Archive for party political broadcast
Susan Kramer for Mayor of London – the 2000 party political broadcast
Back in 2000, Susan Kramer was the first (and in many ways most successful) Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London. Here is her party political broadcast from that campaign, featuring several familiar faces including a young Mike Tuffrey and also Susan’s husband, John, who died tragically early in 2006: Also available on YouTube here, [...]
Five of the best political adverts: Britain deserves better
This week we’re running a series featuring five of the most effective political adverts. After looking at the US and Australia, today it is back to the UK and the 1997 general election campaign: Yesterday’s Australian advert, It’s Time, looked as much like a music video as a political advert. Music too played a major [...]
The other John Cleese party political broadcast
John Cleese made one of the most famous party political broadcasts with his 1980s effort on proportional representation. As with many sequels, his 1997 effort was not as good as the original but it’s still a pretty good affair: (Also available on YouTube here.) For my other posts on party political broadcasts, including more clips, [...]
A Fresh Start that failed: William Hague
The first Conservative party political broadcast after William Hague’s election as party leader in late 1997 has all the right basic elements but, much like his leadership, didn’t quite work: Also available on YouTube here. (For my other posts on party political broadcasts, including move clips, see my Party Political Broadcasts page.)
Paddy Ashdown: the movie
A conscious echo of the very successful Neil Kinnock party political broadcast from 1987, this 1997 Liberal Democrat effort was good even if understandably not mould-breaking in the way of the 1987 one: Also available on YouTube here. (For my other posts on party political broadcasts, including move clips, see my Party Political Broadcasts page.)
The most powerful party political broadcast I've seen broadcast live
Although it isn’t a Liberal Democrat (or Alliance, SDP or Liberal) party election broadcast, this is the one that had the biggest immediate impact on me when I saw it. It’s a tremendously well put together piece, using music in a powerful and ironic way (at a time when Labour was trying to wrest the [...]
New Labour, New Danger: the largely forgotten TV film
The so-called “Tony Blair Demon eyes” Conservative billboard poster from the 1990s has a well-established place in the history of British political advertising – high profile, criticised by many leading Church figures, ruled unacceptable by the Advertising Standards Authority, often derided as ineffective yet given an ad-industry award (for more on all of which, see [...]
Closing tax loopholes: Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie star in Labour broadcast
Today’s little something from the political archives is a Labour Party political broadcast from 1993, back when Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie were young and Labour was attacking a Conservative government for leaving too many tax loopholes open for the very rich. As it turned out, when Labour got into power they closed the loopholes [...]
Liberal Party election broadcast, February 1974
A little something from the archives to enjoy. It’s from the February 1974 election which, although now very much history, is still an election whose impact on the political system is felt. Look at the proportion of votes and seats won by Labour and Tories since the 1930s and there are two big downward lurches [...]
John Cleese on proportional representation
In the 1980s John Cleese recorded a famous party political broadcast for the Liberal/SDP Alliance about the merits of proportional representation. Courtesy of YouTube and a US electoral reform group, here it is: You may also note that it was back from when party political broadcasts (PPBs) could last up to 10 minutes and usually [...]
