Standing in the bright sunshine on Watling Avenue in Burnt Oak many people came to talk with us as we campaigned to get more money into drugs for cancer patients.

The Conservative’s idea is to use money the NHS saves from our plans to stop Labour’s job tax to create a Cancer Drugs Fund. This will be worth £200 million and will mean that cancer patients will get all the new drugs they need free on the NHS. Many people like this idea and one lady even stops to tell me that she is a member of the Conservative Party and will be making sure her friends all go and vote. Another man says “Why are you on the Labour patch? ” to which I reply there is no Labour patch in this constituency. “Good on you”, he says “ … don’t let them chase you away and yes, I'm voting Conservative”. Over lunch in Watling Café the people next to us are looking at the odds for the Grand National in their newspaper. I am not a big gambler (my best man’s stag weekend we went horse racing and that was 4 years ago) but I suggest to Claire that we should put on a bet. Only the day before a member of the Party’s Board suggested Eric’s Charm, after the Conservative Party Chairman, Eric Pickles MP. So we go next door to the bookies on Watling Avenue and place 2 bets each - £2.50 to win and £2.50 each way. Claire opts for Don’t Push It and we go off for the next canvass session. Later, we get home just in time to see the jockeys coming out for the race. At no point do I see Eric’s Charm but we do see Don’t Push It and hear the commentator explaining that it was not a bad sign if the horse is sweating a lot before the race starts. Towards the end of the 3 mile race we realize that Don’t Push It is in the final four. Mistaking his colours I think he is third but the I realize that he is in the lead and then crosses the finish line in first place. After 15 attempts the jockey has ridden the winner and Claire has picked him as her first choice. I am not sure who is more excited when we pick up the winnings – Claire or the guy in the bookies. He wants his picture taken with her as he hands over the £55 winnings. The odds were 1/16 – better it seems than the odds being put on the Conservatives winning in Hendon. These have the Conservatives on 1/10 and Labour on 5/1.

In the early evening we receive a call to say that some guys have vandalised 2 posters in Mill Hill. It seems that a car pulled up with four boys in it and broke down a sign. Luckily a neighbour saw them doing it and took down their number plate. At least this means that the police can identify who it was. The stealing of posters is par for the course. When I worked on the Barnsley East by-election in 1996 (when Jane Ellison was the candidate) three of us put up Conservative posters to simply watch a Labour van pull up ahead of us and steal hr signs and drive away - shameless in broad daylight. No doubt they are being used now to promote the Labour candidate in the current election. Later that night, I receive an email from Eric Pickles in regard to the bet “First past the post is always best”. The horse may have been wrong but when it come to the voting system, Eric is absolutely right.