One of the most memorable results at this year's general election was that in Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, where a supposed Labour stronghold was gained by Aidan Burley for the Conservatives.
Aidan’s 14.02% swing, called in to me by Peter Botting at 4.21am on May 7th as the result was being declared at Cannock Leisure Centre, was called a "staggering result" by the BBC - and was the largest swing of any Conservative candidate to gain a seat from Labour.
Aidan turned a notional 9,227 Labour majority into a Conservative majority of 3,195 – making him one of the youngest of the new intake of Tory MPs, aged 31.
Born in New Zealand to British parents, his family returned to the UK several months later and he was brought up and educated in Birmingham. He won the mock election at King Edward’s School, Edgbaston, for the Conservatives in 1997 and later helped run OUCA and the Union whilst he was studying at St John’s College, Oxford.
He went on to work with the Home Office and the NHS as a management consultant, and also worked for Philip Hammond and Nick Herbert when they were shadow ministers. He was also a Conservative Councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham, but stood down from his seat to concentrate on winning Cannock Chase.
He explains here how he managed that feat:
"I had an agent, the former candidate - Ian Collard, who believed in me and in victory from the beginning and I had an incredibly stubborn and demanding coach in Peter Botting who kept on pushing me and pushing me.
"At target seat position No. 198, and not even on the radar of Target Seat Funding, we were totally left to our own devices in terms of fundraising. We also have a relatively small association of modest means. So we raised our own money - lots of it - through events, auctions and donations. It was hard work and we spent everything we raised. This became easier after we were able to evidence momentum. The fundraising was arguably harder than the campaign.
"We had great literature, put together by Stephen Ion and written by a strident committee of 3 (Ian, Peter and myself, and approved by my girlfriend Helen – who looked at it from an ‘external’ i.e. non-political perspective!) that debated every word, picture, colour and layout.
"We used street stalls regularly. They were cheap (which was also good!) but very visible and at weekends we set up the stalls outside the local supermarkets. We did have the advantage of course, that Tony Wright was standing down and that the Labour candidate seemed to share the general opinion - that we didn’t have a chance. This played into our narrative perfectly.
"This type of “street politics” meant that authenticity was mandatory. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn’t have kept up a facade for that long anyway and didn’t even try. I am a Midlands boy and didn’t try to be anything else. The people of Cannock Chase are very real people and they can smell spin from a few miles away.
"Access to me was incredibly easy. Gatekeepers did not exist. Often there was just Ian and myself out campaigning.
"We made full use of election expenses limits - most of our money went on full page, colourful, well-crafted adverts in the local paper. And we made sure our literature was ‘reader friendly’ magazine style rather than traditional Tory literature.
"After an initially “cool” reception from the local press, we ultimately were dealt with exceptionally fairly. Understandably, I first had to prove to the local Chase Post Editor, Mike Lockley, that I was taking the seat seriously.
"After much internal discussion, I called for a public debate. This was run and advertised by the Chase Post and chaired by the Editor, Mike Lockley. This had its risks and it was at times a raucous event, but it helped establish us as contenders in the campaign.
"After we had proven we were serious, we did enjoy some mutual aid from neighbouring constituencies and the area team – in particular Brian Jarvis and Charles Boote. Brian was the mastermind behind much of the Staffordshire success, and Charles could always be relied on to administer the ‘hairdryer treatment’ to anyone who wasn’t pulling their weight!
"We also had HUGE support for the Cannock Unionist Club – our base, office and spiritual home. Alan Brickley and Alan Slade and their brilliant members supported me to a tremendous extent – emotionally as well as financially.
"I also had a group of friends and family from Birmingham who came out and helped the local activists deliver and stuff. Even my Gran was stuffing envelopes! We also had some great visits that included Mark Francois, Caroline Spelman, Eric Pickles, Ann Widdecombe and David Cameron."
As Aidan said, he was aided by Peter Botting, who was Initially recruited by Christina Dykes to help candidates. At the 2010 General Election, 59 of his 72 clients gained swings exceeding 6%, of which 23 exceeded 7%, 14 exceeded 8%, and 12 exceeded 9%. A total of 34 were elected. Peter has habitually stayed out of the public eye and has never written before for ConHome, but here he adds his take on the Cannock Chase campaign:
"Firstly, we did capture pretty accurately the local sentiment and translated this into a message or narrative that Aidan repeated at every opportunity and that local people and the local press soon picked up on and talked about.
"Secondly, we were less than shy about getting our message out with full page adverts in the local paper - every week of the short campaign.
"Thirdly, we made our promises so tangible and down to earth that they were credible. One of the most potent was the promise that Aidan would spend a day a month, volunteering for a full day in a local charity, school or organisation. This “non-Royal visit” promise was extremely powerful and linked in perfectly with our narrative. Aidan has already delivered his first volunteering day and so far five more days are already booked in, taking us all the way to Christmas.
"Fourthly, we had a formidable people person and communicator in Aidan. The campaign maximised him as our most valuable - and at times it seemed only - asset, and made sure that as many people met him as possible.
"Five. The Public Debate was a winner. The press before and after the debate was critical to the result.
"Lastly, Aidan, Ian, and I argued, debated and sometimes shouted at each other about the direction of the campaign. But we (almost!) always played the ball, not the man and this 3 way input improved the campaign.
"So we had this energy - a perfect storm of Momentum, Message, and Messenger being seriously in sync with the mood of the electorate. The other M’s (that my other clients will recognize) followed almost automatically.
"There was blood in the campaign, call it “soul” if you will, or passion, or belief. Whatever you want to call it, the campaign had a heart and it had momentum. It was old fashioned street politics with a real person talking directly to real people about how they felt and how their lives were going.
"In many ways the campaign was much less than technically perfect, but it was tough, real and authentic. And at no stage did we take the electorate or their vote for granted. And they felt that. And the resulting victory was the best and sweetest I have ever tasted."
Any other newly-elected MPs who would like to share the story of how they gained their seat with ConHome readers should email me as I would be delighted to publish more success stories like this.
Jonathan Isaby
