I and my friends fought the 1997 General Election to achieve a Labour MP for Wantage; a goal which Robert Jackson's change of heart and party has achieved.

I do not expect perfection from MPs or Governments. When we elect an MP, we get an ordinary person, doing their best under the circumstances, with views and ideas that I may disagree with.

It is a mistake to expect them to be God or a parent. The question today is how to use the little scrap of influence that is my hard-won and precious vote.

I have wondered whether to vote at all -- I have been so against the war in Iraq.

I profoundly disagree with the Government's actions in following George Bush to war for spurious reasons.

I hate the nightmare opening of Pandora's Fear box, which threatens to turn our society into a closed one in which a terrorist seems to lurk in every dark corner.

I object to the assumption that public opinion can be ignored.

Still, I have recently decided to vote Labour and to support the tireless and human Andrew Smith in Oxford and Mark MacDonald in Wantage.

Recently, I asked Tony Benn for his personal view. He replied that this nonsense cannot last and he hopes we can still reclaim the Labour Party for ordinary people. I hope so too. Celia Wilson, Labour Parliamentary Candidate 1997, Bosleys Orchard, Didcot