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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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British Cannabis Community Weighs Up Challenge For Parliament Canna Zine Canna Zine Monday 08 Jun 2009 The Legalise Cannabis Alliance was the last organisation to campaign on the "cannabis" ticket. Of course any challenge to the Labour party is sure to reflect on the other main parties too. "With voters showing their disgust with turn outs in lower numbers than ever before there are only so many votes to be shared around those who choose to stand for election" says Bill Stone, press officer for the British Cannabis Lobby. "And whilst it may amuse one or two junior MP's, the thought of 'a bunch of hippies' trying to take votes away from the big three" he continued, "the fact is Gordon Brown simply cannot afford to alienate any more British voters and he, as well as the Labour party heirarchy know this only too well". Lets face it if the BNP can take seats away from Labour anyone can. "The fact is" said Stone, "History will pay witness to how many 'independents' have brought themselves to office on the back of policies many Prime Ministers would rather had not existed at all". Since just before the turn of the 20th Century there have been almost a hundred independent MP's elected to Parliament, and amongst that number there are some famous politicians which have graced the House of Commons, as well as some that never did. The campaigns which transported these MP's to Parliament are as diverse as the characters themselves. "Reason enough, for Gordon Brown not to wish to invite any more prospective parliamentary candidates into the fray" said Bill Stone. Bobby Sands Bobby Sands was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike, in which Irish republican prisoners sought to regain Special Category Status. During his strike he was elected as a member of the United Kingdom Parliament as an Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner candidate. His ultimate death would result in a new surge of IRA recruitment and activity. The international media coverage brought attention to the hunger strikers, and the Republican movement in general. Dr Ian Paisley In the 1970 UK general election, and after serving a period in prison, Ian Paisley was elected the member of Parliament (MP) for the North Antrim constituency which he has retained since then and is now the longest serving MP from Northern Ireland. The following year, 1971 Paisley and Desmond Boal established the most successful and longest lasting of his political movements, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which replaced his Protestant Unionist Party. Winstone Churchill Warlord Winstone Churchill stood as an independent, first without success in a by-election in the Westminster Abbey constituency, and then successfully in the general election of 1924 for Epping. The following year, having won a seat as an independent he formally rejoined the Conservative Party, commenting wryly that "anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat. Not long afterwards Churchill would lead Great Britain to victory over the Axis powers in World War Two. But in the meantime the nation was already at war with a fascist movement. A movement which was brought about by another independent member of Parliament. Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, was a British politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists, (BUF). He was a member of Parliament for Harrow from 1918 to 1923 and for Smethwick from 1926 to 1931. At the end of World War I Mosley decided to go into politics as a Conservative Member of Parliament, although he was only 21 years old and had not fully developed his political outlook. He was driven by a passionate conviction to avoid any future war and this motivated his career. Mosley was by this time falling out with the Conservatives over the issue of Irish policy, and the use of the Black and Tans to suppress the Irish population. Eventually he 'crossed the floor' and sat as an Independent MP on the opposition side of the House of Commons. A seat he retained against a Conservative challenge in the 1922 and 1923 general elections. Mosely would later (1936) marry his mistress Diana Guinness, (nee Mitford - one of the celebrated Mitford sisters), at a secret ceremony which took place in the Berlin home of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels. Adolf Hitler was one of the guests. By Diana Mitford, he had two sons: Alexander (b. 1938) and Max Mosley (b. 1940), who is making his own news of late, as president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) among many other reasons. Of course, back in those dark days before the Internet and social networking, generating from scratch, any kind of support for an independent parliamentary candidate would have been an almost impossible task. But these days the net savvy prospective candidate can do a lot of his or her campaigning from the comfort of their living rooms, as more and more people use websites like Facebook and Bebo as a central hub of their personal communications. Media which traditionally, Gordon Brown and the Labour party have failed to perform well on. "Cannabis campaigners are under absolutely no illusions" Bill Stone told CannaZine News with a knowing smile. "They know they're not going to be running for Prime Minister, or a place on the Cabinet". "But they also know the UK is full of disgruntled voters who quite frankly are sick to death of MP's riding the Great British public for all they are worth and they also know how easy it will be to cause some upsets, by diverting votes the Labour party, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are absolutely counting on". And at face value Bill Stone makes some valid points. With upwards of 7 million regular cannabis users in the UK, and a great many of them already communicating via the social networks, its fair to assume that if they can be tempted out to vote, there could be more than one or two upsets at the next General Elections. CannaZine Cannabis News http://cannazine.co.uk
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