There’s something about canvassing with certain politicians. It comes from the delays that happen because they are so well known that people stop them as you walk from house to house and estate to estate. It comes from listening to those conversations and the enthusiasm to engage from both parties.
Usually this comes when out campaigning with a senior national figure. On Friday afternoon, I saw this when out campaigning with Sagal Abdi-Wali, currently the leader of Camden Council and Labour’s candidate for Holborn and St Pancras.
We gathered in a park in Kentish Town as the autumn sun began to fade and this early weekend evening canvass had attracted about 30 of us ready to hit the doorsteps. As we took the obligatory group photo and LabourList interviewed Sagal, we were repeatedly – and joyously – interrupted by teens on bikes and families offering friendly and noisy encouragement. Abdi-Wali stopped to speak with many of them about the borough she clearly adores as “the place that made her”.
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In the photo above, you can spot both myself and LabourList’s indefatigable Business Manager Ellie Ormsby. We were both freshly back from an incredibly successful conference (both for LabourList and the party) and were equal parts exhausted and exhilarated. LabourList being a small but mighty organisation, I had spent most of the day before acting as courier, saving both money and carbon by driving all of our conference gear home from Liverpool in my small, ULEZ-compliant car. Ellie had gone straight from her exhaustive work delivering our biggest and best conference fringe programme into her other work as Leader of the Opposition on Westminster City Council. We both probably had an excuse to be a little low-energy.
But the feeling we had left Liverpool with carried all the way back to North London. And it was Sagal whose infectious enthusiasm was front and centre. This might be a by-election with national coverage and interest, being caused by the standing down of one (former) party leader and being contested by the leader of the Green Party, but it was the candidate who was the star.
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What struck me as I stood with two MPs from South London (Steve Reed and Liam Conlon) having travelled over from East London myself, was how embedded in her community and ready to serve it in Parliament Sagal is. She’s known by local residents, she talked about local issues and delivery, she cares deeply about the area and is passionate about representing it. Her speech to gee up the crowd was about local housing issues and a play area the council had built.
This was reflected on the doorsteps. As we fanned out into Kentish Town to knock on doors on the local estate the leaflets we carried may have echoed national language (the headline is “Hope for Camden Action For You’) but the policy offers were focused on tackling Thames Water, ending rough sleeping in the borough and ‘the Camden way’ – a scheme to bring together universities, colleges and employers to ensure clear routes into “high-quality, well-paid” work.
This was not a campaign against Sagal’s opponents. It was a day working to elect a woman who loves her home to represent it on the national stage. It was full of love of place, positivity about the Labour offer and, yes, hope.
Don’t let anyone tell you this campaign is in the bag. If you are able to get to a Camden doorstep or a phonebank please do. Sagal will need every vote and the support of every member possible. But if we are lucky enough to elect her to parliament, Holborn and St Pancras and the Commons will both be better off for her presence.
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