OULC in the 2019 General Election
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By Ali Al-Zubaidi, PPE student at University College and Co-Chair for TT20 Thoughts of two of our alumni on running for Parliament. Ali Al-Zubaidi interviews Rosie Sourbut and Brahma Mohanty. Rosie Sourbut was Disabled Members’ Officer, Women’s Officer and Co-Chair of OULC. She stood for Oxford West and Abingdon at the 2019 General Election. She has just finished her Oxford degree and will start work at a feminist law firm this Autumn.
Originally from Manchester, Brahma Mohanty (Kellogg College, 2015) previously served as OULC’s BAME Officer and Social Secretary (HT 2016), and Disabilities Officer (TT 2016) as well as the club’s college rep for Kellogg during his time at Oxford. Before coming to Oxford, he has been involved with the party both at home and during his previous university studies and continues to remain heavily involved with the party locally, as a member of the Executive Committee for Harrow West CLP, Chair of the Brent and Harrow Cooperative Party and as a member of both GMB and Unite. He was selected as the party’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) for the Surrey Heath Constituency in the 2019 General Election, where he went head-to-head with Michael Gove. To start off, do you have any particularly interesting canvassing stories that you’d like to share? Rosie: This is a cute one. I was out leafletting outside schools in the run-up to polling day and I was particularly talking to parents about school funding when a primary school-age child came up to me and brazenly asked: are you our prime minister? Sadly, I had to disappoint them with the news that I wasn’t in fact the PM. Despite this revelation, they still invited me to the school play!
Other than that, there wasn’t a great deal to report. There were a lot of people keen to talk for a long time to air their concerns and I was happy to listen. Interestingly, people are a lot less unpleasant when you are the candidate rather than just a low-level canvasser. During my earliest door-stepping experiences as an upstart 14 year-old in Bath, I got some abuse but didn’t have any of that this time.
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Brahma: Funnily enough, one of my more interesting canvassing stories was also at a school. I took part in a debate at a local school and lots of students had
done their homework. It really was one of the tougher grillings I experienced. I also met some rather adorable cats on the doorstep which was a welcome break from the seriousness of running a campaign!
Overall, my experience this time was quite a mixture; there were those who were supportive and friendly but let’s not forget that I was running in a heavily conservative area which Michael Gove won by a large margin. By and large, support for Labour was thin on the ground. It is in these statistically unwinnable seats where I find it is really important to maintain a voice; to provide support for those who support Labour and its policies despite the views of their neighbours. How was it keeping motivated in a tough to win seat?
Rosie: I came to the position that it was about more than me and my constituency; I was a part of the broader election, the broader message and placed in an important position to raise the profile of Labour. I also got involved in contributing to campaigns nearby. In essence, I had a stronger voice as a candidate than as a normal voter; and I wanted to use that voice.
It is also important to be conscious of local elections in future and building towards that. And in terms of a General Election, we were always aiming for that significant milestone of second place which would help us build for the future in this constituency and help mitigate effect of claims for tactical voting in future; something upon which the Liberal Democrats are quite reliant. Tactical voting is so frustrating; I literally couldn’t deal with the word “tactical” after the election.
Brahma: Similar to Rosie, I knew that it was not about me winning. I was always optimistic; a 0.0001% chance of winning is always better than a 0% chance! But at the heart of it, getting the Labour voice out in Surrey Heath was important. And it’s worth remembering that for me, this was the first time I’ve ever run for anything outside of student politics or local
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