Lots of bleating on the canvass trail

FORMER MP for North Norfolk Norman Lamb got a surprise when he was canvassing in Sheringham.

The door was opened by a Mr and Mrs Mutton. There were no reports that they gave him a roasting...

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No shrinking violet Douglas Carswell, the Tory who is defending his Harwich (now Harwich and Essex North) constituency at this election. He describes the Conservative Party manifesto as “the boldest, most exciting party manifesto in a generation”.

Nor does he say this to earn himself a pat on the head from David Cameron. He points out that many of the ideas in it emanated from himself.

Well, if you don’t blow your own trumpet then who else will?

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Her campaigning style has been described as “a tidal wave of gush”. TV’s Esther Rantzen has parachuted herself into Luton South as an Independent candidate.

And she has certainly been making waves. If you bump into her in the street or on the doorstep there is little chance you will get a word in edgeways. No voter escapes the gush. She compliments residents on such things as their melodious doorbells, their magnolia, and anything else that takes her fancy.

Campaigning alongside the tireless Ms Rantzen is, according to one person who has tried it, as exhausting as running the London Marathon. “Afterwards it was a case of retiring to a darkened room and taking the tablets,” he said.