Political

Book review: How to win an election by Paul Richards

Paul Richard’s book How to Win an Election was published in a new edition in 2004, as was this book review in the Journal of Liberal History Issue 45.

Taken at face value, this new edition of Paul Richards’s book is a failure. The blurb promises a guide to winning elections, yet a novice reading this book will not come away with the practical skills to have a chance of winning. But if you ignore the over-eager publishing hype on the back of the book and in the press release launching it, and instead take this book as a gentle canter through the elements of modern elections, it is much more successful.

To give one simple example – a reader of the section on internet campaigning will almost certainly come away knowing that it is important and what it involves in broad terms, but having learnt almost nothing about how to actually go away and send emails or get a successful website.

The author has a long record of standing for, or organising campaigns on behalf of, the Labour party in UK elections – and as he points out, his own personal lack of success when standing is an almost irresistible item in his own biography. Yet he does have real experience to impart which helps distinguish the book from some of the abstract academic tomes covering the same area.

Although he can’t resist the occasional mindless partisan jibe, the book gives a fair wind to examples and campaigning styles from all the main UK political parties. His breezy and readable style makes his views always clear and concise. Even if the descriptions sometimes gloss over the complexities – as with his superficial comments on turnout levels – you know clearly and quickly what his views are.

The book’s eight chapters have a broad spread – from the purpose of elections to the formation of strategies to the delivery of campaigns. Paul Richards’s own particular emphasis through the book is on “permission campaigning”. This is the idea that with an often cynical and uninterested public, politicians have to work hard to get “permission” from them to engage in discussion on an issue and need then to build up a personal dialogue.

He also draws heavily on one of his previous publications – on media management – which makes that section of the book one of the few to offer detailed “how to” steps from which the reader can learn practical skills.

The book’s production qualities are variable. In its favour is good clear printing on decent paper and a spine made using proper glue – particularly important in a reference work. Counting against is the poor index, which a series of spot checks showed up to miss many items. Page 160 is also in the wrong place and a description of US primaries that states there are four types is not followed by all four.

For someone wanting to know more about what happens in campaigns and why, the book is a success – just don’t expect to learn how to do actually do it yourself.

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