Conservative History Journal

3 comments

1. Matt Dean Says:
   6:37 pm

2. Ok, owning up time. It was me that sent the 1929 election poster to Iain Dale and Tory Historian.
   I thought the poster was rather good- a rare example of positive campaigning. Tory Historian says the poster is not a particularly useful example to look to as the Conservatives did not do particularly well but remember as they said on the 11th April 1992- "Its The Sun Wot won it" !!!
   www.MattDeanSoton.blogspot.com

    
3. Helen Says:
   6:40 pm

4. I suspect positive campaigning is much over-rated by those who are in and around politics. Most people in Britain seem to vote against rather than for. Hence the assumption that governments lose elections rather than oppositions win them.

    
5. Anonymous Says:
   6:10 pm

6. The posters for the 1929 Campaign were rather good, but tended to be positive, and the result may bear out the suspicion that Positive campaigning is not that effective. However, the Tories still scored a third of the working class vote when that mattered. It was the Liberal vote that cost them the election and within twelve months the Simonite Liberals had begun their move across to the Tory party.
   
   I presume the posters were the work of Bensons, the advertising agency hired at the Central Office and for whom Dorothy L Sayers was working as a copywriter. Interesting to know if she worked on the Conservative campaign.