Joanna Cherry: 'I've been proved right on Nicola Sturgeon'

Ms Cherry though, seems more concerned about his looming disenfranchisement and talks him through the process. “I’m not sure my election agent will appreciate what I just did there,” she says.

I tell her that her good work will not go unnoticed and that it will have future benefits. The man seems a decent chiel and is palpably well-informed and articulate. He’s in the foothills of what looks like a comfortable retirement and has a twinkle in his voice. He’ll be a kenspeckle and well-regarded pillar of this neighbourhood. In his church or his golf and bowling clubs he’ll tell others approvingly of this doorstep encounter with the prime candidate.

Ms Cherry took this seat with a comfortable 12,000-plus majority (almost half the vote) over the Conservatives in 2019. Two years earlier though, she’d scraped home by barely 1,000 in the midst of the Scottish Tories mini-resurgence. Neither she nor any of the local SNP activists are expecting anything other than a tight, three-way contest this time round. This will include Labour who had held this seat for ten years after its formation in 2005.

“In 2017, the SNP lost 21 of its 56 Westminster seats after a campaign in which the Tories had targeted 15 SNP-held seats, including this one,” says Ms Cherry. “Only me and Pete Wishart (with a majority of 2) repelled their advances.” It’s that microscopic majority of Mr Wishart’s which causes her to ponder her good deed.

The battle for Edinburgh South West will settle into a three-way split. If everyone were to coalesce around Labour then the SNP would be in trouble. They hope and expect the Tory vote to remain significant. The trick for them is to mobilise their support so that they can stride through the middle to victory as Labour and the Tories split the Unionist vote between them.

Lisa, a local party activist of long-standing also points out a significant X-factor. “There’s a not insubstantial cohort of people who, while critical of the SNP, will vote personally for Joanna as she’s well-known as an independent voice within the tightly-controlled party machine,” she says.  

Some local polling in 2019 indicated that three or four per cent of the vote came to Ms Cherry personally, rather than for the SNP. It’s a factor which could prove crucial on July 4.

This Currie neighbourhood is a classic lowland Scottish, 60s housing estate for aspirational, working class baby-boomers: many the first from their families to own their own homes. Behind us are the Pentland Hills and at the top of this street a panoramic view of Forth Road Bridge reinforces the local housing market.

For the purposes of this canvassing session with Ms Cherry and her team I’ve indulged in some Edinburgh cultural appropriation: keeping well back and speaking only when spoken to. There can be no smoking; no chummy football talk and no delinquent profanities.

This being south-west Edinburgh, the indigenous peoples are slow to emerge from the foliage as Ms Cherry and her activists begin to chap the doors. There’s some furious curtain-twitching occurring though, and I’m becoming mesmerised by all the pretty patterns woven into the lawns.

One man does appear at the door, but he’s rude and a bit too performative, as though rehearsing an anecdote for re-telling that evening in the golf-club bar. He dismisses the vote-seekers and points extravagantly to a sign saying that sales people are not welcome.  

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Lisa and Ms Cherry respect this, of course but I’m itching to tell him they’re not selling but merely seeking to ensure that he’s included in the democratic process. He watches us intently through the blinds, smartphone at his ear, alerting others perhaps in the Neighbourhood Watch that there be strangers afoot.  

In a street like this in Glasgow something quite different is often evident. I’ve attended canvassing sessions where news has obviously spread about the presence of politicians. People will stand in front of their driveways - arms folded - waiting for the candidate. It doesn’t matter what party they’re from. They need to have their say.  Joanna Cherry on the campaign trail (Image: Newsquest)

At last, on the fifth house down, a response. This seems to spark a chain reaction. In the next hour or so doors open and the residents, perhaps satisfied that we come in peace, begin to engage. On the street outside, driving instructors in their Fiestas and Fabias are showing Generation Zedders how to do their emergency stops and their three-point turns

Both women take care not to engage in political debate. “Stephen Flynn [the SNP’s Westminster leader] commissioned some research on the best way to campaign,” says Ms Cherry. “It indicated that street stalls are a waste of time and that leaflets weren’t much better. The best results came by getting onto the doors to first identify your vote and then to get them out on polling day.

“Avoid political arguments and spend as little time as possible on the door. Just gather some data.”

There’s a dawning recognition among some of this nine-strong team of activists and canvassers that the SNP is perceived as a bit cocky and arrogant and that there’s a need to show some contrition. “What’s good about Edinburgh South West, though,” says Lisa, “is that Joanna Cherry is seen as distinct from the SNP party machine and that she thinks for herself. That could be crucial here.”

Ms Cherry intervenes at this point. “Look, everyone knows I’m not a fan of Nicola Sturgeon. When people were lauding her for being such a great politician I wasn’t so sure and I’ve been proved right. Look at her legacy: we’ve wasted opportunities when we could have moved more dynamically to get independence.

“And while the country remains split down the middle on independence people’s main concerns in this election are the cost of living; how they’ll manage to keep paying their mortgages; their rent and their energy bills and the state of our public services.”

She knows too that if she were to lose this seat then it will signify an electoral catastrophe for the SNP across Scotland. It may not exactly be a swing-seat or a marginal, but it could become one of those bellwether seats that tolls for the passing of the SNP. 

Joanna Cherry's campaign is under way (Image: Newsquest)

Yet, this is turning into an encouraging outing for the canvassers. A dozen doors in and there’s been not one mention of the Labour Party. Most of these householders know Joanna Cherry by sight and the overwhelming majority of them are planning still to keep faith with the SNP.

There is no 1997 vibe here when New Labour was sweeping all before it and you could reach out and touch the excitement gathering pace behind Tony Blair’s smile and charisma. Sir Keir Starmer, try as he may, is a corner-shop Blair. 

Does the gender debate come up for discussion much on the doorsteps? Or is it one of those ‘bubble’ issues that the SNP insist don’t interest real people?

“It comes up a lot,” says Ms Cherry. “People assume that all young people are signed up to self-Id and the notion that gender is more important than sex. But I’ve been struck by the number of young gay men who stop me and encourage me to keep speaking the truth. “We’re same-sex attracted,” they tell me. “It’s not an identity; it’s who we are.”

The health service and cost of living are top of the list of issues which concern these voters most. And potholes. On every doorstep there is palpable anger at “the appalling state of the roads” One older lady tells us that “Edinburgh’s roads have never been in a worse state”.

Ms Cherry helpfully suggests to her that when Scott Arthur, the Labour candidate comes calling he may be able to help. He’s Edinburgh City Council’s Transport Convenor.