Wed 28 April – Strange times
On a number of fronts it has been a strange few days. Yesterday I was in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (BRS) constituency, which is just over the border from me in Scotland. Currently held by the Liberal Democrats, the Conservative candidate John Lamont is hoping to win the seat, and there’s certainly a lot going on. Incidentally Lamont in this case is pronounced LAMont, not LeMONT. After delivering 300 leaflets in Jedburgh (in one of the hillier estates), 
I spent 3 hours telephone canvassing the postal voters, who received their ballot papers on Monday or Tuesday (or not yet in the case of some voters in Hawick). Several voters noted with bemusement that they could vote Jacobite. The constituency office was particularly grateful for my few hours of effort. Be warned Hexham: their office does better coffee!
Today I’ve been hosting Mark Francois (below, second from right), the shadow Europe minister. He went to the Egger plant in Hexham with Guy Opperman, then to Tynemouth, where Wendy got us out for a brisk round of leafleting in Cullercoats. 
Finally we had a long drive up to Berwick, to talk to a farmer about the impact of European policy on farmers – he had a long list. Mark Francois is a real pleasure to have around, a genuine human with considerable generosity of spirit.
Posted: April 28th, 2010 under Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Farming, General election 2010.