WHILE Parliamentary candidates and supporters were doing their last-minute canvassing for polling day, one retiring MP slipped into his former constituency for a last goodbye.

Having left his political party under a cloud, following his own expenses scandal, there were no formal constituency farewells for Derek Conway, former Tory MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup.

He was forced to spend the last two years of his Parliamentary career sitting as an independent.

But last week he and his wife and Parliamentary personal assistant Colette, were the guests of pensioners from two sheltered housing schemes in Sidcup, as they thanked him for his work on their behalf.

More than 50 residents from Heron Crescent and Frank Godley Court gathered at Frank Godley Court in Etfield Grove, to wish the couple well for their future outside national politics.

They presented Mr Conway with an enscribed mounted barometer and Mrs Conway was presented with a bouquet of flowers.

Mr Conway told them: “This is my last engagement in a political career of more than 35 years and I can think of no more pleasant way to conclude my career than with such a generous group of people.”

He added: “I had no idea you intended to give me such a wonderful leaving present.

“Colette and I will cherish it and, every time I check the weather, it will remind me of the warmth and dignity I have encountered at Frank Godley Court and Heron Crescent over the years.”

Mr Conway praised the residents’ tenacity and said he hoped Bexley Council would continue to value sheltered housing in the borough.