Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

[Silver Bear]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

Any historian of politics cannot miss how the BNP transformed themselves from a fringe party with a couple of hundred members in 1996 into a serious political force in 2010 with two MEPs and a strong showing in the general election.

They sort of ... rose without trace, in the sense that they didn't 'do' anything with their MEPs and Council seats. Unlike the Liberals in the 70s, they didn't get into community politics in a big way. They had only one idea (race and immigration) and that didn't translate into practical policies. I suppose the current emphasis on the 'white working class' is a lasting legacy, taken up by Ukip and the Brexiteers. Last time I looked - and I admit that I see this through an urban and specifically London lens - the working class was not just white, but very likely to be black or mixed race. In fact many working class areas are far more multi-ethnic than middle-class suburbs.

BTW, I have always wondered if Nick Griffin is really an obese woman dressed as a man. He looked a bit 'non-binary' and had a high-pitched voice with a slight nasal twang: in fact he was an almost exact soundalike for Caroline Wyatt, who used to be the BBC's Defence and then Religious Affairs correspondent.

[Richard1978]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

Any historian of politics cannot miss how the BNP transformed themselves from a fringe party with a couple of hundred members in 1996 into a serious political force in 2010 with two MEPs and a strong showing in the general election.

Though almost straight after UKIP stole their ideas, & now the Tories have borrowed from UKIP, though it's not worked as well as they hoped.

It's as I mentioned before the fringe parties can get a boost if they push an idea the main parties won't touch, but hen they do the fringe ones fade away.

[Arran]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

We are far less well-informed than we were in the 70s and 80s because much of the mass media is dominated by Z-list celeb culture and general blandness. There is a culture of PC hysteria which all of the political parties are part of - and we are all lumped into groups based on acronyms rather than treated as individuals. There there is the snowflake culture where everyone is constantly 'offended' by the least thing. The result is that even ordinary conversation is going to become a daring adventure. Who needs dictatorship when you can have political correctness and dumbing-down?

... Usually laugh at all the PC drivel, but stepping back I realise that it's actually not funny but quite scary. ...

I disagree with this. The internet has enabled parties from outside of the Lib-Lab-Con establishment to cut through the media blackout that they faced in the 20th century. It has strongly contributed to the successes of the Green Party, UKIP, and the BNP.

Any historian of politics cannot miss how the BNP transformed themselves from a fringe party with a couple of hundred members in 1996 into a serious political force in 2010 with two MEPs and a strong showing in the general election.

[Richard1978]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

We are far less well-informed than we were in the 70s and 80s because much of the mass media is dominated by Z-list celeb culture and general blandness. There is a culture of PC hysteria which all of the political parties are part of - and we are all lumped into groups based on acronyms rather than treated as individuals. There there is the snowflake culture where everyone is constantly 'offended' by the least thing. The result is that even ordinary conversation is going to become a daring adventure. Who needs dictatorship when you can have political correctness and dumbing-down?

... Usually laugh at all the PC drivel, but stepping back I realise that it's actually not funny but quite scary. ...

It's what happens if you let the right wing media get out of control, nearly 40 years of the tail wagging the dog.

[Richard1978]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

I find it hard to understand the cult of Jeremy Corbyn. He's a dreary little man with a whiny, droning voice and a bureaucratic, extreme politically correct mentality. He wants everyone to be 'equal' under the state - equally poor, stupid and mediocre, that is. His Shadow Cabinet is 'gender balanced' and that tells you all you need to know: he doesn't even appoint people on merit.

There probably be would be British 'boat people' if he got in.

Many people are fed up with a Tory government who treats anyone with less than mid 5 figure income with complete contempt, especially as they led the right wing media dictate too much too them, along with too many working class "goons" who are fooled into voting against their best interests by playing the race card.

At the moment Labour are the only choice, & with a more centre ground leader they would well ahead in the polls,

[Silver Bear]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

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This is exactly right and highly relevant to the above discussion.

[Silver Bear]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

I agree that 'characters' or 'eccentrics' seem to have no place in modern politics, nor does anyone who expresses opinions that stray even ever so slightly outside what is deemed 'acceptable'. In my memory, politicians have never been so tiresomely bland and afraid to say what they really think. It is a consequence of 24-hour news and endless analysis. The media--print, TV, social etc--paints everything as either the worst thing that has ever happened or the best thing since sliced bread. Every word, every action is scrutinised in an attempt to fill the papers or airwaves. And are we better informed now than when news occupied a far smaller slice of airtime and we didn't have things like 'Twitterstorms'?

We are far less well-informed than we were in the 70s and 80s because much of the mass media is dominated by Z-list celeb culture and general blandness. There is a culture of PC hysteria which all of the political parties are part of - and we are all lumped into groups based on acronyms rather than treated as individuals. There there is the snowflake culture where everyone is constantly 'offended' by the least thing. The result is that even ordinary conversation is going to become a daring adventure. Who needs dictatorship when you can have political correctness and dumbing-down?

... Usually laugh at all the PC drivel, but stepping back I realise that it's actually not funny but quite scary. ...

[Silver Bear]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

????????

I was thinking back in 2015 that England was moving from a 2 1/2 party system to a 2 + 2 party system. In recent years there had also been victories and strong performances from candidates outside of the establishment.

More recently England has moved closer to a 2 party system because of Jeremy Corbyn and a large fall in support for UKIP following the EU referendum.

I find it hard to understand the cult of Jeremy Corbyn. He's a dreary little man with a whiny, droning voice and a bureaucratic, extreme politically correct mentality. He wants everyone to be 'equal' under the state - equally poor, stupid and mediocre, that is. His Shadow Cabinet is 'gender balanced' and that tells you all you need to know: he doesn't even appoint people on merit.

There probably be would be British 'boat people' if he got in.

[staffslad]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

I agree that 'characters' or 'eccentrics' seem to have no place in modern politics, nor does anyone who expresses opinions that stray even ever so slightly outside what is deemed 'acceptable'. In my memory, politicians have never been so tiresomely bland and afraid to say what they really think. It is a consequence of 24-hour news and endless analysis. The media--print, TV, social etc--paints everything as either the worst thing that has ever happened or the best thing since sliced bread. Every word, every action is scrutinised in an attempt to fill the papers or airwaves. And are we better informed now than when news occupied a far smaller slice of airtime and we didn't have things like 'Twitterstorms'?

[Arran]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

It’s a pity we have so few ‘characters’ standing for election. We now seem to have the bland leading the bland.

????????

I was thinking back in 2015 that England was moving from a 2 1/2 party system to a 2 + 2 party system. In recent years there had also been victories and strong performances from candidates outside of the establishment.

More recently England has moved closer to a 2 party system because of Jeremy Corbyn and a large fall in support for UKIP following the EU referendum.

[Silver Bear]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

It’s a pity we have so few ‘characters’ standing for election. We now seem to have the bland leading the bland.

[Silver Bear]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

The ‘Literal Democrat’ (Richard Huggett) won a substantial vote in Winchester in 1997, but then there was a re-run which the Fib Dems won by a landslide.

The Liberal Party came third in Liverpool West Derby this year with the Fib Dem in third place.

[Silver Bear]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

In bygone decades ballot slips did not list the names of the parties. Just the names of the candidates. Therefore if you wanted to vote Conservative in Wolverhampton South West then you had to know that the name of the candidate was John Enoch Powell.

I think some Australian states still only have the name and not the party. In India, the party symbol is important because there is still a relatively low literacy rate.

J. Enoch Powell ended up as an ‘Official Unionist’. I don’t agree with some of the things he said because black music and black culture (Afro-Caribbean and African) have made a great contribution to Britain. So have the Chinese. But to call him a ‘racist’ is simple-minded.

[Arran]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

It's noteworthy that the election deposit has remained constant at £500 since 1987 and has not been adjusted inline with inflation. It is returned to candidates who manage to win at least 5% of the vote. Before 1987 the election deposit was £100 but it was only returned to candidates who managed to win at least 12.5% of the vote.

[George 1978]

Re: Eccentric election candidates/political parties in the 70s/80s

In bygone decades ballot slips did not list the names of the parties. Just the names of the candidates. Therefore if you wanted to vote Conservative in Wolverhampton South West then you had to know that the name of the candidate was John Enoch Powell.

As a matter of fact, candidates' descriptions can often give too much information these days to a voter. I noticed in a few recent elections that not only the full names of candidates are listed, but their home addresses as well - perhaps it is a bit too much personal information to list on a ballot paper. However, candidates can opt out and have "address in Cities of London and Westminster constituency" or something like that, and you can tell whether they are based in the same constituency that they are standing in, or not. I recall one candidate had given her address as being in Belgium - now we are leaving the EU, I assume that living so far away would not be as straightforward in the near future as it would have been when she stood as a candidate.