This series of posts (#Leggatts2018) is based on my reflections after standing for the Liberal Democrats in Leggatts in the May 2018 Watford Borough Council Elections.
TL;DR
Politics is messy, complicated and uncertain
Politics is a bit like football
Uncertainty can be good (even if it feels uncomfortable)
Candidacy
I was the Liberal Democrats Leggatts Candidate in the May 2018 Watford Borough Council Elections. I stood primarily because I’m a passionate liberal. I believe that all humans have equal value, that communities are better when they work together, and that individuals should be free. (Liberty, Equality, Community). This was a fantastic opportunity to fight for those values and to give back to the community in which I live.
Politics is messy, complicated and uncertain
I think from the outside, it’s easy to assume that political organisations are slick, professional and deliberate. We might imagine all politics is like a US presidential election – with small armies of data scientists – feeding highly paid PR consultants – to create word perfect messaging – distributed to masses of journalists and flashing cameras…
I wasn’t totally naive to politics before standing. I’ve been a Lib Dem for over 10 years. I was a local party activist (in Exeter) prior to the coalition government, and I’ve been back involved since moving to Watford.
I was however surprised by the lack of certainty being the candidate in the campaign. Focus and messaging was dynamic. Direction and guidance was always friendly, mostly positive, sometimes conflicting, but rarely consistent.
This has been helpful for me to learn something about myself. I already knew that I preferred to be leading or following: ‘In control or in a plan’. I wasn’t totally ‘in control’: because I had to align with the party. And I wasn’t totally ‘in a plan’: because the plan was fluid and dynamic.
Ultimately, what I learnt is that too much change makes me feel ‘out of control’ – and when this happened I found it to be uncomfortable.
Politics is a bit like football
The best analogy I’ve heard about this was shared with me by my good friend Ralph comparing political parties to football teams.
A party leader is a lot like a team manager. And individual politicians are like players. Voters are like fans. And the club staff are like the party volunteers and activists.
The Manager / Party Leader
The manager tries to set out the game plan – to position players and set out how to achieve success. The manager can’t control the fundamental rules of the game or the realities on the ground. During the heat of the game none of her players will really listen to the manager. They will just chase and react to the ball. The Manager will stand on the side lines and shout – and occasionally the camera will pan to them pacing around their small white box. But ultimately, when the game starts, it is up to the players to coordinate with each other, to play to the crowd and to win.
The Players / Politicians
Some of the players will score own goals. Some will hog the ball and try and do it alone. Some will get into weirdly specific grudge matches with other players. Ultimately, the players have to thrive in an inherently uncertain fast paced and constantly changing game. There are strategies and positions. There are relatively safe sets and relatively stressful positions. But when it comes down to it, there is no escaping that the game/election is uncertain and dynamic.
The Fans / Voters
Aside from the occasional streaker, the fans don’t get directly involved in play. But the environment the fans create will have a huge impact on the game. The fans create the pressure which influences everything from player performance, to the biases of the referee. Without the fans there is no football – and yet the fans have the least influence on the game. It takes enormous coordinated and persistent effort for the fans of a club to change the decisions of the club’s owners – and usually the only change that can be driven is a change of manager.
It’s also worth noting that although lots of people like football, a lot of people don’t. Maybe half of the population will follow the leagues but very small segment of the population will turn up to matches.
Club staff / volunteers and activists
An important thing I’ve been thinking about, is that there are roles in both political parties and football teams. The nutritionist has a plan – and individual matches don’t really disturb that plan. If the other team score a goal, the manager and the players will be thinking through the strategy of their team and the other team, how to change and adapt, how to respond before the end of the match. The nutritionist will care about all this, and will likely have opinions – but each player’s nutrition plans are unlikely to change.
This isn’t me declaring myself out from trying to get voted in as a politician. I guess I’m just recognising in the same way many aspiring footballers fail to make it professional but still follow their love of the game by becoming sports physiotherapists and nutritionists, I wasn’t elected as a politician but I can still follow my love of humanity and politics by continuing as a political activist. And hopefully in the future I’ll get another shot!
Uncertainty can be good (even if it feels uncomfortable)
Through the experience of running, I noticed that some people thrive on uncertainty. If things can change easily, that allows for mistakes and trial and error. If things are allowed to change nothing needs to be perfect it just needs to be good enough to last until the next change.
Additionally, a more fluid plan will offer an individual more ability to influence. Suggestions and decisions can be made with much less anxiety about being held to account. If you know things are changing a lot you only need to offer advice that’s relevant for that given moment.
I would also couple the utility of uncertainty with the increasing significance of digital campaigning. With a digital campaign it is relatively cheap and quick to put out a set of messages, assess the performance of each message and then do more of the better performing messages. I’ve learnt an awful lot from my friend Rob Blackie who has written extensively on digital strategy. Check out his site here: robblackie.com