Last throw of the dice for Notts MP...

I was in Broxtowe today – number 42 on the Tory target list – where Nick Palmer MP is fighting for his political life

He has a majority of about 2,000 but knows that last time round he took the seat because he won backing from Lib Dem voters.

If he can’t keep those Lib Dem voters in 2010, he freely admits he will lose his seat.

It meant that when I followed him as he canvassed he was knocking on doors, not of Labour supporters, but of Lib Dem voters.

The MP told one Lib Dem woman that if Labour did not exist he would have been a Lib Dem himself.

Acutely aware that he might lose because people don’t like Labour, as opposed to not liking him, he has also had two sets of campaign posters printed.

There are red ones for Labour supporters to display, and green ones for other people who want to show they are voting for him without overtly displaying support for his party.

The bid to nick Lib Dem support in the face of “the surge” is made all the more interesting because the Lib Dems themselves are doing little to shore up their vote on his patch.

That’s because most of their funding is being sucked up by the bid to beat Gloria De Piero in nearby Ashfield.

If the Lib Dems win that seat – and they are considered Labour’s main rivals there – it would be a major coup.

In Broxtowe meanwhile increasing Lib Dem support would more than likely hand a win to the Tories.