A bad day for Labour or just a bad day for politics?

I was out canvassing and delivering last night, as I got back in to my car and turned on the radio I caught the opening section of the news on Radio 4. The top three stories were Charles Clarke’s refusal to resign, Patricia Hewitt being heckled by the RCN and John Prescott’s affair.

A very bad news day for New Labour.

In reality the fallout from these incidents hurt more than just the government and Labour party. Increasingly people feel that all politicians are in it for themselves, cannot tell the truth and won’t take responsibility for their actions. I find the deeply sad and worrying.

There are times when I even question whether or not I should be going into politics at all. Is it worth the very, very long hours and the loss of a private life? Do I want to be associated with a profession which is held in such low regard by so many people?

Then I think about the majority of people that I meet who are involved in politics, not schemers or schmoozers but hard working and dedicated people. And that is the case across the parties.

Earlier this week David Cameron made a speech in which he implored people to vote for anyone rather than the BNP. It could be argued that in a traditional Labour area a low voter turnout could benefit the Conservatives, but David was well aware that he had a bigger responsibility than short-term gain in these wards.

The Conservatives had problems and scandals and we were rightly punished in the polls because of them. The Labour party under Tony Blair have proven themselves totally unfit for government and need some “time off” to reflect on what they have done. The feeling that I get on the doorstep is that to a lesser degree the Lewisham Labour machine suffers from a similar lack of reflection time.

Clearly I want you to vote for me as the best chance of changing things here in Lewisham even if you don’t normally vote Conservative. More than that I want you not to give up on politics because with a few high profile exceptions the people involved are in it for the right reasons.