Leadership is about being brave, principled and taking tough decisions even when such actions may not immediately help your own cause.

Today David Cameron made a speech in East London.  He set out how he would start to rebuild trust in our political system - a challenge that should not be under-estimated.  Among the many very welcome commitments was a pledge that any petition with 100,000 signatures will be eligible for a parliamentary debate; and any petition with 1 million+ signatures would lead to a Bill being presented to Parliament.  

There will be times when parliamentarians will despair of ever having introduced this power.  That is how it should be!  MPs are there to represent the public who elect them.  And I believe the more they are seen to be 'in touch' with the feeling of the public, the more politics will seem relevant to the public.

These may seem like small measures, but think how little direct influence members of the public have over legislators at the moment.  Suddenly, under these proposals, there will be a real purpose to debate among the public - and not only in the run up to elections.  In addition to a reduction in the number and cost of MPs and greater transparency over issues like remuneration, and stronger limits on political lobbyists, today's speech proves who has the required leadership qualities in Westminster.  

A female constituent emailed me today to say: "How coincidental, both Brown and Campbell cry during TV interviews so close to an election".  Clearly, the woman was suggesting there was a calculated attempt to secure sympathy in the hope that Labour might stand a better chance at the election.  It is a question being tackled on a number of blogs and will no doubt be a part of the news cycle for the remainder of this week (the interview with Mr Brown is due to air on Saturday).

I watched the interview with Alastair Campbell and didn't buy it for a moment.  He is a calculating media relations supremo who is known to stop at nothing to win.  He will have known exactly how to play that interview with Andrew Marr and will no doubt have seen the impact Hilary Clinton's tears had in one of her primary elections in the USA.  
I have not seen the interview with Mr Brown, but I shall be watching it next weekend.  I have no doubt that his very good friend Piers Morgan will have discussed the questions in advance and Mr Brown will have prepared for it. But whatever our differences of opinion on many things, I don't think anyone can ever fully recover from the death of a child.  I lost my mother to Breast Cancer nearly 5 years ago and I still find it difficult to accept.  I have huge sympathy for the Browns on a personal level.  It doesn't make me more inclined to vote for Mr Brown, any more than the loss of David Cameron's son makes him any more popular.  But I do think there is a danger that some, like my constituent, will question the timing of this interview.

It's been a busy day to end a very hectic week.  With colleagues I spent the day knocking on doors in Middle Park and Eltham West ward, having dropped my partner off at Heathrow early this morning.  I half expected when calling on residents that many people would raise the issue of the NHS.  To see the fuss the BBC made yesterday, anyone would have thought David Cameron had personally pledged to scrap the NHS - as opposed to a minor figure in the European Parliament expressing a personal view across the pond.  Not one resident mentioned the NHS - unless you count the lady who apologised for not being able to stay at the door for long, as she'd just come out of hospital following an operation.  And yes, she's a Conservative supporter.

Along with all Conservatives from David Cameron down, I am fully committed to the NHS.  It is not a perfect organisation, it would benefit from reform, but it provides most of us with a service others around the world can only envy.  It is right that there should be a proper debate about its future, as there should be on every other issue of policy from immigration to transport, housing to education.  It is a pity that some sections of the media have become so lazy they too easily take their lines from increasingly desperate Labour spin doctors, who would prefer no such debate took place lest the failures of Labour's 12 years in power are exposed.  After all, it is Labour policies that have led to services being scrapped at Queen Mary's Hospital.

So said David Cameron in a radio interview which has been posted on the internet (watch it here).  He was explaining why he doesn't communicate using Twitter (as I and many other politicians do).  Some people seem terribly sensitive that he used a so-called rude word.  Personally, I think I have heard worse on popular soap operas.  All David Cameron has done is to speak candidly - something I am sure we all want from politicians.

It has been another busy week in Eltham and I am spending today (apart from the 5 minutes it'll take for me to write this short blog entry) working from home. Last night we were out in Shooters Hill calling on residents, many of whom were very concerned about a spate of burglaries.  Many said they can't remember the last time they saw police on patrol.  My team and I enjoyed a very decent curry at Cafe Eltham last night - a fitting end to a long day.

Earlier in the week I visited two schools (see previous blog) and signed hundreds of letters to people who'd been in touch about immigration - so I was pleased to see David Cameron repeating his pledge to cut immigration in today's Daily Mail. Today we're waiting to see how the people of Norwich have voted - a defeat for Labour in such a 'safe' constituency would be terrible news for the government.

...and although the doorstep questions continued to be dominated by MPs' expenses, most people were pleased to hear what the Conservatives plan to do to mend Britain's broken society and broken economy, as well as repairing our broken political system at Westminster.

A selection of comments from people I spoke to between 10am and 4.40pm today:

• They're all the same, I won't vote for anyone
• Clive Efford's useless, I've emailed him six times and spoken to someone in his office but he hasn't helped me.  I won't be voting Labour again.
• I like David Cameron but how do I know you'll do what you say?  I'll read what you've said here and make my mind up.
• The sooner the better.  I'll be voting for you, don't worry about that!
• I'm a postman and our chief executive had a 700K bonus while telling us he needs to make savings.  No wonder MPs are taking everything they can get if they can get away with it!
• My main worry is crime.  Next door was broken into a few weeks ago, but the police haven't got the resources to tackle burglary.
• the football's on, you couldn't have called at a worse time, but I'll take a leaflet...

After meeting so many residents on Saturday I had to make a quick dash to Cheltenham for the Conservative Spring Conference.  I was just in time for a dinner with Boris Johnson where he announced the arrival of the first new Routemaster buses will be this Summer.  Another election pledge delivered!

On Sunday I saw George Osborne and David Cameron set out some of their plans to take this country through the age of austerity what will be needed if we are ever to recover from the horrendous economic misery we are currently experiencing.  Sobering stuff, but rightly there will be an end to profligate spending by central government, ministers who spend more and deliver fewer or worse services will be sacked and the expensive ID cards system Labour have dreamt up will be abolished.  It can't come soon enough.