Tonight I had my monthly clash of meetings because the Horsham CLP and my local trade union branch both meet on the first tuesday of the month.  It is a real dilemma because there are reasons to go to both of them.

The Labour meeting usually takes preference: they selected me as a parliamentary candidate and will therefore expect me to turn up.  Between now and the general election the Horsham LP members will be coming out to help knock on doors and deliver stuff. Going to the meetings is the least I can do.

On top of that, the Labour meetings have a bigger attendance, have lively (but perfectly decorous) discussions and they are all thoroughly good people.

On the other hand, I am going to be a member of my union long after the election in Horsham has been and gone and the union branch elected me as a delegate to the Crawley CLP.  I really should show up sometimes.  Also, I will be hoping that either my branch or the local region will help out at election time either financially or by lending some office facilities.

This time round I went to the union meeting.  There was a visitor all the way from Bristol, making a personal request for our nomination in the forthcoming election for general secretary, which was all very interesting.  I also got volunteered to attend an event later in the month for increasing union/Labour co-operation.  Apparently there will be several south-east parliamentary candidates there and union activists.

The wole first-tuesday thing is a no-win situation though.  Whichever meeting I go to I feel guilty about missing the other one.  Maybe I should come to a more formal arrangement; either alternate or go to two Labour meetings then one union meeting?

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