Friday 29 September 2017

30 years' experience at your service...


30 years' experience at your service


Dear

In case we have not met, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Andrew Kennedy and I am one of Britain's longest serving Conservative Party Agents, with seven General Elections and almost 30 years experience.

Five years ago I helped form the West Kent Group, which is widely considered as the ideal model for the future of grassroots campaigning. Over recent years the Group has grown from three to six constituencies, with several more negotiating to join. At the 2017 election I looked after seven Parliamentary Candidates including Greg Clark, Tracey Crouch, Adam Holloway, Helen Grant, Helen Whately, Tom Tugendhat and Craig Mackinlay.

Following the 2017 campaign, with the full support of my Management Committee, I have formed my own Campaign Consultancy - Andrew Kennedy Campaigning Ltd. Unlike most consultancies, my aim is not to run high profile and "glamorous" campaigns, but to help and support our Associations, Councillors, Candidates and Members of Parliament in rebuilding their local grassroots campaign infrastructure, so each Association has the skills and resources it needs to fight and win locally. This includes:
  • Building a pledge base so we have a wide and deep pool from which we can recruit new activists, donors and most importantly voters.
     
  • Training and developing volunteers to improve both the quantity and quality of our campaigning, including accurate data and improved communications with residents on the issues that matter most.
     
  • Maximising income from existing donors and developing new donor streams to ensure we have the money in place which we need to fight and win against an increasingly well-funded Labour Party.
     
  • Finding new poster sites, postal voters, deliverers, canvassers and dealing with the dozens of vitally important tasks which are too often left until it is too late.
Everything I do is based on thirty years practical experience at fighting and winning elections at all levels. 

The above are just a few examples of the help and support I can provide. Please visit my website andrewkennedycampaigning.co.uk for further information. There are designated pages listing the services and support I can provide for

Conservative Associations (HERE),
Councillors and Conservative Groups (HERE) and
Members of Parliament and Parliamentary Candidates (HERE)

And if you are not familiar with my work and reputation, please take a look at some of the wonderful testimonials and endorsements from MPs and Council Leaders up and down the UK who I have worked with in recent years, (HERE).

I will be at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester from Saturday until Wednesday. If you would like to meet for an informal chat over coffee or a glass of wine to see how I might be able to help you, please get in touch. You can email me at andrew@andrewkennedycampaigning.co.uk or phone me on 07792 924820.

With best wishes

Andrew Kennedy
Campaign Consultant

PS You might be interested in attending the Conservative Home fringe meeting on Monday 2 October 2017 in "Central 5" with Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP and Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP, when I will be speaking about the 2017 election, and what we must do better. 


Thursday 7 September 2017

Launching "Andrew Kennedy Campaigning"



Earlier this week William Rutherford, Chairman of the West Kent Group, circulated a note to the local membership informing them of changes at West Kent Towers, which had been signed off several weeks earlier.

In a nutshell, my long-suffering and highly competent colleague, Jon Botten, has been promoted to Agent and is taking on many of my day-to-day responsibilities. Jon will now be responsible for the administrative management of our member Associations as well as most of my legal obligations as an agent, including nomination papers, election expense returns and management of campaigns. 

I will remain at West Kent as Campaign Director and Consultant with responsibility for strategy, working with our Members of Parliament, Councillors, Group Leaders and Candidates to develop campaign plans and win elections. I will also retain responsibility for activist training and several of West Kent's higher profile fundraising initiatives. 

As well as (rightfully) recognising Jon's talents and commitment to the West Kent Group, these changes will also release me two days per week to develop something which has been in my mind for many years; my own freelance campaign consultancy.




The West Kent Group is a huge success and will continue to develop and grow. I am proud of what I have helped to achieve and the many accolades we receive from members across the UK. But it is also fair to say that with our five figure majorities, the future of our country will probably not rest on what happens in the leafy suburbs of West Kent. The next election will be won or lost in Hastings, Eastbourne, Canterbury, Eltham, Lincoln, Peterborough and dozens of other marginal seats.





And sadly, it is these Associations that seldom have the money to pay a campaign professional; a vicious circle in which our best campaigners are working in the safest seats building up great majorities whilst we lose by a handful of votes the very seats we must win to form a government.

T
o try and break this vicious circle is exactly why I am today launching Andrew Kennedy Campaigning - offering freelance campaign advice, training and support to Associations, Councillors, Group Leaders, Members of Parliament and Candidates on an hourly or daily basis.

There are many freelance campaigners out and about - most with expensive Westminster offices and seeking high profile and glamorous campaigns to front. That is not the market I want or am aiming for. The most successful campaigns grow from the bottom-up, they are not imposed from the top down. My skill will be to use 30 years' experience to rebuild our grassroots campaign infrastructure so our Associations and candidates have the tools they need to run their own successful campaigns from within. 




The key services I will be offering are as follows


  • A constituency audit and report highlighting your Association's strengths and weaknesses, along with a road-map to take you from where you are to where you need to be to win.
  • Building a grassroots campaign infrastructure including pledge base, delivery networks and poster sites.
  • Training your activists and volunteers so they improve their campaign techniques and harvest better, more accurate data which can be used to win elections.
  • Identifying new local government candidates to both widen and deepen the pool of talent, and training your Local Government / Approvals Committee to ensure they identify and approve the best local candidates.
  • Data gathering through postal and hand-delivered surveys, doorstep and telephone canvassing.
  • Maximising differential turnout and postal vote recruitment.
  • Regular communications with target groups and swing voters
  • Maximising income from existing and new donor streams
As you can see, none of this is glamorous, but our future success relies on our local Associations and campaign teams having the skills and abilities to do these basic things effectively at all elections, not just in the three weeks before polling day.


So whether you are an:

ASSOCIATION OFFICER seeking to strengthen your local organisation,

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT/ PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE looking to maximise your incumbency advantage or improve your doorstep campaigning, or a

CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLOR OR GROUP LEADER working hard to retain / gain control of your local council......

then I may be able to help you.

Please visit my website to see what I can offer - and if we have never met, take a look at what those who have worked closely with me over many years have kindly written about me and my campaign skills. 

To contact me and discuss how I might be able to support your local campaign, please CLICK HERE





My speech to ConservativeProgress / London Area Conservatives Conference


Thank you very much for that warm and generous introduction.

And thank you to Nabil Najjar, Luke Springthorpe, Mo Fisher and Ian Twinn and everyone at Conservative Progress and London Conservatives for organising today’s conference. It is refreshing to have this opportunity to look forward positively to what we must do better next time, so that we can avoid that awful, gut-wrenching feeling we all had when the results of the exit poll flashed up on the TV screens at 10pm on the night of the election.

To plan for the future we must be honest with ourselves about what went wrong.  Our failures must not be brushed under the carpet, nor should the process result in a culture of blame and recrimination. But the Conservative Party owes it to its members, donors and activists to involve them in that debate.

And that includes to listening to opinions which may be unpalatable to those within the Matthew Parker Street bubble, opinions formed through tens of thousands of conversations on the doorsteps, and in the pubs, workplaces and dinner tables up and down the country.

To seek to exclude our members and activists from that debate and to allow those who were responsible for the campaign to be both judge and jury, would be a dreadful disservice to all those who gave freely of their time, energy and money to help secure a Conservative Government.

In 2015 I was invited by Andrew Feldman to contribute to the Voluntary Party Review. I gave detailed evidence and submitted papers on what we had achieved in West Kent, changes which resulted in one of the most successful “groupings” in the UK; a way of working which reduced costs and trebled the amount of money we had available to spend on campaigning.

A model which maximised efficiencies whilst ensuring the autonomy of Associations and protected their long held and strongly defended right to select their own candidates.   

To help prepare the ground for what we hoped would be a far reaching and fundamental reform, I also wrote several articles for Conservative Home, the first of which contained the following preface

“We must ensure that any changes are bedded-in before our next major electoral challenge. Whatever we do, we should not allow a small number of recalcitrant Associations to use self-interest to block essential reforms which in our hearts we all know must come.

The Party is in a unique position of strength. We have won an election that most people didn’t expect us to win. Our opponents are in disarray. We are ahead in the polls and our finances are strong.

The temptation is to do nothing – or simply to “tinker”. To do so would be a dreadful missed opportunity. It could be decades before the moons are in such favourable alignment again. Having helped to win the war, I really hope Lord Feldman and his group have the courage win the peace and bequeath a voluntary party fit for the future.”

That was written in the summer of 2015.
In the light of how little progress has been made and with the benefit of the 2017 campaign fresh in our minds, how prescient those words turned out to be.

The first lesson we must address is the institutional dysfunctionality of much of the voluntary party. Please note the word “much” – because throughout the UK we are hugely fortunate to have the loyalty and support of thousands of people who constantly give more than their fair share, which is just as well as we have even greater numbers who have no intention of pulling their weight.

In Kent as elsewhere we have members, many in their 80s and some in their 90s, many in poor health, who struggled from door to door delivering leaflets and canvassing for support. We had volunteers in the office six days per week, some for 8 hours a day, packing envelopes and manning the phones. And we even had members who took their entire annual leave to enable them to work full time, such was their determination to defeat the threat Jeremy Corbyn posed to our country.

But sadly we also have more than our fair share of laptop warriors, who think elections are won on the comments pages of Con Home or Political Betting. Those with sharp elbows who always seen to be front and centre of the photograph for any visiting Minister, but cannot be seen for dust when there is work to be done, and too many who see the Party as a vehicle for self-advancement and self-aggrandisement, with no intention of contributing to a common goal or shared endeavour.

Locally we must accept that the Conservative Party is a national brand with branches throughout the country, just like Sainsbury’s, NatWest Bank or Hilton Hotels.

Can anyone here imagine Sainsbury’s allowing a feud between a store manager and his assistant managers to continue to a point when the store does not open its doors or stack the shelves;

…but we allow feuds – often decades old – to result in dysfunctional Associations failing to meet even the most basic requirements set out in the constitution.

Can anyone here imagine NatWest allowing a branch manager to refuse to sell mortgages as she does not believe in them;

…yet we allow Chairmen and Management Committees to refuse to campaign or canvass or run GOTV as “they don’t believe in it”.


And can anyone here imagine Hilton Hotels employing people who continually lose customers due to an inability to use basic IT;

yet we elect as our local leaders people who lose votes and membership due to their inability to use email and social media.

I know of no other organisation which has such a laissez-faire approach to how its local branches work or are perceived; we have no Key Performance Indicators, impose no quality control, provide no training, turn a blind eye to continual non-performance and incompetence and fail to assess what, if anything, is being achieved.

Is it any surprise our field operations are falling continually further behind?

I acknowledge that the majority of activists are volunteers. But when a member seeks elected office, either as a councillor or a branch, association, county or regional officer, with that office comes duty and responsibility.

Responsibility to those who elect them.
Responsibility to their colleagues, and
Responsibility to the Conservative Party in whose interests they have been elected to serve. 

Those who seek office simply to advance their careers or promote their own agenda are seldom nett contributors to our success and would frankly not be missed.

The present proposals to tackle our decline are Multi Constituency Associations (or MCAs). I fear these are not only too little, but also too late and destined to fail.

My own experience of working with two federated groups of Associations bodes badly.

Putting four weak Associations with one or two strong ones usually results in the weak Associations giving up, secure in the knowledge of their stronger neighbours will pay the bills and do the work.

This results in further atrophy of the weak coupled with anger and resentment from those who are left to pick up the pieces.

In politics as in life; you cannot make the weak strong by making the strong weak.

In my area, the hardest and most demanding aspect of my job isn’t winning elections or raising the money; it is managing the often unreasonable and competing demands of six MPs, six Council Leaders, six Management Committees and 88 branch Chairmen, all of whom think their needs should take priority over everyone else’s.

Putting a fresh faced, enthusiastic yet inexperienced CCHQ trained 25 year-old campaign manager in charge of an MCA is almost certainly not going to end well. It is unfair on the members and unfair on the Campaign Manager to expect them to manage such a viper’s nest of competing egos.

So where do we go from here?

What is clear is no change = no hope. We cannot carry on as before.

We got away with it in 2015.
We scraped by with the support of the DUP in 2017.
We will almost certainly not be so lucky in 2022. 


Our failure cost us at least the 19 seats which we lost by a margin of below 1%; a stronger more focussed ground war would have delivered victory and provided Theresa May with a majority of 24.

To illustrate the problem we face at grassroots level I would like us to examine the statistics from Kent.

Kent is a solid Conservative county; we hold 16 out of 17 parliamentary seats with majorities
from 7,000 – 24,000 and we hold of 13 / 15 local councils.

In terms of activism, political strength and organisation I suspect Kent is as good as it gets for the Conservative Party and probably better than most. 

It is also a county where one third of the constituencies fall under the West Kent Group and the other two thirds do their own thing, so we can easily compare and contrast.

Take a look at the slide…


West Kent Group
(6 constituencies)
Rest of
Kent
(11 constituencies)
Premises, including rent, rates, heat, light, utilities


12%


23%
Internal admin, including postage, stationery, leases and rental and admin-specific salaries


19%


58%
Campaigning, including printing of newsletters, surveys, election leaflets and campaign-specific salaries



66%



16%
Miscellaneous

3%

4%



Across the UK our Associations spend around £3.2 million a year on campaigning. 

If that figure was increased to equal we spend in West Kent, we would nationwide be spending an additional £10million pounds each and every year on winning elections.

Imagine the difference that would make.

But, of course, we cannot do that because up and down the country we spend 80% of our income on:

·       Buildings we cannot afford to heat,

·       Offices that are seldom open

·       Well intentioned secretaries who are paid a wage to print tickets inviting people to cheese and wine parties which raise money to pay the secretary to print more tickets for cheese and wine parties

·       Expensive lease arrangements on risographs which produce poor quality leaflets which no-one wants to read

And if we are lucky, there will be a little bit left for a newsletter, though sadly in many areas there will be no-one available to deliver them and they will be hidden in the boot of our councillor’s car until they find their way to the recycling bin.  

There is a better way.  My proposal is to take the best of what we do in West Kent but scale it up. My plan is for the Party to establish a network of 25 Campaign Centres, each covering around 20 constituencies, with separate arrangements for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We must not fall into the trap of working out what we can afford then squeezing the model to fit the money we have. We must work out what we need to win, then ensure the finance is in place to deliver victory. 

That means each Campaign Centre should cover sufficient constituencies to ensure it has the money and resource it needs to win rather than spending half its time and energy raising funds. This requires a base of 6,000 – 7,000 members.

Each Campaign Centre would employ

·       An experienced “grey beard” Campaign Director with the experience and confidence to knock heads together and focus minds

·       A Campaign Manager to assist with campaigning plus one additional CM for each target seat within the group.

·       An Administration Manager to manage contracts and supplies, data management, procurement and the day to day running of the office

·       A part time graphic designer to ensure our literature was produced to the highest standard and also specialist help to ensure we have a strong and vibrant presence of social media.

·       A part time secretary to support the Associations and branches

·       A part time book keeper to ensure the money is banked and recorded efficiently and to work with Treasurers to ensure we are legally compliant

·       All housed in a modern, accessible building with sufficient space to accommodate the staff comfortably and professionally.

Obviously the costs would vary from region to region, but around £220,000pa should on average be sufficient to finance salaries and infrastructure. This, of course, would be shared between twenty Associations.  

The cost could be covered by transferring membership income and the proceeds of the two annual draws from Associations to the Campaign Centre. 

Such a plan would negate the need for national membership and all the attendant risks involved whilst relieving Associations of the burden of collecting this money – something most don’t enjoy and few do well.

My plan would also guarantee the independence of Associations to do the things which are most important to them.

Each would retain their own Management Committee and Executive and the right to select their candidates run their internal affairs. 

The Associations only financial responsibility would be to raise money to fight elections, and they could do this from their patrons’ clubs, fighting fund appeals, social events and contributions from councillors and candidates. Their continued independence from CCHQ control would be guaranteed.

But most importantly we would finally professionalise the party throughout the UK; ensuring campaigning was based on local issues and local need, enable the best quality literature to be produced with strong local content, that we were legally compliant and that resources were directed to where they are needed most, which is not where most of them actually live.

These changes could be proposed by the Party Board, approved by the convention and ratified by a postal ballot of all members then implemented nationwide.  If some of the crusty backwoodsmen get angry and resign in disgust, then we should say thank you and goodbye. The price of failure is too high to allow progress to be derailed by those who look back to halcyon days that never were.

The opening paragraph of the Conservative Party Constitution is clear.

“the primary objective of the Conservative Association is ….to promote the objects and values of the Conservative Party; to provide an effective campaigning organisation; and to secure the return of Conservative candidates at all elections.”

There is no mention of our primary objectives to be to run garden parties, fall out with each other at Executive Council meetings and squabble over the ownership of the photocopier.

Until we face up to this reality, the influence of the voluntary party will continue to decline along with our worth.  Those of us who engaged with politics to win elections and bring about change must take control of the narrative and force change on voluntary party before it really is too late.    

Tuesday 5 September 2017

Letter introducing members to Blue Card Discount Scheme

Last week I posted a copy of our booklet highlighting the local shops and businesses participating in our Blue Card Discount Scheme. Today the scheme "went live" with around 300 local members receiving a copy of the booklet and their personalised discount card in the post. 

We have already taken a telephone call from one longstanding local member who said, "I have been a member of the Conservative Party for over 30 years and this must be the first time I have received a letter which was not requesting money or asking me to tramp the streets."




Sunday 3 September 2017

When Jacob met Boris

Amused to discover that the winner of a bottle of Mumms Champagne signed by Boris Johnson in the West Kent Summer Draw was....Jacob Rees-Mogg's Mother-in-Law !

Friday 1 September 2017

Drawing conclusions


And the winner is.....    Greg Clark MP draws the West Kent 2017 Summer Raffle


There was a great deal of discussion this year whether West Kent should run our Annual Summer Draw. Many felt that the draw, following so soon after the General Election (when members were incredibly generous with donations to the Fighting Fund), might be too much, especially as many members were angry or irritated by the outcome of the GE. 

After a great deal of debate we decided to go ahead, not least because we had already paid for the tickets to be printed before the GE was announced. I understand that the Conservative Supporters Club National Draw was cancelled. It was a close decision, and I understand why some people took a different view. We did however make reference in the appeal letter to our members' recent generosity and made it clear that we understood that some might not feel able to contribute again so soon after the FF appeal. 

In the end it was the right call. Although the profit from the 2017 draw was about 20% down on previous years, it still made around £7,000 profit for our local Associations (and that is after paying for the tickets to be printed, the prizes to be purchased and the cost of printing and posting the letters).  

The important point from this however is not whether or not we should have run the draw, but the importance of how it is run. Each year we have a debate on the value of sending "reminder" letters so in recent years I have kept a check of responses pre and post reminder. We also keep a note of the second book of tickets sent with the reminder, so we can trace when people have responded to the original letter or the reminder letter. This year...
  • 58% of tickets sales were is response to the original letter
  • 42% of ticket sales were in response to the reminder letter
In our case, that 42% was the equivalent to £3900 of revenue, money we would have lost had we not send a reminder. 

Thank you to everyone in West Kent for supporting the Summer Draw and the the office team who helped pack the envelopes, log the replies and fold the tickets for the "raffle drum".


Five become six....

We are delighted to welcome our friends and colleagues from Gravesham into the West Kent Conservative Group. 

Who will be Number 7?