Has your MP ever knocked at your door?

[Gordon17]

On the day of the London Mayoral Elections in 2016 I had just got my son, who was 6 at the time, to sleep and started changing my trousers when the doorbell rang. I rushed downstairs in my pants to answer the door quickly, so they wouldn't ring or knock again and wake him, and stood behind the door peering round the corner to find Theresa Villiers my MP, and also Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. After she had asked me if I was going to vote, and I had told her that I already had, I managed to engage her in conversation about NI for a good 10 minutes, still in my pants and hiding behind the door. Eventually she started edging away and saying that she had to go, but I was pleased that I had kept her from pestering my neighbours for a while. Having said that, I think she's a pretty good constituency MP and have met her at a couple of community events in the area - she never mentions our chat though.

[Trossie]

Has your MP ever knocked at your door?

Yes. And he probably regretted doing so because he was bombarded with questions from both of us on different topics, meaning that he had less time to knock on other doors down the street! He gave good answers though and we voted for him. And he is doing a good job locally. We've seen him at a few local functions and a neighbour deliberately went to one of these functions (that was most definitely not his 'cup of tea'!) to meet our MP personally and thank him for help that he'd given for something.

Over the years I have 'hassled' four different MPs on a variety of matters and generally have had good responses.

An interesting one on 'good MPs': the entire area 'south of the Brewery' is electorially solid blue. A couple of decades ago the 'blue' party decided to parachute in one of their London elite into 'a safe seat'. The locals rebelled and the seat turned yellow. The 'yellow' MP actually turned out to be a very good constituency MP and despite being a 'solid blue' part of the world, the seat reamined yellow at the next election, and the next. That 'yellow' MP then retired and at the next election the seat returned to being blue again and has remained so since. The moral of the story? Don't take the electorate for granted in 'safe seats' and a good individual is appreciated by the electorate.

Oh, and I forgot to add, our MP was one of the Leave campaigners, which puts him in tune with the way his constituency voted in the Referendum.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Originally Posted by Gordon17

I managed to engage her in conversation about NI for a good 10 minutes

Ah yes, the good old denial of service attack - keep the opposition talking for as long as possible.

[Blacksheep]

Our MP (Grant Shapps) knocks on doors on a regular basis. To be accurate he walks out with his "MP's Action Team" who do the door knocking. When one gets a response on a doorstep, the occupant is asked if they would like to speak with him. Less than half take up the offer. Over a five year period virtually every street in the constituency will have had a visit, although not everyone is home on a Saturday morning and will miss the call. I found I'd get someone answer the door roughly one in ten calls, so around 2% get to speak with him, which is a significant proportion. I'd say Grant is well informed of what his constituents' opinions and problems are: he is a good constituency MP.

Since resigning from membership of the party and renouncing my position as leader of the Conservative group on our Town Council, I no longer participate, but I remain in contact with Grant and know the team continues its activities.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Originally Posted by Blacksheep

Our MP (Grant Shapps) knocks on doors on a regular basis. To be accurate he walks out with his "MP's Action Team" who do the door knocking. When one gets a response on a doorstep, the occupant is asked if they would like to speak with him. Less than half take up the offer.

In theory that's a pretty good use of time. In practice it depends on the self-discipline of the MP - if he chats to any one punter for too long the door-knockers are half a street ahead of him and it all goes pear-shaped (BTDTGTTS).

[AARON O'DICKYDIDO]

Some years ago, on the run up to the local elections, our Conservative candidate was doing his rounds. I was in the front garden getting very hot, sweaty and dirty digging up a tree and laying foundations for a parking area. Sitting on a stool nearby was a neighbour who was recovering from heart surgery who had come over to chat with me. When the candidate arrived he immediately started talking to my neighbour as if he was the householder and completely ignored me. I started to ask a question but was ignored. When I eventually got to tell him that it was my property, the candidate was most astonished. He apologized and said that he did not realize that it was my property and thought I was just labouring. He did not get my vote. – He did still get elected though.
I have never seen my Westminster MP in the 35 years I have lived hear.

Aaron.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Originally Posted by AARON O'DICKYDIDO

When I eventually got to tell him that it was my property, the candidate was most astonished. He apologized and said that he did not realize that it was my property and thought I was just labouring. He did not get my vote.

Basic rule for canvassing no. 0 - make sure you know who you're talking to - if you don't, everything you say is a waste of time.

OK, so occasionally you got an unexpected response. Conversation 1:

Me: I'm looking for so-and-so.
Them: Doesn't live here any more, what did you want?
Me: Oh dear. I was hoping they'd deliver these [political] leaflets for me.
Them: Which party? Oh, OK, give them here, I'll deliver them.

Conversation 2.

Me: [fails to check who it is I'm talking to, makes a false assumption] Can you do this to help us please?
Them; [puzzled as to why this stranger should ask this favour out of the blue] Well, yes I guess so.
[Turned out I was talking to the housemate of the person I was after.]

[Blacksheep]

My worst mistake Gertrude, was asking a young lady who didn't look old enough to vote if her mother was in. Her mother WAS in as it happened, but I had seriously annoyed the home owner.

[Danny G]

Spoke to our MP a couple of weeks ago at the local carnival. We live in a very marginal area which was always Tory until the boundries changed under the last Labour Govt. It then went to Labour until 2015. We never saw the Labour MP in that time in the area. Now we are back in a Conservative held area our MP is always around and very appraochable

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Originally Posted by Blacksheep

My worst mistake Gertrude, was asking a young lady who didn't look old enough to vote if her mother was in. Her mother WAS in as it happened, but I had seriously annoyed the home owner.

And sometimes you can't tell from the name whether you're after a male or a female. The most harmless approach I've found is "hello, I'm looking for Xxx Yyy". The only remaining scope for serious embarrassment is when they say "yes Tim, you do know who I am".

NB just 'cos there's a John Bloggs and a Jane Bloggs at the same address, and a woman answers the door, you do not ask for "Mrs Bloggs", you ask for "Jane Bloggs". There's an elderly couple round the corner from me who are not a married couple, they're bother and sister sharing a house, and she gets pissed off that people keep calling here "Mrs".