Get out of my shop, I want to vote you all out!

That was as far as I got in one newsagent in Stevenage. The shopkeeper would not even give me the time to tell her that was exactly what I was campaigning to allow her to do. However, this shows the sentiment in Britain today, the demand for "none of the above" is high and rising, if only people could realise that you need to vote in someone to champion the cause first. In this campaign I am fighting for people who don't want to vote for any of the parties...  but if you don't vote I will not be able to fight for you!

Election of the "Little People" by the "Little People"

By "Little People" I am referring to the majority of people in Britain who are largely ignored because they are not recognised as "somebody" in society. I am one of them and am accompanied by about 90% of the voting public. We are the ones who the political parties don't think are worth bothering about, the mamas and papas as the Americans would say as well as the small traders and all young people aged 18 to 24. However, rumbling under the radar is a revolution about to explode on the political scene. The "Little People" are marching as if to war and no-one, especially our media, are watching because they are too obsessed with following just the three main parties. I do not think anyone has quite grasped the scale of anger that the "Little People" have for politicians and their behaviour right now?

If I am right then welcome to the new MP for Stevenage. If not then I will never darken your door again...

I want to see you as MP of Stevenage just so you can afford a decent rosette

This is what one man said to me after taking the mick out of my blank rosette with a sticky label on it. This may not be the best way of chosing your next MP but it certainly indicates the sheer frustration that the electorate has with politics and politicians. So far, with less than 2 weeks to go before the election, only 1% of all the people I have met so far have made up their mind who to vote for! My campaign is receiving overwhelming support far exceeding even my optimistic expectations! This election, in Stevenage at least, is all set to be very interesting indeed!

Why it makes sense to vote for an Independent?

Ok, firstly I have to clarify that I am not 100% Independent but almost. My party has just one electoral reform policy, but for everything else I stand as an Independent.  What this means is that I take the majority view of the Stevenage constituents rather than any party political view. That way I represent my constituents not my party.

The question stands then; how do I get Stevenage constituents to tell me what they want? Traditionally MP's have used "surgery" days where constituents come to their MP and tell them about issues.  The trouble with that is that there is only one of me and probably time for only 1 or 2 surgeries per week so not exactly an efficient process for mass information transfer. To solve this problem I propose to set up a dynamic website modified only by Stevenage constituents using the electoral register as the registered user database. On this site I will put all of the issues currently under discussion in Parliament and all of the laws and bills being proposed.  Each constituent will be able to login using their electoral registration number and a password and tell me how they want me to vote. The aggregated information will be calculated and sent to my mobile phone while I am in Parliament. I will then be able to use this information to instruct me how to vote.

If you are wondering how I will get the funds to develop such a beast, well I will be writing most of it myself as that is what I used to do before entering Politics.

What to do when a volcano stops your campaign?

As daft as it sounds the volcanic eruption in Iceland nearly put an end to my campaign. The nomination papers for every candidate in Stevenage have to be with the returning officer by Tuesday April 20th 2010 at 4:00pm at the latest. To stand as a candidate for a political party you have to be authorised by the official nominating officer of that political party. My nominating officer and party leader, Mandy Ringwood, is stuck in Spain.  She was due back today but has been told that she cannot get back until Friday, well after the final date for nominations. No other party officer can sign the form!

So, having gone through a variety of ideas like driving my Yamaha R1 motorcycle all the way down to Spain, or challenging the Top Gear team to see who could get there first given any form of transport other than aircraft or contacting the SUN newspaper to rescue Mandy like they did for the donkey, my more sensible wife suggested we ask the Electoral Commission to change their rules owing to unprecedented "act of GOD". So with help from the superb Electoral Services team at Stevenage Borough Council they did!

Mandy was allowed to send a signed fax delegating over her powers of signing to Bob Goodall the party treasurer who, happily, is in this country at least! and we have made election history for the first delegation of signing power due to an "act of GOD".

As a Christian that reason means a whole lot more to me than just insurance terminology!

Just who is going to vote exactly?

Although I started my road campaign a week later than everyone else, I have only met 4 people so far who have firmly decided who they are going to vote for and I have handed out around 400 leaflets. That is just 1% of all the people canvassed in Stevenage, with just 3 weeks before a general election, who have any idea of who they want to vote for! 50% of the rest wont even spend any time considering the election and the other 49% are considering voting for me. At that rate I will win with a landslide. The caveat however; is that the people who like my idea are the ones who are wavering on the edge of not voting at all, even for me. However, if only half of those who have expressed an interest, actually do vote for me then I will still win! Roll on Steve of Stevenage...

Manifesto of an Independent

The "No Candidate Deserves My Vote!" party has just one policy on electoral reform but people are now asking for my views on all the other issues. I have stated that I act as an Independent for all other issues and that I could simply respond by saying as an Independent I am free of party whip so you can tell me what the policies need to be. However, people still want to hear what my ideas are so I have compiled a manifesto. It needs to be stated that this manifesto is the sole work of Steve of Stevenage and is not endorsed in any way by the party or any of is officers (except me, of course). You can download a copy to read from here: http://www.steveofstevenage.org.uk/questions/manifesto.htm