Where to begin?

A young man of 28 – with his whole life ahead of him – has had that life cruelly and unexpectedly snatched away. It’s hard to find the right words.

Dave MacDonald was truly special. As the emails and Facebook comments pour in from across the country, we all remember his kindness, his generosity and his boundless enthusiasm.

He was a tireless campaigner and set himself the highest standards.The trouble is he then expected the same from everyone else – and would never take no for an answer. I had barely had time to make myself a cup of tea during the recent Grove byelection Polling Day, take two gulps and he was pushing me out the door again.

He was deeply committed to the Liberal Democrats and after the disappointments of elections elsewhere, he was so excited to be joining the team in Sutton. The look on his face when we won our first byelection together was priceless. He couldn’t stop grinning – and nor could we.

It was that grin with his infectious laugh that charmed people into doing what he knew needed to be done. After a few weeks in the Sutton & Cheam office he had won over cynical activists who had been campaigning for decades and were reluctant to try new things. He cajoled us into using MiniVan, produced even more target letters and relentlessly made us up our game – all with a smile.

After our excellent Council election results in 2014, we had high hopes for the General Election last May but sadly national events overtook us. It was a bitter disappointment for everyone – but for him in particular. Yet the following morning he was on the phone to other organisers and campaigners, checking they were okay and giving them support.

He had just found a new job and was beginning a new chapter in his life. He was full of excitement and expectation about what life had to offer. It seems impossible that he is no longer here.

I want to talk to him about our Autumn campaigns and our preparations for the London elections next year. I want to tell him the latest good news from the Council and have a good old rant about the Tory government. But I can’t.

We always say we are like a family. And that’s what it feels like – we’ve lost a friend, a colleague but above all we’ve lost a member of the family. It hurts.

He was loved by many – his family, his girlfriend, his many friends. He was admired and respected by many – his colleagues, his fellow campaigners, so many Lib Dems all across the country.

There is a void that can’t be filled. In time – and when we have spoken to his family – we want to organise something in Sutton to mark his passing. And we have an idea to set up a bursary in his memory so that other young people like him can have the chance to get involved in politics and make a difference.

But for now we will grieve his loss – and continue to campaign. Because that is what David would have wanted.

* Councillor Ruth Dombey OBE is the Leader of the London Borough of Sutton and the Liberal Democrat Deputy Group Leader at the Local Government Association. The LGA is a politically-led, cross-party organisation that works on behalf of 415 councils to ensure local government has a strong, credible voice with national government.