The Labour Party General Election campaign in Oxford East 2019
This is a documentary of the 2019 General election campaign for the Labour and Co-op candidate in Oxford East, Anneliese Dodds. Taken over a six week period from the point at which the election was called up to election day, it is a behind-the-scenes, bottom up view of what it means to be involved in an election campaign from the point of view of candidate, staff, and party activists. Democracy in action. I make no claim to comprehensiveness – it is impossible to be everywhere at once and its very ‘gappiness’ reflects the nature of being a volunteer – the rest of life has to go on too.
The photographs document the experience of activists campaigning on the doorstep in the wet, the dark, and the cold of December (apart from all those umbrellas and raincoats, look out for sopping WARP sheets drying on the back of a chair). It includes the reactions of the voters, impropmtu casework, engaging with the electorate at hustings and on other occasions such as coming out of mosque, the interaction with associated campaigns such as on the NHS and Extinction Rebellion, the frentic and comradely atmosphere of the office, the filming of video clips for social media, a few personal moments with the candidate and her daughter, a campaign centre on election day, and in between, a little bit of post-campaigning down time. Anneleise was re-elected with a large majority and less than four months later was appointed Shadow Chancellor by the new Labour leader Kier Starmer.
I have divided the 57 photos up into four galleries, of which by far the largest in the first, ‘On the doorstep’. I made no attempt to cover those parts of the campaign that were of interest to the MSM such as set-piece speeches or the count/result. Click on the pictures to see them full frame. All the pictures are copyright. All were taken with a Canon EOS5D using a 28-105mm Canon lens.
On the doorstep
In the office
Hustings
Election day campaign centre
