Race for Norwich North

Andrew Sinclair Political Correspondent BBC East

The Norwich North by-election, triggered by the deselection and subsequent resignation of the Labour MP, Dr Ian Gibson, will take place on 23 July 2009.

The train from London to Norwich is packed with high profile visitors on their way to the campaign for the Norwich North by-election. There are 12 candidates standing and polling day is 23 July 2009.

With a General Election less than a year away, all parties want to make their mark.

Political Correspondent, Andrew Sinclair, has been covering recent events.

For National Express this by-election couldn't have come at a better time.

The company's struggling with the East Coast Mainline but on its London to Norwich route passenger numbers must surely be booming.

Photo op - Chloe Smith with Conservative leader David Cameron

George Osborne, Hilary Benn, Jack Straw, Caroline Lucas, Theresa May, George Hammond, Nigel Farage (twice), David Cameron and Nick Clegg (three times) have all been making the journey up the line, not to mention the dozens of party staff and volunteers.

The parties are throwing everything they have at this campaign: with a General Election less than a year away, they all want to make their mark.

In the eyes of the local press pack, the Conservatives had a shadow cabinet visit every day along with a decent photo op.

They had a head start though, as their candidate Chloe Smith was the only one in place when the by-election was called.

Aged 27 and a management consultant, she is seen as the embodiment of a Cameron Conservative.

Labour's Chris Ostrowski - a strong contender

Only a year older, Labour's Chris Ostrowski was last into the race.

Not surprisingly, in what is an uncomfortable by-election for Labour, he struggled with questions about the former MP Dr Ian Gibson.

Chris Ostrowski is no stranger to the city as he studied at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and party workers say he is settling in well.

The Liberal Democrats and the Greens have had to move fast.

Both were planning to put all their efforts into fighting Norwich South at the next election.

Lib Dem April Pond needs to run a closer race

Suddenly they were presented with a chance to make an impact in a seat they'd always considered unwinnable.

Nick Clegg cast around for a candidate but finally allowed the party to choose April Pond - a former councillor with a strong local track record.

Meanwhile the Greens settled on Rupert Read - their almost successful Euro candidate who's been part of the City's political scene for more than 30 years.

So far a lot of this campaign has been fought in the media with carefully selected photo calls and press releases on subjects from clean campaigning to local policing but there's been less interaction with the public.

From my conversations with voters, there seems to be a lot of people who still need to be won over.

Rupert Read is the face of the Green Party

They were perfectly happy with their last MP, they're suspicious of all politicians after the expenses revelations and they're not particularly bowled over (at the moment) by any of the candidates.

And privately the parties agree.

There are a lot of undecideds out there, they say.

The result is far from certain.

The Politics Show with Jon Sopel and Etholle George on Sunday at 11:00 on BBC One.

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