MP also stands for Military Precision, so it's no surprise that Paddy Ashdown's campaign to become MP for Yeovil was long on discipline and short on creature comforts.
The Guardian Politics Blog reviews Ashdown's autobiography A Fortunate Life, or at least chapter 10 of it:
If you want to become MP you should get a safe seat. But if that doesn't happen, and your only option is to campaign in a constituency where your party doesn't seem to have much chance of winning, then you should definitely take some inspiration from the remarkable story in chapter 10 of Paddy Ashdown's autobiography, A Fortunate Life.
Ashdown was enjoying a successful career as a diplomat (and spy) when, in the mid-1970s, he was afflicted by the desire to become an MP. Nothing particularly unusual about that. But Ashdown wanted to be a Liberal MP, and he wanted to represent Yeovil, a seat where the Liberals were third in the October 1974 election, more than 7,000 votes behind the Tories, who had held the constituency for most of the 20th century. Any normal aspiring MP would have given it a wide berth. But Ashdown gave up his Geneva-based job, moved to Yeovil in 1976 and set to work. He was eventually elected to the Commons in 1983. Chapter 10, which describes how he got there, is the longest chapter in his book and the best description of a successful grassroots campaign I've read in any British political biography.
How did he do it? See here for the Guardian's précis (including the roles of technology, rhubarb wine and "Clarissa"); you can also order the book here.
Crossposted from Liberal Democrat Voice, an independent, collaborative website run by Liberal Democrat activists. Helen is a contributing editor at the site.
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