Supporting Labour friends in Bosworth

It was good to be at a fundraising dinner for the local Labour Party in Bosworth this week.

I was the parliamentary candidate in Bosworth for the 2010 General Election so it was good to catch up with many good friends from the campaign and to support the local party. As the guest speaker at Thursday's dinner, Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins, observed there were three successive parliamentary candidates for the constituency at the event; my good friend Andy Furlong (97 & 01), Rupert Herd (05) and me.

Whilst 2010 was a challenging time for Labour I have lots of fond memories of the campaign in Bosworth, particularly the hustings events including those hosted by Churches Together in Hinckley and the National Farmers Union. During the campaign I took up a number of local issues for residents including fighting for a better deal for kinship carers and campaigning against proposals to cut the number of firefighters at Hinckley fire station, an issue I raised personally with the Government Minister at the time.

I also enjoyed visiting local community organisations, businesses and schools including William Bradford Community College in Earl Shilton.

It was good to welcome Labour MEP for the East Midlands and Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party Glenis Willmott to officially open our campaign office in Hinckley (see photo below). We took on an old florists shop and quickly turned it into our base for the final couple of months of the campaign.

Bosworth campaign office opening with Glenis Willmott MEP in 2010.