Sunday, February 01, 2009

An evening with Bradley Stoke and his black sheep brother, Harry

We couldn't stay for the conference dinner, so were whisked off to Frenchay, for an evening with members in Filton & Bradley Stoke (Harry Stoke is next to Bradley Stoke, by the way). Our hosts for the night, Hilary and Liz Kitchen, made us very comfortable, before we set off for the Trust Hall in Stoke Gifford for the evening's event.

Filton & Bradley Stoke is one of those seats beloved by political anoraks, a genuine three-way marginal, and much debate takes place online about what might happen if... well, if just about anything really. As a brand new constituency, it offers all sorts of potential organisational problems, in terms of leadership, in terms of campaigning strategy and in terms of identity. I'm sure that all political parties have experienced a degree of difficulty in the transition.

It was a very pleasant evening, with baked potatoes, chili and salad and, of course, the obligatory raffle. I've been buying a lot of tickets recently, in the hope of winning a peerage, but there never seems to be one amongst the prizes. Clearly, I need to join the Labour Party and buy more expensive tickets...

Ros, as the guest speaker, gave her third speech of the weekend before taking questions. It is, in many ways, good that members ask penetrating questions about how the Party works, what it does and how it campaigns. In return, they get thoughtful and honest answers, and I find that strangely reassuring. After all, how often do senior politicians offer more than platitudes when they're away from Westminster?

Today, we're off to Bradford-on-Avon and Salisbury, so more reportage later...

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