assessment days I was on, and I don't remember them either).

However, once I moved to Brent, and become Secretary of the Borough Party, I realised just what loyalty she had instilled. My colleagues are almost fanatically dedicated to making sure that she wins Brent Central, and are determined that nothing will get in the way. I'm impressed, I admit, and I'm not easily impressed.

I was intrigued to see how she would get on with a Peckham audience, especially given the highly diverse one that turned up. Peckham has a large and lively Afro-Caribbean community, with an increasing emphasis on the Afro bit. I used to joke that there was more Sierra Leonean politics done in Peckham than of any of the British political parties. It is part of the Labour heartland in Southwark, although there were Liberal Democrat successes south of the railway tracks in the nineties.

So I was delighted to see her strongly civil libertarian, socially conscious views get a warm response from the audience. In an area that has voted Labour as consistently as Peckham has over the years (and look how much good that's done...), if a Liberal Democrat can draw such a response, it can only augur well for our prospects.

It does need to be borne in mind that Brent Central has a significant Afro-Caribbean population, particularly in Harlesden, Stonebridge and Kensal Green wards. In the past, these were not areas that saw much political activity. Labour took the vote for granted, and other parties lacked resource to challenge that. It's different now, as the boundary changes have made the new seat a battle to the death between two women, Dawn Butler, the increasingly paranoid Brent South MP, and our Sarah.

Dawn has struggled to adjust to life in a marginal seat - Brent South was pretty safe - and has repeatedly demonstrated that she is not in Paul Boateng's league. The Obama endorsement unleashed a wave of ridicule upon her that, whilst possibly harsh, showed that she doesn't understand why people are so cynical about politicians. The second home allowance claim didn't help either...

Sarah, on the other hand, has good relations with the local press, has worked hard to learn a second language so as to better interact with the sizeable South Asian community and is everywhere (and I mean everywhere). Her campaign to seek proper treatment of a Brent resident imprisoned in Guantanamo was very well received by constituents, and her consistent championing of issues that really do impact on voters has resulted in a tremendous level of name recognition and personal support.

I had a few private concerns that Brent Central would be a tough, uphill struggle too far. Not anymore, I don't. We have the team, we have the message, we have the candidate. I'm not saying we will win, but I'll be really disappointed if we don't...