In 88 I'd gone back to North Staffs Poly to finish my degree and did my dissertation on the Political Strategy of the Liberal/SDP Alliance. I had worked for them for a couple of years as a Political Agent so I knew a bit about them. I went back a much better student. I was heading for a third before I broke my studies for a couple of years but a few years out, not drinking every night and spending more time in the Library meant I scraped a 2.1 . I also cut my teeth as a Green Party Candidate in the 1989 Staffordshire County Council Elections. There was a printers at the end of the road so I went down there with my artwork freshly letrasetted and pritt sticked and decided bright green on white paper might make a bit of an impression. I also persuaded my girlfriend Liz to stand in the elections as well. She had pointed out to me that she had been voting Green longer than I had anyway. So there we were, the only 2 Green Candidates in the whole of Staffordshire. We delivered a few thousand leaflets and plastered a mates car with the leaflets so people could read it on their way to the largest Polling Station. I got around 11% and Liz 9% in her ward.
The next time I persuaded Liz to stand for election again was in 2004 in the Kirklees Elections when we needed loads of candidates in the 'all out' elections following the boundary changes. The quality of the leaflets had improved somewhat by then. Somewhere I know I have a Nick Harvey Election leaflet from 1985 printed on a duplicator when recycled paper was little better than blotting paper. If I find it I'll let you know!
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