General Election Day Six: Touched by the kind words of a Labour voter and unveiling our Battle Van

The Picture says it all. We had so many volunteers who came to campaign today and, to launch our Battle Van. My Campaign Song is "I'm still standing", by Mr Elton John. I thought this would be apt, given it is my third time standing for Harlow as Prospective MP.

A really excellent day knocking on doors and leafleting - and in the sunshine too.

The nicest moment for me came when a hardened Labour supporter, said that although he would never vote Conservative, he really respected me and thought I would make a good MP for Harlow. He said it in such a moving way, that I was really touched.

It does show that there are some people who are utterlyt decent and put people before politics. This chap was a world removed from the kind of Labour activists who thrive on the politics of fear and put out leaflets scaring people about Tory policy on cancer treatment, or alleged 'cuts' to vital social services.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

General Election Day Five: NHyeS

Out today in Broadwalk handing out over a thousand leaflets highlighting our policies to ensure that patients have access to the Cancer Drugs they need.

We were joined by Geoffrey Van Ordern MEP alongside his family and a host of volunteers. I was particularly grateful to Dan Lucia and Colleen Morrison who were there from early morning to late afternoon. Another example of our great activists at work.

I am glad that Conservatives have pledged to establish a £200m 'Cancer Drugs Fund'. The money will be used to pay for medicines which have been licensed in the past five years but have not been approved for widespread use by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence).

The Conservatives have established that not one new cancer drug assessed since November 2008 has been fully recommended and in more than a quarter of cases the drug assessed has not been recommended at all.

The Government promised that expensive new medicines would be considered for patient access schemes, under which the NHS and the pharmaceutical companies share the cost of the medicine, and yet in half of cases this has not happened.

This Conservative pledge is great news for cancer patients in Harlow who would have a chance to be prescribed medicines such as Avastin and Sutent for renal cell carcinoma and Tarceva for lung cancer.

Best of all, these medicines would be funded by the savings made to the NHS by abolishing Labour's National Insurance tax increase planned for April 2011!

P.S. Whilst we we're in Broadwalk, we had two teams canvassing in different parts of the constituency - alongside a phalanxe of leafleters. It's good to have so many volunteers. It's even better to be approached by one person after another offering to actively support the Conservative cause every day. It seems so many are excited about what might be.

Jade R.I.P. - some reflections

I am glad that Jade Goody was treated in some of her last days in St Clare Hospice. St Clare is a beautiful place that gives those who are very sick, the chance to have some of their last days in tranquillity and with dignity.

I do hope that Jade's tragic death will be a lesson to all of us. The public and the media build people up, then knock them down and then build them up again. It is not a pretty sight and Jade has shown how her very life was caught up in this media maelstrom. We should try and stop our constant voyeurism into public celebrities.

If anything, let's remember Jade for her courage in the face of a terrible terrible disease. But as important, let us try not to get sucked in to the next celebrity's good and bad fortune that may befall them.