Referendum Party video - did you receive it?

[AdminSTB]

I watched this video (referred to in another thread yesterday) in full for the first time today via YouTube. Andrew_S posted it there about five years ago. I had a laugh at the little argument he had on the thread underneath with one of the other users who insisted the candidate he had campaigned for did not lose his deposit in one of the Swindon seats - despite him polling fewer than five per cent of the vote.



I didn't receive this video at home myself. Presumably because the Referendum Party didn't put up a candidate where I lived, probably because John Townend was my MP. I do remember seeing a plane on a clear sunny day with the banner "Vote Referendum Party" behind it, however. Goldsmith Senior certainly put a lot of money into his campaign without getting much in return - at least not until 19 years after he died.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

I didn't get one posted to me but I got one from a friend. Still got it, with the original packaging. Must be worth a good 1p.

[Arthur Figgis]

We received a video, and watched it. None of us voted for his party (I was too young, but my parents voted for John Bowis.)

[pragmaticidealist]

Maybe but I would have been too young to take notice. Many must get nostalgic goosebumps when they see the acronym 'VHS'. 'DVD' too come to think about it.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

It did mean that for a few days, lots of conversations started with the words "Didn't he used to be in That's Life!".

[Pete Whitehead]

I don't remember receiving one of these but I did vote for the party. Old Jimmy Goldsmith must be doing whatever the opposite of spinning in his grave is now.
Good on him... Shame his children are such dicks (well two of them anyway..)

[mick745]

Yes I remember receiving it through the post and watching it.

[Foggy]

I was too young to vote in 1997. I certainly don't recall receiving or watching this. It's possible that my father and/or stepmother picked it up in the post and disposed of it in short order.

The Referendum Party put up a candidate in my constituency (but UKIP didn't) and managed a respectable 3.9% of the vote. That was despite the fact that the MP at the time was the hands-on arch-eurosceptic David Heathcoat-Amory.

[No Offence Alan]

I didn't receive one where I lived but I remember visiting an old uncle down in Worcestershire at the time and he mentioned receiving it.

[Jack]

They used to post VHS tapes out as part of a campaign?

I've clearly missed out.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Oct 23, 2016 19:44:00 GMT Jack said:

They used to post VHS tapes out as part of a campaign?

I've clearly missed out.

You late millennials never remember the days before DVD. Yes, there were VHS videos produced by parties. Here's one produced by Labour for the Uxbridge byelection of 1997 and another made for the Ipswich byelection of 2001.

[AdminSTB]

Oct 23, 2016 19:44:00 GMT Jack said:

They used to post VHS tapes out as part of a campaign?

I've clearly missed out.

Sir James Goldsmith was a very wealthy man. He sent these VHS tapes out to five million homes, knowing the nation's mainstream media would have probably otherwise have paid little attention to him. The Referendum Party were sometimes featured specifically in opinion polls in the run up to the 1997 election, averaging about 2%. They managed to hit 4% at one point.
Nigel Farage and the rest of UKIP shared the views of the Referendum Party and must have felt very sidelined during this time.

[johnloony]

Oct 23, 2016 19:44:00 GMT Jack said:

They used to post VHS tapes out as part of a campaign?

"They" meaning the Referendum Party, and not parties generally; and "used to" meaning "did on one occasion as a one-off": yes.

I have answered "Yes" to the poll, because I have got a copy in my VHS collection, and I remember getting it at the time. But on checking it just now, I notice that it was addressed to one of our neighbours - implying that we didn't get our own copy and that we borrowed (or were given) our neighbour's copy. The one addressed to us probably never arrived because my parents (knowing my interest) wouldn't have just thrown it away.

I remember that in 1997 - even though I was planning to vote Labour and, at the time, was still (naively) mainly pro-EU - I dabbled for about half a day with the idea of voting for UKIP because I felt annoyed that UKIP (with a proper manifesto and a full set of policies) was being overshadowed by the one-issue self-important campaign of the Referendum Party.

[carlton43]

I don't remember the VHS at all or talk about it. I was then in Bassetlaw constituency.

I do remember his disgraceful behaviour at his count and utterly loathing everything about him. Still do.

[Adrian]

I can't remember watching it but I've got a copy somewhere.

[The Bishop]

Oct 23, 2016 23:31:00 GMT carlton43 said:

I don't remember the VHS at all or talk about it. I was then in Bassetlaw constituency.

I do remember his disgraceful behaviour at his count and utterly loathing everything about him. Still do.

David Mellor's response to that was probably his finest moment.

[carlton43]

Oct 24, 2016 10:22:05 GMT The Bishop said:

Oct 23, 2016 23:31:00 GMT carlton43 said:

I don't remember the VHS at all or talk about it. I was then in Bassetlaw constituency.

I do remember his disgraceful behaviour at his count and utterly loathing everything about him. Still do.

David Mellor's response to that was probably his finest moment.

I agree Bish.  Long term memory is often formed by such pivotal moments. Many losers do perform very well despite acute tiredness and obvious tender distress.  That was a night for mixed emotions for me as a then life-long Conservative who had just cast his first GE Labour vote and saw the enormity of what we had all done!

[Davıd Boothroyd]

If I remember 'Were you still up for Portillo?' right, Mellor had actually provoked the jeering by making some snide comment likening the minor candidates to zoo animals.

[carlton43]

Oct 24, 2016 11:22:35 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

If I remember 'Were you still up for Portillo?' right, Mellor had actually provoked the jeering by making some snide comment likening the minor candidates to zoo animals.

And why not?  They do distort and demean the democratic process and pollute the count and declaration. They are more circus than zoo. They form NO part of that democratic process and are not serious candidates under any possible view of that term. The whole thing is arrogance, egotism, self-publicity and wishing to be a nuisance. I would be happy to see the end of it. If we bonded all candidates as well as making them provide a deposit, then the deposit is returned at one figure of support but if a candidate fails to garner say 1.5% of the votes cast the bond at £10,000 is called in on basis of vexation.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

As Alan Partridge said, "we've got to have him on, he's paid his deposit, that's democracy". I share your dislike for frivolous election candidates.

But the point was that the TV pictures gave a mistaken impression that the barracking of Mellor was spontaneous, because Mellor's collective jibe at his opponents which prompted it was not shown.