Mark Pack » party political broadcast

Susan Kramer for Mayor of London – the 2000 party political broadcast

Mark Pack — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 16:15:43 +0000

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, and for a young Lembit Opik see here.

Thanks to Pete Dollimore and Rob Fenwick for their help in rescuing this footage from an old video tape.

Five of the best political adverts: Britain deserves better

Mark Pack — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 10:25:58 +0000

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 role in one of the UK Labour Party’s 1997 general election broadcasts, and the most powerful of all the ones I’ve seen ‘live’ at the time of broadcast.

As in the Australian Labor Party’s case, Labour too had been out of power for a long time – 18 years this time – and also faced an incumbent government that many felt had passed its sell-by date. The genius of the Labour ’97 effort was to put together ingredients which usually featured in Conservative broadcasts – patriotic music, Union Jacks, Conservative ministers, celebrating Conservative members – and turn them into a devastating attack, raising fears of what another term of Conservative government might do.

As I noted in my previous blog post about this broadcast, watch out for the very different way in which Ken Clarke was viewed then compared with now:

(Also available on YouTube here.)

You can see all the posts in this series on our Political Ads page – and scroll to the bottom of that page for Luis Fishman’s classic. The stretch from 7 seconds in until 22 seconds in is fairly normal. But as for the rest…

The other John Cleese party political broadcast

Mark Pack — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 09:20:23 +0000

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, see my Party Political Broadcasts page.

A Fresh Start that failed: William Hague

Mark Pack — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 09:20:27 +0000

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

Mark Pack — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 09:20:25 +0000

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

Mark Pack — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 08:20:09 +0000

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 reputation of being the patriotic party from the Conservatives) and built around showing the viewer the leading figures of another party celebrating at their own party conference. Showcasing your opponents in this way doesn’t usually work, but they were unusual political times. The broadcast’s impact will, I suspect, be much less now for people who didn’t live through the politics of that era, though even so it helps explain some of the very strong emotional reactions to political events since the 2010 general election.

When watching, keep an eye out for how Ken Clarke used to be a high profile unpopular Conservative cabinet minister. Repeatedly losing the Conservative Party leadership, but doing so with grace and humility and without in-between times plotting, has helped transform his public character in the intervening years.

Also available on YouTube here.

(For my other posts on party political broadcasts, including move clips, see my Party Political Broadcasts page.)

New Labour, New Danger: the largely forgotten TV film

Mark Pack — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 08:20:38 +0000

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 this Guardian report and the image here.)

That poster was only one part of a wider “New Labour, New Danger” publicity campaign, which also included this party political broadcast from late 1996:

(Also available on YouTube here.)

For my other posts on party political broadcasts, including more clips, see my Party Political Broadcasts page.

Closing tax loopholes: Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie star in Labour broadcast

Mark Pack — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 08:27:10 +0000

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 mentioned in this broadcast but left plenty others:

Liberal Party election broadcast, February 1974

Mark Pack — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 08:26:42 +0000

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 – first in vote share in February 1974 and then in seat numbers in 1997. For all the ups and downs of the Liberal Democrats and predecessor parties since each of those lurches, not to mention also the nationalist and other parties, neither February 1974 nor 1997 has been rolled back. Each of those major dents in our old two-party system have stayed with us.

So here is a small part of how the February 1974 dent was made complete with unabashed celebrity endorsements and a positive reference to the Bible (has there been any party political broadcast since with such a reference?):

John Cleese on proportional representation

Mark Pack — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:50:13 +0000

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 did. As John Cleese demonstrates, when done well the full 10 minute format could let an issue be explained and argued in detail without becoming boring. It also gives us even longer to enjoy John Cleese’s jumper.