Battle of the Buses
‘Battle buses’ first started appearing in the UK during the 1970s although they can be traced back to the 1940’s in US Presidential Elections. They proved revolutionary in enabling members of the press corps to accompany key political candidates - providing an additional layer of ‘behind the scenes’ and personalised coverage.
The role, size and design of the battle bus has evolved a lot since then. Since the early 2000s they have proved useful case studies in how effective the various party’s stripped down, simplified election messaging is.
Most buses these days are adorned with party colours and the very essence of the campaign message - take the Conservative bus in 2019 for example. A return to the old navy blue conservative colour palette, a union jack and ‘Get Brexit Done’ - a controversial but highly effective election message.
By contrast the Lib Dem bus in the same election featured a huge image of the then new party leader Jo Swinson’s face accompanied by the wording ‘Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats’. No doubt this was an effort to raise the new leader’s profile with the electorate but it fell rather flat in terms of distilling a campaign message.
We look at some of the more notable bus-interventions in campaigns over the last 25 years….
2001 General Election
Its not just party Leaders who get their own buses. In 2001 Labour’s John Prescott spent much of the election campaign on the ‘Prescott Express’. It was in fact the Prescott Express that took him to Rhyl where he was infamously stuck by an egg wielded by an unimpressed figure in the crowd - and ultimately led to *that* Prescott punch.
2010 General Election
The Conservatives broke with tradition in 2010 and eschewed the traditional royal blue livery and ‘vote conservative’ messaging choosing a ‘Vote for Change’ message complete with union jack and the tree/scribble logo, light blues and greens which became synonymous with the Cameron era Conservatives.
‘For the Many - Not the Few’ 2017 Labour Battle Bus
2015 General Election
Harman’s pink battle mini-bus in 2015 attracted considerable attention. Labour's then deputy leader said she believed the van will help the party connect with women who did not vote in 2010.
She told ITV’s GMB at the time ‘In 2010 at the last general election 9.1 million women didn't vote and that's because they just don't think that politicians have any interest in their lives.” While admirable the bus proved controversial with some on social media labelling it ‘sexist’ and ‘patronising’. It did however get a conversation going which arguably means it did it’s job!
2016 EU Referendum
Vote Leave’s £350 million a day for the NHS pledge bus in 2016
The referendum saw both sides campaigning up and down the country in their respective buses.
The Leave campaigns ‘£350 million’ saved for the NHS bus livery will go down in history as one of the most famous, controversial and potentially impactful interventions in British politics by a …. Bus.
Such was its impact there has been considerable speculation that Boris Johnson’s interview in 2019 after becoming PM was cleverly scripted to influence the algorithms and push the headlines about the controversial claim down the internet results. During the interview Johnson repeatedly and somewhat bizarrely mentioned building and painting small wooden buses as one of his main hobbies.
2024 General Election
All major parties this time-around have deployed battle buses. Perhaps most notably Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner has been taking their ‘Change’ battle bus on a 5000 mile journey to battleground seats across the country with a pledge to “power up every corner of Britain”.
The ‘change’ messaging on the bus is clear and simple. More importantly it tallies with the parties election position which as Starmer puts it “is about a choice, a clear choice. More chaos and more division, or turn the page and renewal with Labour.”
Labour’s ‘Change’ Battle Bus visits Gateshead Quayside in 2024
Reform have also been taking their open-top bus around parts of the country. Open-top buses are more often used for sightseeing and victory parades and theres a reason for this….freelance journalist Alicia Fitzgerald reported memebrs of the party were forced to ‘duck & cover’ on Tuesday (4th) when the open-top bus went under a row of low hanging branches in Lee Andersons Ashfield constituency.