Election 2015: campaign news
Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 15:40 I would never criticise anyone who stands for parliament.
Single issue candidates rarely succeed however so I wasn't surprised by the fate that befell Vapers In Power who put forward two candidates, one in Kingswood (Bristol), the other in Barnsley East.
In Kingswood VIP's Liam Bryan came eighth out of eight candidates. He got 49 votes (0.1%) and was beaten by the British National Party (164) and the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (84) among others. The seat was won by the Conservatives' Chris Skidmore.
In Barnsley East Billy Marsden did slightly better. He also came eighth out of eight candidates but he got 103 votes and a slightly larger share of the vote (0.3%). Other candidates included Yorkshire First (647), English Democrats (440) and TUSC (364). The seat however was won by Labour's Michael Dugher.
I admire Liam and Billy for giving it a go but standing for election to promote a single issue is destined for failure because the target audience is insufficiently defined. In short, it's too big.
But don't take it from me. Listen to Lynton Crosby:
"At its absolute simplest, a campaign is simply finding out who will decide the outcome … where are they, what matters to them, and how do you reach them?"
I'll let you draw your own conclusions but for me it's invaluable advice. Thanks, Lynton!
Reader Comments (3)
In general, I agree. We had the "cannabis is safer than alcohol" party in my neck of the woods and elsewhere I heard of the "animal welfare party." We've also, in the past, had the clearly jokily-intentioned "all night party," too. None of which, unsurprisingly, succeeded in gaining more than a handful of votes. But there is one exception, which I am sure you will remember, Simon - Sir James' Goldsmith's Referendum Party. Although short-lived and very much single-issue, it nevertheless managed to win a seat in Parliament and was arguably the precursor to several anti-EU political movements, including, of course, UKIP.
Because these candidates and their supporters were prepared to spend £500, or whatever the entry fee now is, several tens of thousands of households are now more aware of the issues surrounding ecigs and the effective ban next May.
The point Lynton Crosby makes is a strong one. Translated here it means the voters of Kingswood or Barnsley East won't decide the outcome of the e-cig campaign therefore time and money spent trying to convince them of the merits of e-cigs is largely wasted, sadly.