Election Dissection: This time it's Personal

2017 General Election represented my first foray into national electoral politics. I had stood as a paper council candidate for the Green Party in the 2017 local elections but this was obviously a much bigger deal. I have written about how the Green Party did nationally here but also wanted to look at my own performance and plans for the future.

When people ask how on earth did I get into this, there was no magic moment, just a series of small events which lead to standing for Parliament in my home town. In 2015 when I moved back to Northampton, I had voted for Green Party at the 2 previous elections and decided in that summer I wanted to get more involved with local politics, seeing as my knees were no longer up to Sunday league football. So I joined the Green Party and attended the September 2015 Party Conference, which was fantastic, but due to work, didn't manage to make it to any meetings that year. Then in 2016 I attended an event protesting against an incinerator being built in the town with support from Northants Green Party. It was here I met local activists and resolved to attend meetings to see where I could help.

After a couple of meetings we had our AGM where the chance to run social media and website came up, which I took up in September 2016. We then organised attending events and marches for the NHS, Pro-Democracy and Anti-War causes as well as local air quality testing. I was asked to be a paper candidate in the 2017 local elections, which just provided a chance to vote Green in my area. There was no campaign, although I did help out with the campaign for our target ward in Northampton. Then the snap election was called, and despite having selected 7 candidates back in 2016 on the hunch a snap election would be called after Brexit, we had 3 vacancies for General Election Candidates in Northamptonshire. I expressed an interest, made a short speech at our selection meeting and there I was!

So, what happened next?

Election was called on 18th April, I was selected on 2nd May, attended local election count on 5th May and submitted my application to local electoral services on May 10th, having not managed to agree any Progressive Alliance locally. I had put up the £500 deposit from combined party, crowdfunded and personal funds there was not much time or money to run a large campaign. This not being helped by continuing to work my full hospital commitments.

I set up a Facebook campaign page and churned out tweets, videos and updates. I answered hundreds of lobbying emails and pledges to support various causes. I went on as much media as I could manage, radio, TV, newspaper hustings. I visited my old school and supported national campaigns. I posted about 5000 leaflets with the help of a number of local volunteers, who I am massively grateful to.

Now, regular readers of my blog will know that if somebody were to ask me what my biggest weakness was, I'd say "Job interviews". I'd just signed up for a public job interview which will last 4 weeks. So, way to face up to them fears!

I think that I honestly put about as much into the campaign as I could. I'm not happy with the outcome and some of that is due to a national trend of a reduction in Green vote and rise of an actual Left wing Labour party. Part of it I think was due to my limitations as a candidate, not only financially but with free time and getting my message out. I was aware that we needed a distinct message from the Labour Party but unfortunately too many of my answers at hustings began "I agree with Kevin...". My family and friends were a great help but I didn't want to put too much on them in terms of door knocking and leafleting so much of that I took on myself. We didn't have an army of door knockers or reams of canvassing data. I didn't feel I had the money to put out a full free post leaflet to every constituent and unfortunately did hear murmurs that some people didn't know a Green candidate was standing. I was also a bit miffed that media outlets like ITV news would interview the other 4 candidates but not me, especially as in terms of votes, 3 of the 5 of us were fairly close.

I know you should never watch yourself give media performances but I looked hesitant and nervous about putting a point across which was usually a good point! The hesitancy is me though. It's who I am. I run everything I think through a filter as I'm worried what people would think when it comes out. When I'm tired or stressed sometimes the filter doesn't work! At least I can say that all of my media performances were authentic and not somebody else. I think I got better as I got more into it, but with only 4 weeks there wasn't much time to warm up.

So, what happens next?

Firstly, it's my annual appraisal later this month (ARCP) which decides if I've progressed enough this year as a doctor to be allowed to go onto the next stage of specialist training. There are still some things to tidy up from there and work to be done.

As for the Green Party, we've got a lot of thinking and work to do. It's clear by our vote share that our message wasn't getting out or convincing enough. The Green policies I like the most are the ones we don't share with Labour: Citizen's income, Nuclear Disarmament, Soft Brexit, Proportional Representation and commitment to leaving fossil fuels in the ground. However these weren't what the election was about. Corbyn shut Brexit off as an issue by essentially agreeing with the government and the important issues of the electorate: - Social care, Education and the NHS we didn't offer an alternative to Labour policy.

What I want to do next is figure out how we can do better next time, given our limited human and financial resources. Personally, I enjoyed the whole thing and would thoroughly like to do it again. I just don't like losing so hard. The Green Party target to win policy I think is the way forward. As a local party with maybe 2 dozen active members, for the 2019 local elections, I think instead of running many campaigns in a low power way, perhaps we need to focus our attention in 1 area to get maximum gain. That would mean me volunteering by leafleting and door knocking in one place with ALL the other candidates and members in just one or two wards.

I'd also have to change the type of work. Seeing the 2 main parties campaigning  threw into sharp relief the size our tasks. They proved that you need boots on the ground not only to leaflet but to door knock and get canvassing information. That is something we could be doing all year round, and will try to attend a Green Party canvasser course in the near future. If we have 5% of the activists we need to focus our efforts in a smaller area to make a gain. Even a single council seat in Northamptonshire would be a huge improvement not only for ourselves, but for the voices of locals who see a sea of blue through all the diesel fumes.

We are at our  best when we are local, visible and vocal, which with regards to air quality I think we are. I think we ought to champion this issue across the board for all of our active local measures and direct efforts to getting more air testing data, more time at council meetings and more local support. We could start a "Green Business" group, to promote businesses which have an environmental angle or do something good in the community, which could  hopefully attract business and sponsorship. Every chance to get in local media to show we are doing something, whether that is fitting new air tubes, picking up litter or turning up en masse to cabinet meetings.

Personally, I could get more involved with my hospital and community groups to help with issues we might be facing. My current role as BMA rep it appears that our major issue is parking. Campaigning on something to address this like a park and ride for example could be the way forward. In my own ward, I want to be attending parish council meetings and trying to figure out what is happening with development (or lack thereof) of the St Crispin's Hospital site which has lay derelict for the 2 years I've lived there. I'll be putting these ideas to our post election meeting tomorrow, so I could end up doing a lot of work whilst continuing my O&G training, which as my sole income and life for the last 13 years is no small priority.

I think there is still a future for the Green's, we just have a grab it work harder for it and make each Green activist count double with the work we put in!