I met with Prospective Parliamentary Candidates in the Labour Party Headquarters this afternoon to launch "Operation Fightback" as part of the General Election campaign. I was delighted to see the 120 candidates who attended to talk to the Campaign Team which included myself, Douglas Alexander, Peter Mandelson and Labour Party staff.

I spoke to the candidates about the importance of local campaigning, regular contact with voters - including the use of online networks such as Twitter and Facebook. I was pleased to see so many women as well as black and Asian candidates.