Conservative campaigners stand behind Labour MP Tulip Siddiq with leaflets and pictures of Jeremy Corbyn

FORMER Culture Secretary Ed Vaizey was one of the first high profile Conservatives to be thrown into battle in the knife-edge Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, arriving with only one thing on his mind: Jeremy Corbyn.

In both a pep talk to Tory canvassers and in an interview with the New Journal, he repeatedly name-checked the Labour leader, who also appears on a round of Conservative election leaflets. The party believe Mr Corbyn is a major turn-off to voters and are focussing on trying to link Labour MP Tulip Siddiq to his rise to the Labour leadership. She was one of the MPs who nominated him to get onto the leadership ballot paper two years ago, even though she actually favoured Andy Burnham to win the contest.

Mr Vaizey was meeting party activists at the Queen’s Park Farmers’ Market yesterday (Sunday) setting up the bizarre sight of a leading Tory campaigning on the other side of the wall from where Ms Siddiq was holding an open surgery on a stall inside the market. To complete the election fever, Liberal Democrat candidate Kirsty Allan was also leafleting people as they walked into the market in Salusbury Primary School in Salusbury Road.

Ed Vaizey marshals the Tory troops

Mr Vaizey told the New Journal: “Labour held the seat here when Ed Miliband was leader, and compared to Jeremy Corbyn he looks like Churchill. I don’t think there will be a lot of appetite in Hampstead and Kilburn to see Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street and I think a lot of Labour voters will either stay at home or consider other parties. There’s everything to play for in this election.”

He added: “You’ve got a core Labour voter here which was prepared to back Ed Miliband but in Hampstead and Kilburn you have an MP who has backed Jeremy Corbyn and Jeremy Corbyn has brought the Labour Party to its knees, so I think Labour voters will vote with their feet.”

SEE ALSO WATCH: LABOUR MP TULIP SIDDIQ GOES TO HEAD TO HEAD WITH TORY SUPPORTER IN A ROW AT FARMERS’ MARKET

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, first elected as MP in 2015 when she took over from Glenda Jackson, said voters should judge her on own record, rather than Mr Corbyn’s time as leader.

“I’ve always disagreed with Labour leaders, to be honest. I had lots of things that Tony Blair came out with that I didn’t agree with, there were lots of things about Ed Miliband’s policies I didn’t agree with – and in the same way I don’t agree with all of Jeremy Corbyn’s policies,” she said.

“But what people need to realise in Hampstead and Kilburn is that they are voting for me, Tulip Siddiq, if they decide to re-elect me. This is my home, this is where I grew up,  this is where my parents got married in the 1970s, it’s where I had my child recently. This is a place I call home and with everything I’ve done in parliament I’ve always put Hampstead and Kilburn first. If I have to vote against the party, which I did do on  High Speed Rail 2 because it was the right thing for my constituency, I’ve shown I can do it.”

Tulip Siddiq at her ‘Meet Your MP’ stand inside Queen’s Park Farmers’ Market

LISTEN: ED VAIZEY PREDICTS LABOUR’S CORE VOTE IN HAMPSTEAD AND KILBURN WILL FALL AWAY

LISTEN: TULIP SIDDIQ EXPLAINS WHAT SHE IS TELLING VOTERS WHEN THEY ASK HER ABOUT JEREMY CORBYN

LISTEN: KIRSTY ALLAN ASKED WHETHER VOTERS WILL TRUST LIB DEMS AGAIN AFTER COALITION PACT

The Greens and UKIP have yet to announce a candidate in Hampstead and Kilburn. The Liberal Democrats had Kirsty Allan installed as their candidate back in September when her party predicted Prime Minister Theresa May would eventually call a snap general election.

She said: “I think that there’s a lot of people who are disillusioned with both of parties in this area. If you look at the Remain vote, seventy-six percent in this area, I think there are an awful lot of people who don’t want to vote Conservative this time because they are the ones who are pushing forward Brexit and I think you’ll find there are an awful lot of people who are not prepared to support the Labour Party that won’t stand up to the Conservatives.”

Kirsty Allan outside the Queen’s Park Farmers’ Market

Ms Allan added: “I realise we didn’t make great inroads into the vote here in 2015 but I think this issue [Brexit] has very much changed things, and the perspective of people in this area and where they are prepared to put their trust. The Lib Dems have been very loud, and very proud, about our position on this, and we are prepared to be the party that stands up for that forty-eight percent of the country that didn’t vote for what’s going on right now.”