Why I stood as an independent
Paul Sanderson MBE is Chaplain of the Littlehampton and Sir Robert Woodard Academies and was the Independent Candidate for the Bognor Regis and Littlehampton constituency in the 2017 General Election.
I am a season ticket holder at West Ham Utd. It can be very frustrating at times. From your seat you think you know it all and you often shout instructions. Sometimes you want to run on the pitch and show them how it is done.
I have always had an interest in politics. I would regularly be making comments about how things could be done differently. When the announcement was made by Teresa May on the steps of Downing Street that there would be an election on 8th June (my 49th birthday) I really felt it was time that I got onto the pitch.
I talked to family first looking at the impact of the campaign on home life and the massive change if I won. Yes I really believed I could win. A mixture of my faith and 20 years of community work in the constituency and a passion to make a difference with the next 10 years of my life led me to have hope all the way until that first ballot box was tipped onto the table at the local leisure centre with not a single x to my name.
First thing was to get a team together and understand the rules. You find your real friends when you put your hand up like this. Incredible people got behind our vision for ‘A Heart for Change”. They gave up time, money, ideas and skills to produce leaflets, knock on doors, wave from buses and stand by the side of the road waving banners. Websites, Facebook, Instagram and twitter with the evening emails on all things from fox hunting to fly tipping and my opinion on these issues.
It was great to knock on doors. It would always start slowly with a few “no thanks” or empty homes with curtains that moved. But then you would have a run of houses or flats where people were interested in what you had to say, they had challenges they faced, they felt cut off from the community or in one case had just lost a partner and was so glad to see a friendly face.
The sun shone and so we took the office outdoors. We hired a van got hold of a desk, filing cabinet, chair and an in-tray and we set up office by the side of the road and in town centres being seen, answering questions and doing things a bit different.
It was 2.55am when the count was done. 2088 people had put their trust in what I believed in. I lost my deposit but gained so much. New friends, a fresh understanding of the good and the bad of politics, a confidence that a message of hope and unity and peace would be listened to and debated.
I still shout at West Ham but this experienced has taught me that in the day to day, my actions, reactions and the way I treat people around me can change who they are and how they are. So it was always a win-win. Get to parliament and bring about change or carry on being as good a Chaplain as possible and help situations change for individual people.
I have put the boots away so did not run on the pitch at the last election. But I have no regrets. I was exhausted but faithful and of the back of that faithfulness, successful in many ways that I never thought about.
You can look back on the journey via https://www.facebook.com/paulsandersonindependent/.