Theresa May messed up my schedule and she will pay for it.

Following the Easter weekend, I had resolved to make progress setting up fundraising gigs for charities and political campaign groups – see my last blog (‘If I can do it for the Labour Party I can do it for anyone’). Sitting in my second favourite cafe in Brentford, I was preparing phone calls to possible clients when I glanced at Facebook and saw: ‘Theresa May to make announcement at 11am’.

At 10:55, Theresa May lost patience with herself and ran out into the street to confirm what had already been leaked – that there was to be a General Election on 8 June. This was obviously a decision that had nothing to do with Brexit – and all to do with favourable opinion polls for the Tories.

So the fixed-term parliament legislation proved pointless. And any long-term plans to modernise the Labour Party will have to wait. We are now in a situation where the party needs to urgently engage and mobilise people.

So what can Labour do to win the General Election?

The first thing to say is that the Labour Party cannot possibly win if it uses the same campaigning strategy it has used for the past 20 years. The basis of this strategy is voter identification with minimal engagement with voters, backed up by glossy leaflets that amount to little more than a calling card. It’s doubtful that the Labour Party machine led by Iain McNicol will come up with anything original to change this. Their skillset is more suited to stopping innovation. If Labour is to have a chance of winning it will have to look outside the party machine.

There are a number of people I have met who are well aware that we have to come up with our own ideas for campaigns. We cannot rely on what the party tells us to do.

Here are some ideas I have picked up since Theresa May’s announcement

1. Door knocking is important but at least 50% of people do not open their door and, of those that do, many do not want to engage in discussion. Street stalls are an equally effective way of grabbing people’s attention and should be encouraged. I’ve even heard of a drummer joining street stall so that no one can miss them!
2. A campaign to get up as many ‘I’m voting Labour’ posters up as possible is a great way to counter the media bias that Labour is unpopular. We need to urge as many Labour members as possible to put up posters (or the even grander garden stakes). Canvassers should always carry them or give them out on street stalls. It’s possible to order 100 A3 posters from the Labour Party website for £7 plus postage. The link is here.
3. Labour supporters on social media must put out more videos of themselves, their family and their friends that express support for Jeremy Corbyn. If we have a wave of ‘I support Jeremy Corbyn’ videos on social media this will again counter the idea that Labour’s leader is not popular. People are far more likely to watch videos of ordinary people expressing themselves than they are of professional politicians saying ‘vote for me’.
4. We need to put on more events that mobilise and inspire Labour supporters. This will once again show the public that we are a cultural movement.

To make up for the failings of the Labour Party machine, I have decided to put on a tour of Stand up for Labour that will cover as much of the country as is possible in the available time. So far we have dates planned in Twickenham, Nottingham, Cornwall, York, Middlesborough, Bangor, Carlisle, Stoke, Birmingham and Wolverhampton. These events are a fantastic way to raise morale during the last few weeks of the campaign. We will also be putting out lots of social media to show how popular the Labour Party really is.

Each date on the tour will also include a ten-minute section that will feature videos from local film makers. These films will show how ordinary people have been inspired to take part in political campaigns in the past two years. The hub for this set of films is Brit Rocks, which provides a positive perspective on true British values, those of tolerance, compassion, a sense of community and creative flair.

The General Election offers people a rare opportunity to be heard. We should facilitate this not just through giving them a pencil in the polling station.

If you have any ideas for campaigning that you would like to share, please get in touch and I will do my best to share them as widely as possible.