Sagal, the current Leader of Camden Council, was selected by local Labour Party members to contest the seat. There were hundreds of Labour members and supporters gathered for the 2pm canvassing session. I am somewhere in the crowd featured in the "Vote Labour" section of the photo collage above.
I joined a canvassing team that included Hackney Labour MP Meg Hillier, London Assembly Member Marina Ahmad, and Labour members from Hackney, Southwark and elsewhere across London.
Following a briefing from local organiser and campaign lead Liam Conlon MP, we travelled by Tube to our canvassing area. I had volunteered as the Labour doorstep "board runner", although everyone in our team was an experienced campaigner.
The biggest challenge was not the residents, who were generally friendly and willing to engage, but the wonderfully unusual internal layouts of some of the council housing blocks we were canvassing. We would start at the top of a block, only to find ourselves going down and back up several times to reach every flat. It certainly provided a good workout and was excellent for personal fitness!
My first and last conversations of the afternoon were both with strong Labour supporters, each scoring a 10 out of 10 for Sagal, and I did not encounter any negative comments. Fingers crossed for a positive result in the by-election on Thursday 8 October.
I hope to be back out campaigning alongside our Labour Mayor, Forhad Hussain, and fellow Newham Labour comrades before polling day.
If you are a Labour supporter and would like to get involved, you can volunteer through the Labour Party events website: https://events.labour.org.uk/
See you on the campaign trail!
