I spent yesterday in Ealing Southall helping in the by election campaign. There is a real buzz there! I expected to be delivering leaflets and canvassing, both of which I did but I also ended up joining George Osbourne’s visit to the Gurdwara Sri Singh Sabha which is the Sikh place of worship in Southall, an impressively large building in itself and where were offered and enjoyed a meal in the Pangat. This is a community kitchen where a free meal prepared by volunteers is offered to everyone and yesterday George helped by serving the food. We were made to feel very welcome. Later I joined candidate Tony Lit’s entourage on a walkabout in the main shopping area of Southall. Tony is a very popular and charismatic candidate with many people eager to shake his hand and wish him well. With lots of people including former Labour Councillors committing their support, the result next Thursday will be very interesting. I also met Syeeda Warsi, with whom I was once on a candidate training course and who has just been appointed as Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and fellow candidate Mark Clarke who is also Chairman of Conservative Future and who will contest Tooting at the next election. Tony Lit wasn’t available once I had got hold of a camera, so the photo, taken in the campaign centre, is with Mark.
