Not all bad news! And a big thank you.

Well after 4 years of campaigning, even with the national disaster I managed to win the Rushmere ward seat for Labour,
I have been away since the election and it will take me a few more days to get over the fact that I can now represent the people of this ward with far more effect.
I will blog later in the week with my thoughts on the poor national results, the brilliant results we had in Ipswich (3 gains) and my own victory in Rushmere.
I must thank most of the constituents who voted for me , and the support I have had from all Labour colleagues, especially those from the North East branch- John Mowles, Sandy Martin and Neil McDonald.
I must admit I did have a tear in my eye when I was declared the Ward Councillor for Rushmere, all I could think of was my late mother and father- Peter and Annie Ross - if I can be half as good a Councillor as they were the people of Rushmere will be happy.
Thank you for putting- "A cross for Ross for Rushmere".

Result:
Alasdair Ross- Labour- 1,026 votes
Paul Carter- Conservative- 1,013 votes
Leslie Nicholls- Lib Dem - 294 votes
Turnout- 39.04%
A majority of just 13- but the Tories had a majority of 104 last year!

Proud day for The Ross family (and then back to delivering 2,000 leaflets!)

We are now into the full flow of campaigning- I actually enjoy it- the meeting people, delivering all over the town and the camaraderie of a team working together for a cause.

Saturday saw an early start as I have 2,000 Rushmere Rose leaflets to deliver.

The afternoon saw a short break for a very proud moment for the Ross family, my nephew Tom - was in goal for the Suffolk Under 18 Football team that won the FA County Cup against Cambridgeshire at Portman Road. Tom was (not only in my eyes) also the man of the match as he pulled off some fantastic saves to keep Cambridgeshire out.

It was great that the final was at Portman Road as the ashes of both my parents are buried at the ground.

We stayed to see the trophy given then it was home, fish and chips and 2 more hours delivering!

Sunday- saw 6 more hours delivering with just a short break to have a lunchtime pint with other Labour members and then to catch a few overs of Suffolk Cricket's first game against an Essex 2nd XI.

All in all a busy but enjoyable weekend- slightly dampened by seeing Tory leaflets in Rushmere- they have gone for Fib Dem method of the big bar chart- and I believe the usual paid delivery- a shortage of workers in the Tory Party?

Tories campaining for Labour in Ipswich?

The Tories seem to want to help us win back Ipswich- and I must thank them for all the help they are giving us:

• Paying the new Suffolk Chief Executive almost a quarter of a million pounds a year
• Spending half a million pounds on buying and improving a small private road in Kesgrave
• Keeping the Ipswich buses empty and our car parks full by charging £1.70 to get to town on the bus!

So thank you very much to the Ipswich and Suffolk Tory Party- and we are not just sitting around laughing, we are getting out on the streets of Ipswich, door knocking, leafleting, phoning- over 20 of us on the Racecourse Estate yesterday- the only blue win in Ipswich this year will have been at dinner time today when Ipswich Town beat Norwich- 2-1- All in all a good weekend.

Lions of Basra- Nothing wrong with the youth of today.

Last week I managed a break from campaigning to go to London for a lecture by one of my former Army commanders. the was by Lt Colonel Patrick Sanders.

Patrick gave a fascinating lecture which gave those who were present a real insight to the difficulties the 4th Battalion The Rifles (2 RGJ) had encountered during those 6 difficult months in Basra last year. the lecture was even more relevant due to recent incidents in Basra where there Iraq Government has had a crack down on the Iranian backed militias.

What it id bring out to me was how much the Iranians are involved in the Basra power struggle and the very different problems that face the British compared to the Americans in Baghdad.

It was strange when Patrick described the many acts of courage undertaken by Rifleman, as many of those he mentioned, I had served with.

Election campaigning can often get you down, especially when you often face so much apathy- house after house of non voters and often young people who have never voted and are unlikely to vote ever, it was a real boost then when Patrick said forget all this criticism of the "play station" generation, what he had witnessed in Basra last years was young people performing immense acts of bravery under very trying conditions- As Patrick said - "There is nothing wrong with the youth of today".

Apache helicopter and a Liberal leaflet!

An afternoon off campaigning yesterday as I managed to get a large amount of leaflets out in the morning, so that I could see Ipswich play their last game ever at Layer Road against Colchester United. That is enough said about the football!!

But whilst having a pre game beer in The Dragoon pub in Colchester, I came across this Lib dem leaflet for Bob Russell the Colchester MP. I just could not believe it, there was a picture of Bob, in desert combats- not sure about the belt or rank badge- but he was stood in front of an Apache Helicopter- one of the British Army's deadliest machines - Just not sure how that can be the main picture on a Liberal leaflet when in most of the county they try and put themselves forward as the ant-war party. Now as MP for Colchester, he should be visiting troops all over the world- but to have a smiling picture in front of an Apache helicopter? then again that may have been a better picture than the one of him being "cuddled" by the Colchester United mascot- some sort of half eagle/half pigeon bird.

Meg Hillier helping in Ipswich

Meg with Alexandra candidate, Martin Goonan.

Out on the doorstep with Meg Hillier

Ipswich was fortunate to have two cabinet ministers visit in 3 days, but very different types of visit. the first by Ed Miliband was part of the Eastern Region Local election launch, and had Ed also meeting the local police and residents as well as a large number of Labour candidates.

But today the visit was much more low key but far more beneficial(I believe) when it comes down to winning Ipswich back.

Meg Hillier a Minister in the Home Office, just had an hour to spare after arriving from Cambridge to attend an official function in Ipswich, she spent that hour knocking on doors with a number of Labour activists. we were in Alexandra Ward, close to the town centre, we were joined by the candidate for Alexandra Ward - Martin Goonan. I was very impressed by Meg Hillier, she got stuck in and was able to give a number of residents some very good advice- a few more ministers like her and we would be looking forward to a very good election all over the country.