Thursday 14 April
Absolutely torrential rain. We go to Middleton St George, the village that politics forgot. No-one leaflets, no-one canvases, no-one visits and no-one votes, according to our informant. The non-voting is because they expect a Blair walk-in. Well, this time they have a realistic alternative.
There are more journos than there are of us (I did try to enlist them to deliver leaflets but for some reason they declined) I go back to HQ and they go to the pub, where Reg talks fluidly and impressively for 45 minutes. Most of the journos disperse and Reg and the others come back dripping wet, and for once the heating isn't working. Agent Bob had told them they weren't allowed back till they'd done the whole of Middleton, but I think he softened when he saw how wet they were.
Good coverage in the regional press of The Blair Challenge. Have realised that if Reg had not been standing in this election he would actually have had far more freedom, and far more press coverage; as it is, the exposure he gets, at least in the broadcast media, is limited by the Act. By not standing he could have toured the country speaking in support of every anti-war candidate...
But this campaign isn't just about exposure but about one man's challenge to another - he has made it his personal task to hold Blair to account for the hundred thousand deaths caused by the invasion of Iraq, poignantly symbolised by the death of just one, his son Tom.
After more interviews and a planning meeting, the one thing we'd all been so desperate for began to happen - we now have phones! Actually that's not strictly true as no-one had remembered to buy any, but we've got live sockets and can get on line. Someone will get some phones in the morning.
- ©Reg Keys, 2005 -
