21 April 2010—Election fever came to St Stephen’s Church last night as we hosted an election hustings with the main four parliamentary candidates for Streatham present. We present a very personal view from P.J. Kirby.

Eschewing the enticements of Inter v Barcelona I travelled, unimpeded by volcanic ash, to St Stephen’s yesterday evening to witness our very own local champion’s league with the winner to be crowned MP for the constituency of Streatham. This contest featuring Chuka Umunna (Labour), Chris Nicholson (Liberal Democrats), Rahoul Bhansali (Conservative) and Rebecca Findlay (Green) was expertly refereed by the Rev Simon Gates with a quiet word to contestants and audience alike obviating the need for any yellow or red cards.

Well what did I make of the event? If I may mix my sporting metaphors for a moment, had it been a boxing match the referee would have stepped in earlier than 9.45pm to end what in terms of performance seemed to me to be a clear victory for Chuka Umunna. But this is a very personal view so let me go into a little more detail.

I attended the hustings unsure where my cross might be placed on 6 May. It’s right to say that I have more often than not voted Labour but I have on occasions voted LibDem and that David Cameron seems a decent chap. Furthermore had I even been the staunchest of Labour supporters could I review the past 13 years and say that Labour had done a really good job. Hardly.

Simon started the evening by giving each of the candidates 5 minutes to introduce themselves and their policies. Now as my late father, a clergyman, used to say – if you don’t strike oil in the first 5 minutes stop boring. So far as I was concerned Chuka struck oil and the others to varying degrees left me with a wandering mind. It was something he said about needing to move away from the constant striving for material gains and consider more important things and the quality of our lives. There were references to not making enough time for others. It seemed somewhat appropriate that these comments were made from where Simon normally delivers his sermons. As a Christian (that’s me – I’ve no idea about Chuka) the message that there are things far more important than material possessions struck a chord. Of course tomorrow I may reinterpret his message to be “Get used to frugal living because the next Labour government will tax the likes of you out of existence!”

Rahoul told us of the pride he would feel were he to become our MP and then with the open goal that is the present government’s record missed the target. Chris told us of his local connections and of course the common mantra of all candidates: the need for change. Rebecca told us of ... sorry I have forgotten but she said something about the environment and being green. (I could tell you about her CV but by the end of that my mind was wandering – it must be tough being a Green because most of the other candidates want to adopt your best bits.)

For the following hour and a half the candidates answered (or on occasions failed to answer) a series of questions provided by the audience but selected by Simon. The questions covered a good range of topics including global warming, local housing issues, the Weir Link, child care provision, working mothers, foreign policy and street crime amongst others. The whole event was conducted in a very civilised manner with candidates and audience alike being very well behaved. (I’m probably not supposed to say this but part of me remembered nostalgically the rowdy occasions that were student union hustings. Indeed I regularly appear in court with more lively exchanges particularly bearing in mind that “with respect” means “you’re talking absolute rubbish”.)

So what were my impressions from the way in which the candidates answered the questions?

All the candidates were polite to each other and to the audience. Our politicians have had, in many cases justifiably, a very hard press. The vast majority of would-be MPs, and I would include the four candidates in this, go into politics to make a difference. They do not go into it for the money. They work ridiculously long hours and they get criticised more than they get praised. However I have to discriminate – who did I prefer? Why? Who impressed and who left me checking the latest scores on my iPhone?

I thought Chris would undoubtedly be a safe pair of hands. He came across as what he has been – a senior partner at KPMG – the words “accountant”, “exciting” and “passion” are rarely found in close proximity and they were missing last night. He was well briefed. He knew about the community. He would be a good MP yet somehow I was not grabbed even though I was up for grabs. I was also very disappointed that in the post Clegg TV debate era (can an era be six days long?) he was in my view the most tribal of all the candidates.

Rahoul was at times muddled in his thinking. He favoured a first-past-the-post electoral system one moment and appeared to criticise the consequences of such a system the next. On local issues I was not convinced that his knowledge extended much beyond a walk down Streatham High Road late on a Saturday evening. He showed passion but even the passion seemed muddled (muddled passion – sounds like a Ben & Jerry’s flavour) – one moment he was decrying the state that the present government had left Britain in and the next he was expressing anger at the way in which some politicians rubbished Britain.

Rebecca was –excuse the pun – Green in every sense of the word. On her chosen specialist subject she was fine but I did not feel she had a grip of the local issues and whilst raising a number of issues that need resolving on the international stage did not offer the Green solutions.

Chuka impressed me. Bearing in mind he was the Labour candidate and that Labour have been in power for 13 years he nevertheless seemed to be a breath of fresh air. He was happy to agree with other candidates on issues. He did not always toe the Labour party line. He favours PR. He wants to see the way of doing politics move on and sees younger politicians as a way of achieving that. Most importantly I would have every confidence in him fighting my corner on local issues. He knew his audience (OK, he’s a lawyer – “know your tribunal”). He said what the audience wanted to hear including accepting mistakes both nationally and locally. He has charisma. In answer to the final question of the evening as to what the candidates’ passion would be if elected he said “housing” – enabling young people of whatever demographic or standing to be able to have a home of their own. I bought that.

I went undecided. I am still open to persuasion but if last night was anything to go by Chuka should have one hand on the trophy. Just don’t do an AC Milan on us, Chuka!

I was not the only one impressed. My daughter, a first-time voter who had previously shown no interest in anything political, came along.

It’s not always that father and daughter agree about something.

See also:

• Graham Jeffery’s blog: It’s decision time!

Copyright © 2010, PJ Kirby