John Rowan and Partners’ managing partner Steve Gee is standing as the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for the Epsom and Ewell constituency

Stephen Gee

It’s been another hard week on the campaign trail. Most people I meet on the doorstep seem to take their issues from the news agenda set by the parties, so the most frequently asked question is about coalitions and who will support whom. Questions about the SNP top the list, as the SNP scare stories continue to circulate.

I do find it ironic given how hard all the parties fought to keep the union together, that if the Scottish people return a large number of SNP MPs, certain parties feel we should ignore them and hope they go away. Surely by ignoring the representatives of Scotland we will further distance them from the union we fought hard to keep?

So far most of my canvassing has taken place in the afternoon or evenings but last Saturday I thought I’d try a morning session. It was certainly quite an eye opener as I met an amazing amount of scantily clad people. It is remarkable how many people happily answer the door in their pants.

The campaign in Epsom and Ewell is quite low key and you can drive round vast swathes of the constituency and not see a single sign board for any party (my own house only has a couple of small flyers in the window). So imagine my surprise when I return from dinner in the early hours of Sunday morning to find that our next door neighbour had, in the dead of night, erected Conservative posters and sign boards.

Slightly irritated by this, (surely I must have been targeted - it couldn’t just be a coincidence?) I decide that I’m going to make an even bigger board and fix it to our hedge, much to the delight of my family. So in a Blue Peter-inspired project involving sticky backed plastic and rubber solution glue, I completed a new sign to rival theirs. Politics can be a little petty and I don’t suppose it’s going to secure me any more votes but I did quite enjoy making it.

Steve Gee, managing partner, John Rowan and Partners’