A big thank you to everyone who voted Conservative in Portsmouth South. I am sorry that we could not make it a win but we have worked really hard over the last two years and will continue to do so now we have a functioning office and are building a good network. You will see a huge difference as we move forward and become an efficient and effective campaigning team and we are always happy to take on any problems or issues that you have.

A big congratulations to Cllr Luke Stubbs for being re-elected, he is an excellent ward councillor and works hard for Eastney and Craneswater. In fact, he is my councillor too so I will be keeping him busy.

This is a great time to get involved with the Conservatives so please contact us if you want to help.

The team leaving the office to meet others to canvass in Fratton

I have really enjoyed canvassing over the last two and half years and have met over 15,000 people on the doorstep with my ever increasing team of helpers. Many of you have been out but I think it is really important to actually knock on doors and listen to people and we have been in many streets 2-3 times. Endless leaflets mean nothing if you can’t see the candidate. 20 of my fantastic team finally finished canvassing with me this evening in Fratton and we are looking forward to making sure everyone gets out to vote tomorrow.

Portsmouth South is an incredibly important seat, we are 70 out of 117 seats that the Conservatives have to win to get rid of Gordon Brown and his failing government. While I hate negative campaigning, the thought of him being still there on Friday with a mandate to carry on fills me with horror.

So why vote for me and the Conservative team of councillors here.

I have now lived here for just over 2 years. I could have commuted from Winchester which had been my home since 1988, but I feel very strongly that to be committed to an area you have to live here, pay council tax and put up with the same problems and issues that every other constituent has to. As you can imagine, that has been a huge financial commitment but we love living in Southsea and have made many friends.

I want to be a full time MP, Portsmouth needs a lot of investment and I see that as one of my main roles. Fighting for more investment from government and bringing more businesses to our great city. I am very interested in high tech industry which suits our employment needs and am pleased that we are centre of excellence in the defence industry. We are completely committed to the dockyard and keeping the Royal Navy in Portsmouth and I am looking forward to working with them.

Our education is improving but we need to work further to make sure that it continues along that path and I am looking forward to Building Schools for the Future being a success here and schools receiving more power under a Conservative Government.

Immigration has been a big issue on the doorstep and I think we have the best policy which combines a point system with a cap on the numbers. The cap will be flexible depending on what we need but we won’t be having immigration in the hundreds of thousands again.

There are many other issues and lots of individual and group ones which, if elected, I will work hard to solve. We have some very able people standing as local councillors and I look forward to working with them when we get elected and I hope we will have a Conservative run council on Friday. It is important to work with everyone in the interest of Portsmouth and I will work with any party or individual that has good ideas and can make a difference to our city.

Please get out and vote tomorrow, this is one of the most exciting elections for some time and your vote could make a huge difference.

David Willetts

We are very lucky to have David Willetts as a local MP in Havant and we were grateful to have him canvassing today in Old Portsmouth. He then spent the whole day in various target seats around Hampshire to give us support. Issues on the doorstep were immigration and the economy and it is always useful to have a member of the shadow cabinet to answer questions.

Some of the team continued with delivering letters while others accompanied me to St Mary’s Fair which was huge and very well attended. It must have raised loads of money. We had a hot dog lunch listening to the Portsmouth City Band which is exceptional and spent money on tombolas and biscuits for the hardworking team in the office. On the way back, we stopped at the British Legion’s fete near the station, you could hear the music from our offices in Fratton.

The campaign has been going very well and I am incredibly grateful for the ever growing team of volunteers, most of which have given up a lovely Bank holiday to work on getting rid of Mr Brown.

We had Edwina down last year for a Curry with Currie where she made a brilliant speech, and she very kindly came down for a whole day to canvass with us around the city including a spell in Palmerston Road and Commercial Road. It was great being out with a celebrity who everyone recognises and I was full of admiration for her stamina. She arrived at 10am and was still running around at 6pm. I had no idea that she is a Charles Dickens enthusiast so while we canvassed, we allowed her 15 minutes in the museum. As she pointed out, it would be good for Portsmouth to have two fine women as MP’s.

It was great to have the Shadow Secretary of State for Health visiting this clinic which provides an essential walk in clinic for homeless people and unregistered patients. They do have a registered list too but one of the aims was to provide a place where homeless people can register and use the clinic as an address to start accessing other services. There are 25 homeless people on the register.

The clinic is also used by students and people whose own GP cannot see them immediately or if it is out of hours. The Guildhall Clinic is open from 8am – 8pm seven days a week so is useful for workers.

The Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports, Jeremy Hunt, appeared early one morning to canvass with us and also to meet some of the Chinese community. He was going to be accompanied by 3 Chinese representatives but unfortunately they broke down on the A3 and were unable to arrive on time. Jeremy has married a Chinese academic and is expecting their first child in June. Jeremy went on to Chippenham and then to Birmingham to help David Cameron prepare for the final leader’s debate.

Sir George young, Leader of the House of Commons visited the Roberts Centre and as a former housing minister was really impressed by the work that they do in resettlement of families and their children’s services. What I didn’t know was that he opened April Square as the housing minister and if we had more time, I would have shown him around. After visiting the office in Cresswell Road we walked to the housing office in Guildhall Square and on to see a flat which was about to be occupied by someone recently made homeless. It is voluntary organisations like the Roberts Centre which are part of the Big Society that David Cameron talks about.

We went on to the Beneficial Foundation Café which I am a great fan of. It is very well priced and they do delicious baked potatoes. They also have a craft shop open to the public which is well stocked. The Beneficial Foundation helps people with learning difficulties to find employment and teaches them how to live independently.

The Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Liam Fox, came today to show his support for a city which he says is ‘a centre of excellence for the defence industry’. On a private visit to BAe systems, we were shown around the building of the new aircraft carriers which are already up to the seventh deck in their construction. It was incredible to see a huge industrial ship building project in our densely populated city alongside two nearly completed Omani ships. The order book for BAe systems is full for the next 5 years and the development of the next generation of navy ships is already in the pipeline and will be available for export too which is absolutely essential if we want to maintain our own indigenous defence industry. BAe Systems is one of the British successes in terms of exports and research and employs 1000’s of people in Portsmouth both directly and indirectly so it is essential that we support them.

Dr Fox talked about what capabilities we need on the aircraft carriers and how flexible they need to be to accommodate different types of aircraft. He also spoke positively about the future of the navy and the number of ships we need to maintain our maritime commitments. As he said, ‘Nelson would be turning in his grave’ with the reduced number of ships that we have at the moment. Dr Fox has already said that the Conservative Party are committed to three navy bases so the future of Portsmouth as the home of the Royal Navy is assured under a Conservative Government.

As a great supporter of Help for Heroes I was really pleased to be invited to learn about one of their latest fundraising activities. Apparently devised after last years Army/Navy rugby match at Twickenham, several ex-services and others have decided to re-enact the Cockleshell Heroes raid in Bordeaux Harbour in June. The launch by Lord Brabourne at the Marine Museum in Eastney started with a display of all the equipment followed by the launch on the beach where they were canoeing to Stokes Bay for a barbeque with their families. The training has been extensive all through the winter and often at 4am in the morning which I suspect was very similar to what the original Cockleshell Heroes have been doing. All the canoeist have full time jobs so have to arrange the training in their spare time and are taking the 10 days for the trip out of the holiday.

This is a press release from them and you can find out more about the trip and how to donate any money at http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/cockleshell_heroes.html

‘Having had the opportunity to visit the wounded at Headley Court Tri-service Rehabilitation Centre we were profoundly humbled to meet some extraordinary people there. And so our aim is to re-trace the route taken by these brave men of WW2 to help the brave men and women of today by raising as much money as we can in aid of Help for Heroes/RNLI. We will be canoeing 70 miles up the Gironde River from out at sea, through its famous tidal races, stopping at 3 pre-planned LUP’s to Bordeaux Harbour where we will lay a wreath for all those who have given so much, then canoe 20 miles down to the extraction point where we will then get on pushbikes to continue our route 100miles in land taking the ‘Frankton Trail’ where the few that were left escaped and evaded the Germans to reach the resistance at Ruffec.’

Jeremy Hunt came down to wave goodbye to the Lib Dems and Labour Government

Thank you to all who have written to me and I am sorry if there is a delay in responding but as you may know from a previous blog, we were recently burgled and I am now reliant on my 6 year old desktop when I finally get home and which often crashes. It also means that I haven’t always got time to blog on all our many activities.

Our campaign is very positive and it helps that we started canvassing two years ago and are now going round to some streets that we have visited 3 times. We are trying to make sure that we have visited every street but some people are out and you may not see us. Please give us a ring or email me if you do want to meet us and we will try and put it into our timetable.

It is definitely time for a change of government. We need a new refreshed team with some good ideas and we have certainly got both. You can find out more about our manifesto at www.conservatives.com. We need to win 117 seats to change this failing government and Portsmouth South is no 70 on that list so you can see that every vote is going to count.

You should have all received some leaflets about some of issues that I am campaigning on and my pledges.

In case you haven’t received one yet, here are my key campaign pledges:

1. Portsmouth First – put the interests of Portsmouth people first in any decisions in Westminster

2. One Job - being an MP is a huge responsibility and Portsmouth South deserves a full time representative fighting for your interests. I will take on no other paid employment.

3. Work Hard – to attract investment, make Portsmouth environmentally friendly with an excellent education for everyone

4. Live here – continue to have the family home in Southsea and claim only for accommodation and travel in Westminster.

My vision for Portsmouth is a city of high tech industry, a leader in ‘green’ living with an excellent education system. I believe this is achievable with strong leadership and, with the community spirit that already exists in Portsmouth, we can work together to make our city the envy of Britain.

Penny in Portsmouth North and I have signed a clean campaign pledge