Related article: Labour chief Angela Rayner “loves Carlisle” amid Palestine protest

It was all very last minute but last night I got confirmation that Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, was set to visit Carlisle today to support the party’s candidate Julie Minns.

Basically yesterday I contacted all of the candidates (so far) who are hoping to stand in the three north Cumbrian constituencies in next month’s General Election on July 4 to keep me posted of any visits by high profile figures in their parties and this was the first.

But today I was surprised to learn that not only would it be Angela Rayner but also making an appearance would be Emily Thornberry who is Labour’s shadow attorney general for England and Wales who I last saw speak at the Durham Miners’ Gala a few years back.

I was told that I had to be there by 11.45am but I had a meeting of Cumberland Council’s executive committee to cover from 10.30am (bear in mind the guidance is I can cover any election events as long as they do not impact on council coverage) but thankfully I was informed that most of the items on the agenda would be announced via press releases from the local council so I was able to leave early as they were press releases the news is already out there.

It all went swimmingly until a group of protestors started shouting about why Labour had not recognised the state of Palestine and they unfurled that nation’s flags. In fairness the collected politicians answered that the matter was out of their hands because they were not yet in Government.

Having said that each of the members of the press who covered the event were given the time for one-to-one interviews with Angela Rayner but I cheekily also had a quick chat with Emily Thornberry and Julie Minns once she left the bus.

There was a point during the visit that the Lib Dem candidate for Carlisle, Brian Wernham, parked his so-called battle bus, which was basically his car with Lib Dem stickers on the doors next to the Labour vehicle, and claimed that Labour did not have the only battle bus in the city. Personally I felt that was stretching the definition of the word bus.

Having said that when I got back to my flat in Carlisle it was a nightmare trying to download the videos and photos to my work computer but I managed in the end and managed to file my story after 5pm.