Being a Conservative candidate costs £41,550

11.17.54am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 1st Aug 2006

Money

Conservative Home http://conservativehome.blogs.com/ has some interesting research today on the cost of being a Conservative Candidate - £41,550 for winning candidates and £27,235 for losing candidates. I know its costs a fortune, although my candidacy in Wolverhampton South West was done on the cheap.

The research is small with information from eight winning and eight losing candidates. They have categorised the costs into the basic costs of becoming and staying a candidate; the costs of finding a seat; the costs of fighting a seat and lost income from the whole process. The full breakdown is on their website, below is a summary:

THE BASIC COSTS OF BECOMING AND STAYING A CANDIDATE

Attending a Parliamentary Assessment Board - £250 and any travel and/or accommodation as it is a day long assessment.

Annual fee for compulsory membership of the Candidates' Association - £80

Training days - £100 each, candidates are encouraged to attend

Attending conferences and helping in by-elections - Varies

THE COSTS OF FINDING A SEAT

The costs of researching a prospective seat - One of those that took part estimates this cost £150 a seat and they did research on more than a dozen seats costing approximately £2,000 in total. Another put the figure at £350 per seat.

The cost of travelling to each round of a constituency selection meeting - This obviously varies and accommodation may also be needed.

The optional costs of buying specialist help in order to get elected - (Conservative) Training in public speaking and specialist advice on handling Q&A at a selection meeting generally costs about £500 a day and many candidates take advantage of such expertise.

THE COSTS OF FIGHTING A SEAT

Accommodation costs - The most expensive cost of being a candidate is housing. If you are not already a 'local' candidate most Conservative Associations understandably expect you to 'become local' by moving into the constituency. One candidate spent £20,000 renting a home in their new constituency.

Travel expenses - Even if you move your home into a seat you may still have to travel to your place of work, one candidate spent £300 every month on commuting. Even if you live in a seat there can still be lots of travel costs - particularly if your seat is rural or made up a number of smaller towns and villages.

Attending Association events and buying endless raffle tickets - One candidate said they spent £20 every week for eighteen months on raffle tickets and drinks, another spent £700 in one year.

Phone bills - Most candidates saw their mobile bills double or treble in size. The least anyone said they spent was £300. One candidate saw her bills mushroom by £1,000 in a year.

Other sundry expenses - Anything and everything you can think of.

LOST INCOME FROM THE PROCESS

Listed above are all the direct costs of being a candidate but there are also the hidden costs of opportunities and income forgone - This obviously varies from candidate to candidate.

I am sure there are similar stories from all political parties. As I said my candidacy in Wolverhampton South West was done on the cheap - the actually election cost under £1,000 which was party paid for by the local party, donations and from my ever increasing debt. Becoming a candidate also cost in the Liberal Democrats it does seem to be cheaper though.

In terms of becoming a candidate the Assessment Day is free, although travel and accommodation will cost (I had to pay from a return ticket to London), although we will try and put people on Assessment Days in their regions. I didn't need any additional training but where candidates need training it is provided free or at cost (often with the trainers making a loss, as I often do, with travel and supplying materials. The Parliamentary Candidate Association is free at the basic level, but you can pay to be a 'full' member - membership of ALDC is also advised.

Finding a seat was very easy and cheap from me - I stood where I live and it was the only seat I applied for, I may have bought a new suit. I do know people that have applied for lots of seats and spent lots of money doing so - moving to the constituency for the selection period and the such like.

Fighting the seat was relatively cheap in Wolverhampton South West as mentioned above, but any seat fighting seriously will have to spend a lot of money - some of which will inevitably come from the candidate. Lord Rennard says it costs £250,000 over a four-year period to win a seat in the Priority Seats the Party will provide some support, in some cases the Region might too, the local party, candidate and fund-raising have to cover the slack - which can be big cost.

Loss of earnings, again I was fortunate I took seven weeks unpaid leave from my job but was lucky enough to get a consultancy which covered much of the loss of earnings. However if you are serious about winning you will need to be off for more than seven weeks.

Politics is not cheap I know people that have spent their life savings on fighting elections, some with no success. I am ambitious and in the next few years hope to embark on a successful political career, but to be honest the financing worries me - which is of course why I play the lottery religiously!

Oddly enough a friend of mine contacted me yesterday offering to make a donation to a fighting fund if I set one up, and discussing it with another friend last night he offered to make a monthly Standing Order to such a fund. As a result I have decided to set up a fighting fund which I will set up a monthly Standing Order to, look to do some commercial training and campaign consultancy and put all proceeds into the fund and accept donations (from PPERA permissible sources) from friends and colleagues.

If you would like to donate or talk to me further please get in touch at colin@colin-ross.org.uk