Let’s have no more headline grabbing from Labour candidates before polling day

Having been a parliamentary candidate and an Agent in a run of General Elections I thought I’d offer my free advice to this year’s candidates on the thorny subject of dealing with the media during the remaining, most intensive part of the campaign.

It is fairly simple and straightforward:

1) The media are looking for three types of stories during the campaign: human interest ones if you happen to be a particularly interesting human being who has done something noteworthy in life outside politics (think Menzies Campbell having run in the Olympics, or Dan Jarvis’ military career); scandals if you happen to have particularly interesting personal or financial skeletons in your closet; and splits within Labour on policy or political strategy.

2) There is absolutely no chance, unless you are a member of the Shadow Cabinet, that any national journalist wants to write anything positive about your views on policies or strategy. The only reason they would solicit your views on either is to run a story claiming Labour is split or harbours cranks or extremists among its candidates. So unless you want Labour to lose votes, save your opinions on our manifesto, our strategy in the event of a hung parliament, or the merits of our current or former leaders, for after the election.

3) Any appearance you make in the national media is on balance unlikely to help you in your specific constituency. So if a national story about you is likely to harm Labour, try to stay out of the media. If it is likely to help Labour, ask Labour’s press team to help you get it into the media. I did this in 2005 when I was running in Castle Point and my Tory opponent published adverts with the racist slogan “send them back”. Exposing  this didn’t help my campaign locally but the national party asked me to get coverage nationally as they judged it would help in more marginal seats. Basically don’t freelance on national coverage, check with the press office and let them decide whether your story is helpful.

4) Your job definitely is to be appearing in interesting stories in every edition of your constituency’s local newspapers. That means saying interesting things about the local issues people in your seat care about, not grandstanding by trying to differentiate yourself from the party on national issues where they will in any case judge you on the national campaign and manifesto.

5) These days, putting something on Twitter if you are a parliamentary candidate is identical to giving a press conference to every national journalist.

6) And giving interviews to student journalists is the same as giving an interview to a real newspaper – the students are all looking for the scoop that will get them a job.

So when I see a backbench MP sounding off about the dystopian (and anti-democratic and politically suicidal) idea of a grand coalition between Labour and the Tories, I think, did they check with a press officer whether this would be helpful? Something tells me not.

And when I see three candidates going public that they won’t be accepting a donation from Tony Blair, thereby reopening every story of a split from the last twenty years, imperilling Labour’s precious and fragile unity, and casting an implicit aspersion on the morality of the 103 candidates who did accept Blair’s money, I think, did they check with a press officer whether this would be helpful? Something tells me not.

But when I see Naz Shah in Bradford West tell a really beautiful story about her incredible life story of struggle and hardship on International Women’s Day, I think there is a candidate who has actually taken some advice about how they can give the media a story that both helps them in their constituency and shows the country about Labour’s diversity and its purpose as the party fighting for justice and equality.

It is tough being a candidate. There are no shortcuts to victory, just hours and hours of tough slog on the doorstep. In one sense it is all about you, because no one else can provide the leadership and inspire the trust needed to win. But there is a responsibility not to get carried away and think “it’s all about me” and that you are a Lone Ranger who must win at any cost to the wider campaign and your fellow candidates in other seats, and that your opinions on contentious issues are so important they need to be shared with the nation. The risk is that you will make it “all about you” in all the wrong ways, and some carefully planned policy launch or speech nationally will be knocked off the headlines by your thinking out loud being presented as a “Labour split”.

Please let’s have no more headline grabbing from Labour candidates between now and Polling Day. The same goes for any retiring MPs in East Coast fishing ports with colourful turns of phrase and a liking for publicity. It’s not all about you as an individual, it’s about the Labour Party, our unity, our members, our voters, our manifesto, our team working as a team. To quote Attlee to the rent-a-quote Laski in 1945 “a period of silence on your part would be welcome”.