Could you work for a political party you didn't support?

DonDaddyD

Could you work for a political party you didn't support?

OK, so there are two political parties one Green and one Blue. They are both advertising jobs that could meet my skill set.

My girlfriend said but you don't support either of them (she's die-hard Red - her family would kill me if they knew the truth about my feelings on Tax, Inheritence, NHS reforms etc). Now my moral fibre aside, as I was writing out both application forms I found myself championing both parties political views, even the ones I truly disagree with. And I got to thinking, could you work for a political party you don't support?

rick_chasey

No.

With hindsight kinda think that shot me in the foot when I gave a career in politics a good go. Then again, if your politics are aligned with a small party with limited opportunity, maybe politics is a bad way to go anyway!

notsoblue

It worked for Tony Blair!

jimmypippa

It would depend how far from my own views they were.

EKE_38BPM

Working for something you don't agree in would be soul destroying.

The better you do professionally, the worse you feel.
The worse you do professionally, the better you feel as you are destroying the system from within. Then you get sacked and the worse you feel.

On a trivial level, imagine a footballer. He is a confirmed Arsenal fan. He comes from an Arsenal supporting family. He married an Arsenal supporting woman and all of her family are Arsenal fans too.
This footballer signs for Spurs and becomes their top striker. He ends up scoring the goal that relegates Arsenal (I know this is all very hard to imagine).
As a professional he has done his job very well, but as a person how could he be truly happy? What would his family say to him?


Think about this one seriously DDD.
Doing a job you don't like is one thing, doing a job you don't agree with is quite another and I doubt ddd would get the best out of you as a dad if you went against something you believe in.

dhope

My younger brother does. He's proofreading papers as the last line of defence before they reach ministers.
I'm sure he couldn't work for the BNP but he can work for a tory govt. He doesn't champion their views, he just does his job. He's after a writing gig at the moment and I'm sure he'll do work for institutions that he doesn't entirely agree with either.

walkingbootweather

Depends upon the job and how wildly different my views were from that of the Party.

Many jobs are process-based. For the right rewards it would be possible to concentrate purely on the process.

If the job was managerial or startegic, then I suspect I would influence Party direction from the inside.

A different question is "would you mis-represent your views to get a job?"

DonDaddyD

Very profound EKE.

Dhope, I absolutely could do that. Unfortunately, my line of work would be about championing the party's views...

veronese68

DonDaddyD wrote:

Unfortunately, my line of work would be about championing the party's views...

In that case it's a no from me. I won't sell a product I don't have faith in.

EKE_38BPM

walkingbootweather wrote:

For the right rewards it would be possible to concentrate purely on the process.

Also known as the "I was just following orders" defence.

Cheers DDD.

the_fuggler

EKE_38BPM wrote:

On a trivial level, imagine a footballer. He is a confirmed Arsenal fan. He comes from an Arsenal supporting family. He married an Arsenal supporting woman and all of her family are Arsenal fans too.
This footballer signs for Spurs and becomes their top striker. He ends up scoring the goal that relegates Arsenal (I know this is all very hard to imagine).
As a professional he has done his job very well, but as a person how could he be truly happy? What would his family say to him?

Substitute Arsenal for Manchester United and Spurs for Manchester City and you have Denis Law in 1974 who thought he had relegated United with a goal for City in the final game of the season (turns out his goal didn't, but you could tell by his lack of celebration and reaction what it meant to him).

It's not absolutely clear cut, but in almost all circumstances I couldn't do it, the caveat being if I desperately needed a job to keep a roof over my family's head.

Certainly worth sleeping on at the very least.

woodnut

Absolutely not. The problem with politics and some politicians now is they have no passion. A red should detest a blue worse than poison (and vice versa), otherwise why the hell are they there? I suspect lots of people in politics now see it as merely a career, it shouldn't be.

Cleat Eastwood

as an extra dimension I had a friend who workded as a researcher in the HoC for a tory mp and he was sacked when they found out she usually voted liberal - so you may be able to bury a political difference and dance like a political monkey, but its the organ grinder who ultimately has the final say.

EKE_38BPM

The Fuggler wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

On a trivial level, imagine a footballer. He is a confirmed Arsenal fan. He comes from an Arsenal supporting family. He married an Arsenal supporting woman and all of her family are Arsenal fans too.
This footballer signs for Spurs and becomes their top striker. He ends up scoring the goal that relegates Arsenal (I know this is all very hard to imagine).
As a professional he has done his job very well, but as a person how could he be truly happy? What would his family say to him?

Substitute Arsenal for Manchester United and Spurs for Manchester City and you have Denis Law in 1974 who thought he had relegated United with a goal for City in the final game of the season (turns out his goal didn't, but you could tell by his lack of celebration and reaction what it meant to him).

It's not absolutely clear cut, but in almost all circumstances I couldn't do it, the caveat being if I desperately needed a job to keep a roof over my family's head.

Certainly worth sleeping on at the very least.

That is exactly who I was thinking of, but DDD wasn't born then and you know what these young'uns are like when you mention 'the olden days'.

cyclingprop

woodnut wrote:

Absolutely not. The problem with politics and some politicians now is they have no passion. A red should detest a blue worse than poison (and vice versa), otherwise why the hell are they there? I suspect lots of people in politics now see it as merely a career, it shouldn't be.

They're not there to detest the opposition, they are there to represent their constituents and the electorate who have put their faith in them to deliver their manifesto (speaking as a purist).

Some of the most interesting and challenging conversations I've had has been with those who hold significantly different views to myself, and I can assure you detesting them on ideological grounds wouldn't have been nearly as productive.

EKE_38BPM

cyclingprop wrote:

Some of the most interesting and challenging conversations I've had has been with those who hold significantly different views to myself, and I can assure you detesting them on ideological grounds wouldn't have been nearly as productive.

Splitter!

rjsterry

cyclingprop wrote:

woodnut wrote:

Absolutely not. The problem with politics and some politicians now is they have no passion. A red should detest a blue worse than poison (and vice versa), otherwise why the hell are they there? I suspect lots of people in politics now see it as merely a career, it shouldn't be.

They're not there to detest the opposition, they are there to represent their constituents and the electorate who have put their faith in them to deliver their manifesto (speaking as a purist).

Some of the most interesting and challenging conversations I've had has been with those who hold significantly different views to myself, and I can assure you detesting them on ideological grounds wouldn't have been nearly as productive.

+1.

MaxwellBygraves

I don't know why you're even asking the question, the answer is a big fat 'no'.

woodnut

cyclingprop wrote:

They're not there to detest the opposition, they are there to represent their constituents and the electorate who have put their faith in them to deliver their manifesto (speaking as a purist).

Some of the most interesting and challenging conversations I've had has been with those who hold significantly different views to myself, and I can assure you detesting them on ideological grounds wouldn't have been nearly as productive.

Strictly speaking yes, that's what they are they for (though many nowadays seem to believe they are there to somehow manage the population rather than represent them.
And I personally don't detest anyone with different views to myself, indeed, some of my best friends are Daily Mail readers.
Having said all that I'd rather have, say, Dennis Skinner representing me than Nick Clegg. That's what I mean by passion.

Wrath Rob

I used to work for a consultancy who picked up a job at one of the big 3 parties. We were doing the work as close to pro-bono as possible in exchange for the political good will. Usual stuff. I think it was fair to say that none of us were particularly aligned to the parties views.

Anyway, all of the people there were either fundamentalist believers in the cause OR blatantly doing it solely as a launchpad for a political career by working for the party most likely to get into power. None were particularly competent at what they were doing and wouldn't have survived in private industry. In fact the head of IT was kicked out of a consultancy for being inept.

It was an eye opening experience but the most worrying was the lasting impression that this would have been the case in any of the main parties. So, if you want to get into politics or you believe in the views of the party, go for it. Otherwise avoid like the plague.

veronese68

cyclingprop wrote:

They're not there to detest the opposition, they are there to represent their constituents and the electorate who have put their faith in them to deliver their manifesto (speaking as a purist).

If only that were true in reality.

shouldbeinbed

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Working for something you don't agree in would be soul destroying.

The better you do professionally, the worse you feel.
The worse you do professionally, the better you feel as you are destroying the system from within. Then you get sacked and the worse you feel.

On a trivial level, imagine a footballer. He is a confirmed Arsenal fan. He comes from an Arsenal supporting family. He married an Arsenal supporting woman and all of her family are Arsenal fans too.
This footballer signs for Spurs and becomes their top striker. He ends up scoring the goal that relegates Arsenal (I know this is all very hard to imagine).
As a professional he has done his job very well, but as a person how could he be truly happy? What would his family say to him?


Think about this one seriously DDD.
Doing a job you don't like is one thing, doing a job you don't agree with is quite another and I doubt ddd would get the best out of you as a dad if you went against something you believe in.

Youre talking about Denis Law arent you. (for the unintiated) Man U icon finishing his career at Man City who's love of Man U vs strikers instinct saw him backheel as soft shot towards Alex Stepney(?) in the Utd goal only for it to trickle over the line. He looked heartbroken.

SoYoureAWaffleMan

At the national level there's only one party - the party of the corporation. It has two main departments - Red and Blue - but both exist primarily to remove regulation, empower business and erode peoples' rights.

The only 'moral' way to work in national politics is to fight for reform.

What is a 'die hard red' anyway? Someone who's sure to vote for party X regardless of what they do? That's just weird. Like passionate apathy.

UndercoverElephant

I would think the worst bit about working for a party I didn't believe in would be being surrounded by those who vehemently did.

SimonAH

As a student I used to now and then work for a telephone fundraising company off Old Street. Usually it was soft sell easy stuff for, I don't know, the cats protection league but once I had to raise election funds for a political party I detest - turned down the gig.

No, sorry DDD, to be that much of a whore would destroy your soul (unless of course the money is UNFEASIBLY good, in which case just turn up and do a half assed job until you get found out :-D

Mr Sworld

Yes, do it all the time at work.

Mind you we are a conference centre so it was expected when I took the job.

This year it's Lib Dems (Ha, ha, ha, ha.... Losers!)

Next year it's Labour (Closest still to my socialist heart)

Possible Conservative conference in 2014 (Boo! B@$t@rds!)

However it's what I do and I work equally hard for each of them.

(We also play 'Silly Stuff on Live TV' when they are on. When they have the live interviews on the coverage we try to walk past in the background with the daftest things you can get away with... Giant banana behind Mandleson was my best to date. )

the_fuggler

Mr Sworld wrote:

Giant banana behind Mandleson was my best to date. )

Alastair Campbell?!

TheStone

I don't really understand why someone supports a party?

At a point in time you might agree with one over the other, but parties change, people change and times change.

* Ignoring the fact that they're all the same anyway. Watch what they do, not the divisions they pretend to play out.