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had John Prescott. The Conservatives have .

The larger than life, plain speaking Yorkshire man is a popular Conservative chairman.

If anyone can give the party faithful a boost at the moment, it's him.

On a mission to calm the party's jitters, the veritable Mr Pickles spent the day crammed into a mini van (which the party optimistically describes as a battle bus).

He was touring some of the key marginals in our region dispensing words of comfort and re-assurance at every stop and gently goading his activists to try just that teensy little bit harder - or else.

"In two very short weeks time the nation's going to vote" he tells them in Harlow, "and on the doorsteps there's just one message you have to get across: do you want another five years of Gordon Brown?"

"There are two ways of getting Gordon Brown, either by voting Labour or voting Liberal Democrat".

Yes the Liberal Democarts are now the ones in the party chairman's sights.

Following the first Prime Ministerial Debate, the Conservatives have been shocked by the surge in Lib Dem support.

As their Party Chairman travelled from Harlow to Luton, Basildon, Thurrock and Castle Point, he wasted no opportunity to trash them.

"We must talk about the issues," he tells me " why they want to grant asylum to 600,000 illegal immigrants, why they want to abandon the protection of our nuclear deterrent, why they want to abandon the pound".

The Conservatives have been spooked by the . Over the last few years they've carefully targeted the marginal seats they need to win, ploughed in lots of extra money and volunteers and made their candidates work hard.

Yet it could all be de-railed by the public's new found love affair with Nick Clegg.

Mr Pickles still believes he can win this election and this visit was about calming nerves and getting everyone to focus.

"I am confident we can win," he says, "the activists are enthusiastic and we're well organised in the areas we need to take"

"But you've got to expect that in a general election campaign things are going to move about a bit, the polls are going to move about a bit and issues are going to move about a bit, but the underlying truth that this country needs change remains the same".

As it happens, the Lib Dem surge may not have much effect in our region; the Lib Dems are in third place in most of the seats which the Tories need to win.

Most Conservative candidates here are confident they'll win their seats.

This surge could, however, lose them seats in other parts of the country and affect their chances of getting into Government.

The Conservatives hope that by talking about policies they'll win the battle against the Lib Dems.

But they're also finding that on the doorsteps there's a wish for change but a reluctance to vote Conservative.

So for now the best they can do is to keep repeating their message and hope that public sentiment will shift.

Publically Mr Pickles remains confident and optimistic as he tours the country.

Occasionally he gets to borrow David Cameron's battle bus. That's a proper coach with comfortable chairs but most of the time he's stuck with the van and it's cramped.

There's just room for him, a driver, a press officer, a box of posters and a spare suit in case someone throws something at him.

Is he losing sleep over the polls? "I could sleep on a washing line at the moment," he says.

"Given that my day begins at 5 and ends at 1, it's just a wonderful feeling just to close your eyes at the end of the day."

I know what he means. Nighty night.

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