Out and About in Eastleigh

Yesterday #thingselliottsays went to Eastleigh for the by-election. From Nottingham it was about a 3 hour journey there and back by car (I thank James Poland very much for his driving) and a bit by train.

When we got there the amount of campaigning was amazing. The opposition was out in full force as I saw NUKIP, Lib Dems, the Independent and the National Health party out campaigning. notably Labour were too busy getting photos with Harriet Harperson to do much. The Tories had a very busy and great campaign with lots of literature and a huge amount of people helping with 27 MPs, 3 MEPs and 512 other activists on the campaign trail. When Maria campaigned in 2010 she had only 7 helpers and she almost won. The campaign was exceptionally well organised with bundles ready for activists to take and teams doing all sorts of data calculations as well as phoning.

Bundles ready to go out to all the areas of Eastleigh. I suspect they all went and that a new bunch will  be distributed today.

As a group we also met several leading members of the Tories. There was a fleeting sight from Adam Afriyie who was collecting bundles to go out into the streets of Eastleigh. We also met Sarah Newton MP, the deputy Chairman of our party, who was very pleased to know that we had come from Nottingham to help. We also talked to Micahel Fabricant, whose twitter account is in my opinion the best of any MPs because of all the ‘lad’ like comments he makes. And he was on top form when he met us saying the amount of photos he had been in this week meant that he was "now potentially a photo tart".  

Us with Sarah Newton MP who wants activists to be as dedicated as those from the ones from Lancashire who came recently to help win the by-election.

Michael Fabricant and Boris Johnson have never been seen in the same room together. Funny that. 

We also met Maria Hutchings and had a good conversation with her. She has been working very hard over the past few weeks making sure that the Conservative message is spread across the constituency. Maria wants to stress the importance of the government’s immigration cap and curving of benefits for migrants coming over from Eastern Europe. Important too is the EU referendum the country will get after 2015 if the Conservatives are elected, by voting for her we will be one step closer to achieving this. She wants to tell the Conservative residents of Eastleigh too that a vote for UKIP is a vote for the Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dem candidate is a Europhile who does not support an EU referendum, he also wants an amnesty for illegal immigrants in the UK. If he is elected we are one step back from solving the big issues of immigration and Europe, only Maria can stop that in Eastleigh.

Us with Maria. If we win here this will be the first time a government takes a seat in a by-election since Thatcher at the time of the Falklands.

Maria is a very sound Candidate, even the opposition think so comparing her to the Iron Lady herself.

The Eastleigh campaign is very good and well worth going. It is seriously very close. the recent poll today has the Tories 5 points ahead but one a few days ago had the Lib Dems 7 points up. These are however in the margin of error it is likely to be equal or 1% either way. So if you’re a Tory get down to Eastleigh so we can secure a win, every activist matters!