I'm standing for election for the West End, where I live, on Thursday 19 September. This is the second episode of my Diary of a By-Election Candidate.
"Life as a candidate is basically one of just going around and trying to talk to as many people as possible, delivering bits of paper, knocking on doors, making telephone calls and attending residents meetings. And on this first Tuesday evening after the bank holiday, where a few more people are back and things are getting a little bit busy, I'm doing exactly that, with a double booking of events.
"I just had a nice meeting with the Exec from the Soho Society. I'd like to thank them for inviting me along, to have a chance to chat with them and answer a couple of their questions.
"And I'm now off to do a campaigning session in the Mayfair side of the ward, where we will be delivering a message to potential postal voters, and some of our other key audiences.
"This is what it is to be a candidate. There's a really interesting piece, in the Guardian over the last couple of days, about a Labour candidate, who became a councillor a couple of years ago and has recently resigned, on the grounds that they didn't really think that this is what the life of a councillor should be.
"I’ve been a councillor before. I know what the life is like. I know what it's possible to do and what it's not possible to do.
"But I'm really hoping that I'll have another chance to be able to deliver for local residents, from that base of experience, and with that commitment to the West End ward, the area I'm proud to live in and call home."
