Campaign

The word ‘campaign’ has a variety of different uses. A general definition is that a campaign is a group of activities carried out with an ultimate purpose in mind.

In politics, this would be to put a candidate in office or a political party in government.

Traditionally, election campaigns for Westminster General Elections in the UK last for around one month leading up to polling day. However, individual candidates are often in place for a long time before that, and have been conducting a campaign to get elected in their constituency during that time.

There are also referendum campaigns, in which specific rules have to be observed on funding and what the government is and isn’t allowed to do in terms of communication and policy around the issue the public are voting on.

Another use of ‘campaign’ in politics is as a verb. A pressure group might mount a campaign, such as when an environmental pressure group such as “Frack Off” tries to stop the start of drilling for shale gas by fracking companies. A backbench MP may mount a campaign for a certain issue, such as Sarah Champion’s campaign for victims of sexual exploitation in her Rotherham Constituency, or Andy Slaughter’s campaign to halt the closing of Charing Cross hospital in his Hammersmith and Fulham constituency.