Colin Swindell Features in ‘Total Politics’ Magazine
The Derbyshire Dales Labour Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Colin Swindell, has featured in the November 2008 edition of the national ‘Total Politics’ magazine.
In the article, titled ‘Introducing the New Young Radicals”, young candidates from the three major political parties are interviewed about their experiences as some of the country’s youngest Prospective Parliamentary Candidates.
In the article Colin comments on his desire to become the representative for his home constituency and not simply to be seen as a ‘career politician’ searching for the next available winnable seat. Colin also expresses his concern with striking a delicate balance between toeing the party line and putting constituency issues first.
Below is an extract of Colin’s interview from the ‘Total Politics’ magazine.
Colin is Labour’s PPC for the Derbyshire Dales. He unsuccessfully stood to become a District Councillor on Derbyshire Dales District Council, but still works to promote local issues.
Colin Swindell, 25, is realistic about his chances as Labour PPC in the strongly Conservative Derbyshire Dales. “A lot of people tell me that to become an MP, I will have to move to a different seat or area,” he says. “But I actually want to represent my area. My problem is that I am not going to get elected as a Labour candidate.
So it is a tough one: I would like to become an MP here but I don’t think it is going to happen in the near future. There are very few Labour activists in this area.” Labour Party membership is around 270 and the constituency is (geographically) one of the largest in the country. “When I went along offering help with the general election campaign, I was expecting a hoard of people in the street. Throughout the whole campaign, there were four of us, including the candidate.”
One danger of the need to impress – and one of the strongest criticisms levelled against young politicians – is that they will neglect constituency interests in order to curry favour within the party. York’s Alexander disagrees. “The label ‘career politician’ is often applied to the young,” he says. “I think that perception can be wrong because there have been things like the 10p tax rate that I have disagreed with and have stated so publicly.
Swindell acknowledges that toeing the party line can be difficult. “Obviously I don’t agree with everything that the Labour Party does,” he says. “If you are new to the party, and particularly if you are young, you have that extra pressure to keep in line rather than rebel and say what you don’t agree with.”
