On the Campaign Trail

It's my birthday today and if you told me a couple of years ago that I'd be spending it campaigning for mayor I wouldn't have believed you. But I'll be out later on the bus in east London and in Haringey.

We are getting a wonderful response and it reminds me of the early days of Stop the War when people turned up and were delighted to have found other people who think like them. It's as if suppressed feelings about politics are coming to the surface and people begin to hope that we can succeed.

I had that same feeling myself when I went to the great demonstration in Genoa against the G8 summit nearly three years ago. That was one of the awakening points of the movement. I went on two demonstrations there and on the first day it was truly terrifying. We only learnt later that one demonstrator, Carlo Guiliani, had died at the hands of Berlusconi's police that day.

But it was on that day that I heard the Italian demonstrators singing the famous partisan song Bella Ciao and I realised suddenly that I hadn't heard the song for 25 years. That to me symbolised the ending of the long night of defeats which the left and the working class had suffered in those years. Italy and Britain had two of the strongest movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s and suffered two of the worst defeats.

The day after Carlo's death the mass protest was even bigger than expected, as people streamed in from across Italy refusing to be deterred by the violence.

The mood here in Britain has been radicalising over the past few years, especially over the war, but now it is also hardening. There are more strikes, more willingness to try protests and demonstrations, and of course the unwillingness to vote Labour.

My day in Camden and Barnet yesterday only confirmed this. We addressed meetings and met people from all over the world who had loads of questions and want to know above all 'what are you going to do about things?' Respect is developing a base and is going to be crucial as a bedrock of campaigns around a range of issues after the elections.

We visited the firefighters and I said how nice it was to sit in the mess room and I'd never been in one before the campaign but now I'd been in loads. One guy replied that Val Shawcross _the Labour GLA member responsible for the fire service - wouldn't come to mess rooms because she found the atmosphere intimidating. That's obviously because of the message she's bringing them.

Just to let her know, she wouldn't get on any better with most of the women I meet. They are more vocal, angry and determined than the men in lots of meetings and they wouldn't be fooled by phony appeals to feminism by Labour politicians.

What an interesting hustings last night organised by CND. All the candidates were anti war but once questions went a bit further all sorts of differences emerged.

Ken Livingstone was excellent on general analysis and delivery. He was scathing about anything other than immediate withdrawal of troops and took the view that any call for 'finishing the job' was racist.

But his defence of Labour and Tony Blair didn't go down well. He said that while he would want to see George Bush prosecuted in the Hague he would not extend this to Tony Blair, who he seemed to think was only a reluctant warmonger.

On the other hand, the Greens and Liberals exposed themselves more as the evening went on. Simon Hughes defended Kennedy dining with George Bush on the grounds that we should talk to these people. He supported continued occupation.

The Green candidate, Darren Johnson, wanted US and British troops out but a UN peacekeeping force. I pointed out that these are still foreign troops on Iraqi soil. He was also very sectarian about transferring to Ken Livingstone which didn't go down well either.

It confirmed my view that we are right to take the position that we do and that as soon as our arguments are put to open debate we win.

Loads more calls all the time as people get the leaflets and now we are hitting London lots of them are here. Pensioners says we are the only party addressing their needs, several people say they have studied all the leaflets and ours is the best (it definitely looks better than all the others) and others say it's a breath of fresh air.

I have two more big hustings for The Muslim Council of Britain and Operation Black Vote, plus some local ones and other meetings. We are gearing up for the final push of the last two weeks. Our broadcast is on tonight so I'm waiting in the office to see it.

Have to end now because i said I would be on Rob's machine for 5 minutes and he's getting grumpy. Maybe we should get more computers.

All morning doing interviews: Radio 5, west and north London papers, BBC London news. They interview me in a Lebanese restaurant near our office in the Edgware Road. The people in there are very friendly and supportive and give me a fresh fruit cocktail.

The owner talks to me about Lebanese food which is just tremendous. He comes from Byblos which is a coastal resort in Lebanon that I have visited.

I feel we are getting more of a take up by the press and this in turn reflects our growing support. We are inundated with calls in the office and we can track where the postal leaflets are going out day by day because we get so many phone calls from people who say they agree with us and are voting for us.

Tonight I have the CND hustings and apparently Steve Norris has pulled out. Tansy one of our candidates has just done a student hustings and tells me the Labour candidate was off hand. I think these politicians are going to get a shock because the attitude to democracy and debate really is bad among some of them.

Brent Stop the War has hustings tomorrow and they have sent me questions. If only the media let alone parliament would approach questions of war so intelligently. There is such a gap between real politics and establishment politics and these elections are going to at least partly expose that.

Back to food: Jo in the office tells me a third of women have been on a diet since they were teenagers. We both agree we're losing weight because of the campaign _ too little time to eat and a lot of rushing around. Beats Atkins any time.

It's getting harder and harder to write this blog every day. I wake up cursing Peter Morgan, the Review's new editor, for persuading me to write it in the first place. But before I can write I'm off to a breakfast meeting which we have most mornings.

We meet in a cheap cafe round the corner from our office in Old Marylebone Road. It is pretty crowded with school children and parents, taxi drivers, other workers, and us. There are seats outside on a lovely quiet street which looks as though it hasn't changed since the 1930s.

An oasis of calm but only for half an hour. Then it's the constant noise and activity of the office. The phone doesn't stop ringing and there are many inquiries from areas where the postal leaflet has begun to go out. Someone from Worcester calls, another from Nottingham who is switching to us from Labour but wants to check out our housing policy.

I'm now getting by on 5 hours sleep which isn't great but I don't know how to fit everything in otherwise and I'm a bad sleeper especially in the summer when the light streams in from 5am. Perhaps I need blackout curtains.

Did Stop the War hustings last night in Brixton. Labour and the Tories didn't turn up. Valerie Shawcross, the local Labour candidate, sends a letter saying we can all agree that we want democracy for Iraq. Well we can't because I'm in favour of allowing the Iraqis to elect their own government while Labour is in favour of appointing one.

Time Out the London listings magazine has a feature on the smaller parties and it's a pretty good precis of our policies. We spend the morning planning where our bus goes going over the bank holiday weekend. No holiday for us.

In the past 48 hours since I last posted I have helped organise a demo, made 8 speeches, written an article and travelled across London with the usual difficulties.

Today looks like a relatively quiet day: just one speech at the Unite carnival in Ponders End and a couple of small articles.

We are reaching parts that have not been reached by politics for a very long time because we have something fresh and new to say. Two meetings Friday night in Westbourne Park and Balham, both tremendous in their different ways.

I had to rush off from the first to get to the second, but it was majority non white and afterwards George Galloway went to a Moroccan festival where he was very well received.

Balham had about 40 people in the room, some rejuvenated old socialists, some young people, different races and nationalities including a Chilean. It is so lovely to hear from Chileans because they have suffered a terrible long night of exile and defeat following their own 9/11 in 1973, where the left government was overthrown by a CIA backed coup.

Now we are all getting together and Respect is the vehicle for doing that. At this small meeting over £300 was raised.

Saturday down to demo, then off to Stonewall hustings to say my bit then leave another candidate, Linda Smith, to answer questions (the hard bit!). Back to demo which is great with a good crowd in Trafalgar Square and brilliant street theatre from Theatre of War who dress up as guards and prisoners and lead the whole demo.

At the plinth Andrew Burgin and I agree that even seeing actors doing this is upsetting enough let alone the real thing.

Linda tells me that both Ken Livingstone and Steve Norris say at the Stonewall hustings that they are for immediate withdrawal of troops. But you can't stand as members of pro war parties and pretend that their policies are nothing to do with you. Tony Blair will claim Ken's votes as his own, not as anti war votes.

Anyway, it makes you pull your punches. I notice Ken calls Bush and Sharon war criminals but doesn't mention the man who was with him at his campaign launch, Tony Blair.

Home at 11.30 after Southall walkabout and fundraising dinner. We meet some lovely Somalis who welcome us to their cafe and George and I speak to a great crowd of them in the street.

Sunday morning off but I have to write my blog, do some washing and get some food in the house. I bet none of the other candidates have these problems.