Politics shadowing

Michael Cox Lib Dem Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Prospective Parliamentary candidate Michael Cox became councillor for Ruislip Manor in 2002 where he became deputy leader and leader for the liberal democrat group. The area of Uxbridge and South Ruislip is Conservative; however South Ruislip has only recently joined the constituency due to boundary changes. South Ruislip is traditionally a working class area which leans towards labour. Hillingdon council, the London borough in which Uxbridge and South Ruislip lies is also Conservative.
The first day of canvassing started in the Hillingdon east area which covers the Uxbridge side of the constituency. The area has a mix of ethnicities including Asian, polish and white British. The road being targeted lies of a dual carriage way leading to Hayes, a slightly less wealthy area industrialised with many housing estates. Michael Cox was canvassing people on the register that had already voted as well as new voters, he had alongside him an actor by profession looking to stand for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in the local elections. Mr Cox says that he is targeting Liberal Democrat voters as they ‘cannot turn voters on the door step’. An interesting political strategic move used at some houses was to advise voters to split their vote in the local elections. Mr Cox did this by letting the person know Labour were very unlikely to get in and that giving two votes to the Tories and one to the Liberal Democrats may be a way of voting. This tactic was only largely used on home occupiers that had already decided to vote for the conservative party. One interesting observation that caught my eye was that the area was in a part of Hillingdon that contained a lot of flats some with students, a lot of people you would not consider to be your typical every day conservative voter. Mr Cox encouraged many people that were sceptical about their vote, and considering not voting at all to vote for somebody. This was something that took me by surprise, surely a parliamentary candidate for the Liberal democrats doesn’t want to lose and vote and potentially gain one for the Tories? This was a rather humbling notion to show that politicians think about what is best for the good of the country. The manner in which Mike Cox approached people was very much the same and only slightly differed from person to person. Some people clearly knew quite a lot about the elections and each party’s manifesto; however some weren’t sure about the whole process. It seemed that Mr Cox played this by ear and got into greater depth about policy with those who had a sense about party policy and manifesto information. The majority of voters were leaning towards the Conservatives, however there was a fair share of the street that was voting Liberal Democrat and of course the odd far right party’s including BNP and NF. Further down the street we were met with some hostility from a resident who had lost all faith in politicians and would not be voting as she had been let down by the council many times, the expenses scandal not helping her scepticism. She was one of many who seemed to be anti Labour in the area.
The second day there was a different tactic employed; a member of public was used to help canvas in Ruislip Manor (which falls under the South Ruislip bracket). The woman used was local 60 plus years in age and a very non-threatening easy to talk to woman. The member of public was a local lady who had been helped by Mike Cox when she had problems with her street. The road being canvassed was mainly white middle class, with a few working class houses all or mostly semi-detached. Once again the majority of the roads were Conservative voters, but the Liberal Democrats were in a close second with very few labour supporters. The member of public who was canvassing explained to each person what Mike Cox had done for her. This seemed liked a very good tactic as she explained she wasn’t a politician but someone who was just like them who had been helped out by the candidate Mike Cox in her hour of need. As people rarely discussed policy it meant they could get a local perspective minus the political jargon, something that most people seemed to appreciate. This was a tactic I assume to help the voter understand they would receive help from Mr Cox as there is proof he sticks to his word. Along on this canvassing trail was two local candidates for the ward, both middle aged family people one male and one female. This portrayed very family orientated approach that man of the home owners could relate to. Mr Cox applied the amount of time necessary to each house, in one case even going in for a cup of tea with an elderly woman to discuss what could be done for the local area whilst dunking biscuits into a homemade brew. A lot of family men that were spoken to seemed to have their mind already made up and were choosing to vote conservative, however this did not put off Mr Cox as he still angled for a vote and never left a house without asking to or leaving a Liberal Democrat leaflet. The leaflets, he told me, largely aimed at the local elections but still had a political angle to influence the general elections on the same day.
The day culminated with the majority of leaflets being dropped and a big liberal democrat push in the South Ruislip area.