Imagine what it’s like to be a Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate – tasked with leading and motivating a group of diverse volunteers against all the odds, and organising foot-slogging campaigns on a shoe-string budget that will get you and the party noticed.

Lib Dem Voice contacted a dozen PPCs to find out what they really think about the experience. We guaranteed anonymity to ensure those responding felt able to say what they think, and not simply stick to the obligatory it’s-such-a-privilege line. Of the 12, seven are men and five women, and they include one ethnic minority candidate. The constituencies they hope to represent range from the south to the north, and include Lib Dem marginals and ‘no hope’ seats.

In today’s fifth instalment of The PPC Files, our ‘golden dozen’ tell us how being a Lib Dem PPC has affected their careers.

Increased stress for sure, but a positive endorsement for level of ability to have been selected as PPC.

It’s like having another job, so I work part-time. Consequently, I estimate that it costs me at least £40k a year in lost earnings, and put my career back about 3-4 years (which actually means the lost earnings are rather greater). On top of that, I haven’t been able to put aside enough money to buy a house. You have to accept all this if you’re going to be a PPC, but perhaps some greater recognition of the sacrifices that some PPCs make is overdue, particularly for women PPCs.

I used to have a full-time, well paid job, and now I work three days a week to subsidise the fours days a week I spend campaigning. Any candidate who wants to win can forget about a work-life-politics balance.

My career is on hold

Big time! I have been ‘offered’ two jobs both of which were withdrawn once I made clear the extent of my campaigning activities and the need for time off for the General Election etc/ I work for a University now which is probably the only employer that would allow such flexibility.
I also spend all of my time thinking about my campaign and what I need to do and when I need to do it by. Therefore it stands to reason that I don’t invest as much energy into my job as I would like to. So I don’t go that extra mile, I don’t work late in the office (I go resident surveying instead) I don’t make that crucial contact, I don’t go to the networking events, I’m not scanning the job adverts. I’m far less likely to be promoted internally or have the time or inclination to apply for a promotion. Nor would “losing candidate in a General Election” really enhance my CV. It is win or bust for PPCs in my opinion. Warning: being a PPC will SERIOUSLY damage your career prospects!!

Not much, since I only have part-time commitments otherwise and can control my allocation of time. I suppose it has reduced my income a bit, but I worked out with my wife in advance whether this was within tolerable limits.

There is no doubt that being a PPC has significantly impacted on my earnings potential. I have been a PPC in a development seat and then target seat continuously for six years and in that time I have been unable to move from my current job despite numerous attempts to do so. And the biggest single factor that is affecting my employment is the fact that I am a Parliamentary Candidate. I have had would-be employers ask in detail how much time being a PPC takes, what happens if an election is called, what my prospects for elections are etc. I know that all else being equal, I won’t be offered the job because the political activity is a distraction from my professional work. I don’t believe that it is party political it is just the way it is in a competitive jobs marketplace. And the other side of the coin is that if I did not remain in my present, relatively low paid and local job, there is no way that I could manage the political work that I can. If I had to work longer hours or commute any distance, it would be impossible to keep up.

Yes. I’ve lost promotion, have gone for a career route that was more flexible, but this has meant less pay and less opportunity. I’m also paying less into my pension than I want because of my high levels of contribution to my local party.

I left my job before the last general election to concentrate on my campaign. Since then I have worked freelance. It has worked out quite well, but would have been an unreasonable step to take had I had family dependents to consider.

Adversely. That is, I’m pretty certain that I would have advanced further, career-wise (and in particular would have enjoyed greater job security), had I not become a PPC. My occasional professional habit of sailing rather close to the wind in respect of deadlines is largely down to time pressures connected with my PPCship. However: there is a positive feedback between being a PPC and certain aspects of my job (confidence in public speaking and more generally, for example); and it has (I hope!) been possible to achieve a situation where, should a parliamentary career cease to be an option, my paying career remains viable. I think this is a bare minimum which a PPC should be able to expect.

I chose my career for my politics. I am a solicitor. I am open about standing. I have not been able to apply for some jobs and have been refused contracts because of my political involvement. I have given up full time work for the party. However the training I have received as a PPC has been invaluable and transferable into the work place and now my own business.

In the sixth and final part of The PPC Files (tomorrow): What are the three best things about being a Lib Dem PPC?

The PPC Files (1): What are the three worst things about being a Lib Dem PPC?
The PPC Files (2): What do you wish you’d known before you became a Lib Dem parliamentary candidate?
The PPC Files (3): What do your family and friends think about your decision to run for Parliament?
The PPC Files (4): What’s different about being a Lib Dem PPC compared to being a Labour/Tory PPC?

Imagine what it’s like to be a Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate – tasked with leading and motivating a group of diverse volunteers against all the odds, and organising foot-slogging campaigns on a shoe-string budget that will get you and the party noticed.

Lib Dem Voice contacted a dozen PPCs to find out what they really think about the experience. We guaranteed anonymity to ensure those responding felt able to say what they think, and not simply stick to the obligatory it’s-such-a-privilege line. Of the 12, seven are men and five women, and they include one ethnic minority candidate. The constituencies they hope to represent range from the south to the north, and include Lib Dem marginals and ‘no hope’ seats.

In today’s fourth instalment of The PPC Files, our ‘golden dozen’ tell us what they think is different about being a Lib Dem PPC compared to running for Parliament as a Labour or Tory PPC.

No money and it is a DIY campaign. I doubt there are many Labour and Tory PPCs who are able to say the have a intimate knowledge of risos, folding machines and stuffing machines. With the Lib Dems you experience the true grit of campaigning and experience real politics which is on the pavement with the voters.

Hard to say, never having been a PPC for another party! I think , despite what I said above about the pressures from the party hierarchy, that Lib Dem PPCs are on a looser leash, by and large, than Tory or Labour. This could be seen as a good thing (allows more room for individuals to work in their own preferred way) or a bad thing (can lead to a sense of isolation/lack of support).

The only way for us to win is to work our constituencies intensly. Our party presents its candidates to the media and public and super-councillors, and does not promote or use them for their wider interests, experience or attributes. The Tories appear to have started doing this a lot more recently.

We never, ever take a seat for granted. We know we have to work hard for every vote, and I think that often makes us more engaged with the issues that are key to people in our areas.

I think generally, Tory and Labour campaigners are better funded – certainly in winnable seats – and have more flexibility to campaign full or part time. Certainly they have better professional support because they have more cash to through at the situation. It is perhaps an unfair generalisation, but I think a lot of Tory candidates are personally financially better off and can commit more time and personal cash to their campaigns. It is frustrating that local voters tell me they want an ordinary person to represent them, someone who is really in touch with real life, but it is difficult to be an effective candidate without personal financial strength.

Lib Dem MPs are generally very good at providing support to PPC’s if they possibly can: they have not forgotten the long hard slog to get into parliament, and mostly love campaigning.
Lib Dem PPC’s probably get heard more often in the process of policy-making than do PPC’s in larger parties. (It will be interesting to see whether this changes as the number of Lib Dem MP’s increases.)
There is considerably less of an issue with personal status in the Lib Dems. It is very impressive how responsive MP’s and Cowley St are to direct approaches.
However, if you are not in a held or target seat (or one with a by-election), the amount of money coming to your constituency is miserably small.

Well we are on the side of righteousness! Seriously, I think we have to lead a lot more from the front. There is far less financial support and so less paid staff and so consequently you are spending a lot of your time persuading volunteers why they should spend cold winter evenings delivering leaflets to get you elected. Labour/Tory PPCs have much more of an infrastructure around them. We have to be more innovative running our campaigns.
We also have less media profile and so have to rely on getting our message across through our literature and finding alternative ways of raising your profile. We are also more at the mercy of events. We all know that plenty of undistinguished Labour PPCs got elected in 1997 simply on the back of the national swing. I suspect many Tory PPCs will enjoy similar good fortune in 2010. Lib Dem PPCs know that they will have to earn it and are very unlikely to win any seats on national swings.

You have no legacy problems or issues, but you have a credibility gap to cross which can be very difficult and draining - you need to work twice or three times as hard as they do. We have no ’safe’ seats.

No idea!

i) Having a strong intellectual tradition that you can call on; ii) having many fewer resources to call on; and iii) never taking anything for granted.

1. No baggage of failure of policies and government
2. Power of alternative options for voters
3. People will see it as a tokenistic role as they will assume no real possibility of winning

In part 5 of The PPC Files (tomorrow): How has becoming a PPC affected your career?

The PPC Files (1): What are the three worst things about being a Lib Dem PPC?
The PPC Files (2): What do you wish you’d known before you became a Lib Dem parliamentary candidate?
The PPC Files (3): What do your family and friends think about your decision to run for Parliament?

Imagine what it’s like to be a Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate – tasked with leading and motivating a group of diverse volunteers against all the odds, and organising foot-slogging campaigns on a shoe-string budget that will get you and the party noticed.

Lib Dem Voice contacted a dozen PPCs to find out what they really think about the experience. We guaranteed anonymity to ensure those responding felt able to say what they think, and not simply stick to the obligatory it’s-such-a-privilege line. Of the 12, seven are men and five women, and they include one ethnic minority candidate. The constituencies they hope to represent range from the south to the north, and include Lib Dem marginals and ‘no hope’ seats.

In today’s third instalment of The PPC Files, our ‘golden dozen’ tell us what their family and friends think of their decision to run for Parliament:

Delighted when my children were able to Google my name and proud to tell their friends their mum has been in the paper or TV.
Well done! is the comment from all professional colleagues.

Well… when I first told my Dad, there was this long silence on the other end of the phone, after which he said “I’ve never really thought much of politicians.” Has come down and campaigned for me in each general election, however. The rest of my family have thought it really interesting. My friends think it’s odd and don’t really understand the commitments and efforts involved.

Most of my friends understand the pressures and what I am trying to do, but sometimes it feels like my family think it’s some quaint little hobby that has got totally out of control.

They think it’s crazy - they don’t understand it.

They are very supportive, although it is a strain on family life. I work full-time and am also out 3-5 nights a week and spend some of every Saturday and Sunday doing Lib Dem/campaign related activity. My employer is very supportive (I work flexible hours and work five days in four so that I have one day on the campaign) but it is a tough schedule. The consequence of this is that I work, campaign and spend time with my family….that’s it. I have no social life outside of this, I’ve stopped playing football, going to the cinema, going for drinks after work, visiting friends around the country. I’m NOT complaining because it is my choice, but if you want to win then this is the way it has to be.

Very supportive. I would not have gone for it if they felt otherwise.

I have been politically active for a long time – around 20 years (and I’m only 35 so still perceived as being young by some!) - but I think it is fair that most of my family still think I should get a proper job, even though I have one. My friends are pretty supportive, even when they are politically disinterested.

I can only do this because of the 100% support of my family and friends. They all think I’m mad, but continue to support me….

My family and friends are impressed by my commitment, but frequently can’t see the sense in making it.

Most found it eccentric to some degree or other at first, although support from my immediate family has been unstinting. It’s interesting that over the years, it’s come to be accepted as part of what I am: although it’s also interesting that even quite close friends/family members (e.g. my mother!) occasionally assume that, as a politician, I’m fair game for a bit of a scolding when politicians in general are perceived to be letting the side down.

Some are very supportive; others in my extended family do not share the same politics and tend to be more right wing - they do not believe woman should be in politics or even in the work place.

In part 4 of The PPC Files (tomorrow): What’s different about being a Lib Dem PPC compared to being a Labour/Tory PPC?

The PPC Files (1): What are the three worst things about being a Lib Dem PPC?
The PPC Files (2): What do you wish you’d known before you became a Lib Dem parliamentary candidate?

Imagine what it’s like to be a Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate – tasked with leading and motivating a group of diverse volunteers against all the odds, and organising foot-slogging campaigns on a shoe-string budget that will get you and the party noticed.

Lib Dem Voice contacted a dozen PPCs to find out what they really think about the experience. We guaranteed anonymity to ensure those responding felt able to say what they think, and not simply stick to the obligatory it’s-such-a-privilege line. Of the 12, seven are men and five women, and they include one ethnic minority candidate. The constituencies they hope to represent range from the south to the north, and include Lib Dem marginals and ‘no hope’ seats.

In yesterday’s first instalment of The PPC Files, our ‘golden dozen’ told us what they felt were the three worst things about being a PPC. Today, they let us into secret of what they wished they’d known before they were selected:

Being selected as a PPC in a target seat is like making it through the foothills; getting elected is a whole new story.

A little more about the dark arts of managing difficult people within one’s own party.

That Gordon Brown was going to make this Parliament last the whole five years.

How depressingly predictable it can all be, especially fighting a development seat - not enough people, resources, and a team with hopelessly unrealistic views about how we can do!

That there is a fantastic network of ppcs throughout the country, and many of them are experiencing exactly what you are going through. That network has kept me going!

On the whole I went into it with my eyes open and cannot complain about anything. As I say to our councillors when they gripe – you did volunteer. I had the advantage of having worked for a candidate/MP and had a pretty good idea what it was about. Ultimately, you do volunteer and your time is your own to manage as you see fit.

The personal financial contributions that would be needed. I don’t know how a much younger person, or one with a young family and no personal wealth, can possibly take on being a PPC.

That Gordon Brown wasn’t going to call the election after all! How much of my money it would cost.

That I would have to put almost every other aspect of my life on the back burner to win

That the local party were looking for a miracle as well as a candidate.

How great people’s expectations of you are. My first constituency in 2001 clearly had expectations of me to lead a campaign far in excess of their own capacity to match in activity or my own ability to deliver - you’re expected to be a kind of magic bullet that will sort out the local party, increase fundraising tenfold and devote every evening to knocking on doors, regardless of the seat’s prospects.

The importance given to the status of PPC. I just went through the selection and came through the other end not knowing how difficult it can be to become selected.
The pros and cons of working with lib dem volunteers!!
The self sufficiency that’s required in the role.

In part 3 of The PPC Files (tomorrow): What do your family and friends think about your decision to run for Parliament?

Imagine what it’s like to be a Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate – tasked with leading and motivating a group of diverse volunteers against all the odds, and organising foot-slogging campaigns on a shoe-string budget that will get you and the party noticed.

Lib Dem Voice contacted a dozen PPCs to find out what they really think about the experience. We guaranteed anonymity to ensure those responding felt able to say what they think, and not simply stick to the obligatory it’s-such-a-privilege line. Of the 12, seven are men and five women, and they include one ethnic minority candidate. The constituencies they hope to represent range from the south to the north, and include Lib Dem marginals and ‘no hope’ seats.

In today’s first instalment of The PPC Files, our ‘golden dozen’ tell us the three worst things about being a Lib Dem PPC:

No time for leisure / family
Need a 48 day to balance campaigning and earning a living
Need LOTS AND LOTS of money - fundraising a huge problem

i) It’s a colossal commitment of time, emotional energy and money - the activity of the campaign across the whole constituency over time maps well to my own emotional state; ii) you rarely get personally thanked, yet you must (there is no option) exhibit boundless enthusiasm and energy; lead from the front and push from behind, and remember to be grateful to everyone who helps however useless / annoying they may be; and iii) knowing that despite having delivered five leaflets through
that door, when you knock on it they’ll claim to have never heard from you, ever.

Lots of expenses, but, err, no expenses - being a candidate is a financial black-hole.
You find you can delegate responsibility for success, but you can’t delegate blame for failure.
Helping the local party members explore and resolve their (mostly negative) feelings towards each other.

Not knowing whether any of the hard work will pay off. Internal squabbling and politics. (Understandble) fact that most members see Lib Dem campaigning as a very peripheral part of their lives.

1. Those councillors who have become too grand to care about the health of the party at its grass-roots.
2. The quantity of financial appeals from Cowley Street and the Region which members receive during the course of the year. It makes it several times more time-consuming than it should be raising additional money for the party locally.
3. The sudden squalls over quite trivial details of national policy - sometimes resulting in a rash of resignations. (Are Lib Dems peculiarly susceptible to such problems?) Lots of time and effort can be wasted getting over such episodes.

Balancing normal life with politics. I’m getting married soon, have a mortgage to pay, want to start a family and improve my career prospects. But I also want to commit every waking hour to making a difference for my community and country and to getting elected to Parliament. It is not an impossible balance, but it is not a walk in the park either.

Keeping going when the political cycle is against you. You win some, you lose some, and when the tide is against us it is difficult to keep going forward all the time, especially when local members and supporters always look to you to take a lead.

People have no idea what it is like being politically active or what it means to be a candidate. There is so much ignorance. A secondary school headteacher thought I got paid an MPs wage to be the candidate, many think the party pays for everything including your salary. When I get phoned at 10pm on a Sunday night by a resident they think its my staffed personal office rather than my home.

So many people assuming the worst motives of you.
Your own team not recognising you to be a volunteer like them.
Often feeling guilty for not spending every possible moment on the campaign.

The amount of time one needs to spend away from one’s family; the limitations imposed upon one’s ‘real’ (i.e., money-earning) career; the occasional failure of colleagues/the party hierarchy to appreciate that one can legitimately have priorities and interests beyond the party.

Not enough time or money for all the things you would like to campaign on; the cost of standing; not having enough time to do anything other than being a mother, candidate and running a business.

Juggling your life, job and candidacy; financial pressures of your campaign; always having to lead from the front and cajole people into doing more than they are comfortable with.

In Part 2 of The PPC Files (tomorrow): What do you wish you’d known before being selected as a PPC?