Campaigning in Australia is different than it is in the UK. With voting compulsory, there’s no need to mount a dawn raid and GOTV campaign and if you asked someone their voting intention and to then scale that 1 to 10, well, let’s just say the answer would be unprintable. But even though some things are quite different, there are two strategies which the Liberals deploy in target and marginal seats, and which the Conservatives could adapt in 2029.
The first thing is candidate selection. It seems pretty obvious but it matters. Especially when you consider that all the Liberal Democrats’ gains in England and Wales were wins over Conservative MPs and candidates, and they do incumbency well. The second thing is all about being a visible, local champion, whether you’re a candidate or incumbent MP.
The candidates list was something of an enigma to me when I first moved to London. I suspect to many it still is. Vetting candidates is important and having a clear process to do that makes sense; but, is having a predetermined list of acceptable candidates the best way to win marginal seats? I doubt any Tory is under any illusion about the challenge the party faces in 2029, but the fightback begins with thinking about what kind of parliament we want, and who do we want in it.
Too often we see perfect cookie-cutter candidates who’ve passed muster with CCHQ and have joined every Conservative friendship group under the sun parachuted into a winnable, target seat. The Conservative Parliamentary Party should be as diverse as and representative of the communities its members serve.
Whoever wins the current leadership battle will be under pressure to set out a strategy to improve the party’s fortunes in 2029. While necessarily that will include the direction of the party – more conservative or more One Nation – so too must it include a strategy to win target seats beyond spending money on more deliveries and collecting VIs.
Where we lost seats there are Conservative Associations, councillors, and activists. They know their communities like the back of their hands. Given that boundaries aren’t going to change, local parties in the top 100 most winnable seats should be given the imprimatur to start looking in their local community for a local champion.
This might be a local councillor, but it could also be a parent who’s been an advocate for the local school, or a local small business owner. Crucially these are all people with a credible – and genuine- local connection. It simply is not fathomable in Australia that a candidate in a genuinely winnable seat wouldn’t be a local.
It’s not just how candidates are chosen, though, that’s different. When I first joined my local association I suggested some different campaign ideas based on what we do in Australia because I thought my local MP could go above and beyond. I remember being told that they were a great MPs and their surgeries were cited as an example.
How many times have you gone doorknocking on a Saturday morning only to find nobody is at home? What is the percentage of constituents who come through an MP’s surgery?
What’s missing in all of this is actual interaction with voters on the issues that matter to them. In Australia, MPs host what are termed “mobile offices” where they set up tables and chairs at a local shopping centre, coffee shop, or park. Sometimes people stop, sometimes they don’t. What they do see is their MP or candidate out there, going to them. This shouldn’t just be something by MPs in marginal seats, but also candidates in target seats. Where we have Conservative councillors, they should be joint.
While the temptation is to solely focus on VIs, these are an opportunity to understand the issues that local voters care about, in a way that a canvasser asking for VI on a scale of 1 to 10
The long road back to government is pathed with many different solutions and moments along the way, but a new approach to selecting local champions who engage on local issues should be part of the journey.
