Election 2015: campaign news

I would never criticise anyone who stands for parliament.

Single issue candidates rarely succeed however so I wasn't surprised by the fate that befell Vapers In Power who put forward two candidates, one in Kingswood (Bristol), the other in Barnsley East.

In Kingswood VIP's Liam Bryan came eighth out of eight candidates. He got 49 votes (0.1%) and was beaten by the British National Party (164) and the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (84) among others. The seat was won by the Conservatives' Chris Skidmore.

In Barnsley East Billy Marsden did slightly better. He also came eighth out of eight candidates but he got 103 votes and a slightly larger share of the vote (0.3%). Other candidates included Yorkshire First (647), English Democrats (440) and TUSC (364). The seat however was won by Labour's Michael Dugher.

I admire Liam and Billy for giving it a go but standing for election to promote a single issue is destined for failure because the target audience is insufficiently defined. In short, it's too big.

But don't take it from me. Listen to Lynton Crosby:

"At its absolute simplest, a campaign is simply finding out who will decide the outcome … where are they, what matters to them, and how do you reach them?"

I'll let you draw your own conclusions but for me it's invaluable advice. Thanks, Lynton!