Is it worth campaigning outside our rival parties’ conference venues, or should we let them have their moment in the sun?
Moment in the sun, eh? In my experience, the conference season tends to attract bad weather… If you have something pertinent to say, then yes, it’s worth the effort. I would plan for a – well-trailed in the media – one-day hit. Don’t try to be outside yelling at conference-goers every day, as that will be pointless. Your sole objective is to get a hit in the local or national media on the issue you want to highlight. Remember, two of the conferences will be heavily policed (and I suspect this year it will be especially heavy), so they will be hard to get close to. You should also inform the police of your plans (which means they will tell the conference organisers). Don’t expect to get directly at a minister or shadow minister. Pick the day your issue will be debated at the conference; that will give you more hope of attracting media interest and make sure you’re in place early (cameras will be looking for early pictures). And stay until after the lunch break – any longer, and you’ll appear desperate and sad.

Which campaign strategist, past or present, do you most admire and why?
The political genius of Niccolò Machiavelli has been overshadowed by the reputation that has been given to him, principally because of a misunderstanding of his views on politics, which he wrote about in his tract The Prince. Machiavelli was strategically very astute and laid out how leaders should achieve their objectives and ensure the people understand and respect them. More recently, Karl Rove’s masterminding of George Bush’s 2000 election victory; people underestimate the change to GOP strategy that he brought about.

What would you advise an aspirant parliamentary candidate to do at party conference to make the most of it?
Be prepared for very little sleep and plan meticulously. Your tactics should be to get to as many regional receptions as possible and attend as many of the fringe events as you can manage – you are all about visibility. You need to meet and greet as many members as possible (especially members representing marginal or safe seats with possible retiring members). Try to speak in a key debate if you’re confident you will perform well, but don’t worry if you don’t get chosen to speak; that is a minor part of any of the big conferences these days. Make sure you have plenty of business cards to hand out, and, most importantly, get contact details from useful constituency members (councillors etc) and follow them up after the conference. You should be able to attend two breakfast, two lunch and four evening receptions per day, as well as meet people on the way around the conference. Good luck – rather you than me, and I do really mean that – it’s a ghastly thought…
 
More and more large corporations are applying political campaign techniques to achieve business objectives. But who can learn more from who: corporate marketers or political campaigners?
Of course we can learn from each other. Think about it: direct mail, phone banking, web advertising, segmentation and social media were all pioneered and refined in the commercial sector, basically because they have the budgets to invest in large campaigns, research and development. The political world can ‘teach’ targeting and refining messages and to a degree how the world works – I’m always surprised at the political naivety of the business world. The political world is also better and more practised at using and interpreting qualitative and quantitative research, as well as how best to directly ‘talk’ to the electors. Personally, I’m always struck as to how much better political literature is (design and language) than the equivalent material from the commercial sector.

The recent riots generated tremendous public anger, with vocal calls for harsh retribution and long prison sentences. But evidence clearly shows that such a response doesn’t work. How can politicians maintain public confidence while going against the prevailing public mood?
Politicians are in a win-win situation here, especially those on the right. They can go with the justifiable public anger because it’s the courts (separation of power) that decide sentences. If the courts go hard on offenders, politicians can say, ‘Jolly good thing, too.’ If courts go the other way, and are too soft, the politicians can rage until they foam at the mouth against the system, Human Rights Act, etc. The prevailing mood seems to be that these riots were about greed and criminality, so any politician who ends up on the wrong side of this will be either supremely arrogant or galactically stupid. The strategy for politicians will be to be seen to be angry and resolute, then sympathetic (to victims), and then to deliver support to rebuild. Being seen as an apologist for rioters will be career-limiting.

Tags: Campaign doctor, Issue 40