Saturday, March 29, 2008

West Ham Labour Stall for Ken & John

It was a little bit windy, but the rain held off long enough, for West Ham Labour Party CLP to swing into action and do their bit for the London Mayor and GLA elections.

We had a street stall outside the Stratford Shopping centre from 11-1pm today. Our local MP, Lyn Brown, and City and East London Assembly member, John Biggs, were also out and about with us, handing out leaflets and chatting to local residents.

There were 5 party members called John present, which must be some sort of a record. We were competing with enthusiastic Oxfam fund raisers and a Christian group who were handing out religious traits.

However, we had a secret weapon – Free Labour Party and TULO balloons! Handing out leaflets can sometimes be a dispiriting experience. However, if you give out free balloons, then you get the unusual experience of mums and dads queuing up to see you. All parents had to get a “Vote Ken” leaflet in exchange for a balloon and of course all toddlers had to promise faithfully to vote Labour when they are old enough.

For the first time I had a decent political conversation with an East European builder, who while agreeing to vote for Ken and John, was also complaining about the Blackwell tunnel and the time he has to spend commuting to jobs. While I later had a wide reaching debate with a retired Warrant Officer from the Royal Green Jackets, who was unhappy about the level of leasehold service charges on his flat. Luckily, I had Newham Councillor, Winston Vaughan (ex- Royal Transport Corp and Aden veteran) who was able to charm a promise from this new comrade to vote Labour at the next election.

One young man approached us and asked what was the difference between Nazi’s (National Socialists) and the Labour Party, since both called themselves “socialists”. He referred to our Labour Party banner which had the logo “Fighting for Socialism” on it. I think he was genuine. John Whitworth very reasonably responded that there are huge differences and that Nazi’s believe in theories such as racial superiority, while socialists believe in fraternity and co-operation between all people. The young chap seemed to walk away satisfied with this explanation.

Next week Green Street. After that, who knows – after all, who can avoid the lure of a free, bright red Labour Party Balloon?

(Picture of West Ham MP and UNISON member Lyn Brown with one current Labour voter and 2 future ones!)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

ILoveTonyBlair.com is for sale on ebay.com, lol. Apparently he's not loved anymore. No one has bid on the domain, lol. funny tidbit

John Gray said...

Yes, very funny indeed anon(?)