NOtoAV
Encyclopedia
NOtoAV was a political campaign
in the United Kingdom
whose purpose was to persuade the public to vote against the Alternative Vote (AV) in the referendum on Thursday, 5 May 2011. NOtoAV was successful in maintaining the current voting system having received 67.9% of votes cast.
newspaper released an analysis of the accounts of donations to the campaign, showing that it been funded almost exclusively by Conservative Party donors. 42 of the 53 named donors to the NoToAV campaign were Conservative Party donors, having given between them £18.4 million to the Conservative Party since 2001. Nine were not identifiable from official donor records, another source was identified as official funding from the Electoral Commission
, and one was a Labour Party donor, the GMB union. Among the donors to and prominent members of the Conservative Party were seven Conservative peers
, including Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, who had donated nearly £3m to the Conservative Party since 2005. Jonathan Wood
, who was the biggest shareholder in Northern Rock
bank when it collapsed in 2007 and later tried to sue the then Labour government
over its handling of the bank's nationalization
, and Baron Fink, the Conservative Party's co-treasurer, British fund manager and former CEO and deputy chairman of the Man Group
plc, have both donated £75,000 between them to the campaign in 2011. Stockbroking and corporate finance group Shore Capital donated £25,000, hedge fund Odey Asset Management Group, founded by Crispin Odey
in 1991, donated £20,000; Lord Wolfson
, chairman of the clothing chain Next plc gave £25,000; John Nash
, co-founder of private equity firm Sovereign Capital
and chairman of the healthcare company Care UK
, donated £25,000. The figures obtained by the Guardian do not include donations received by the NoToAV campaign prior to the passing of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 in parliament in February 2011.
threatened legal action over the supposed untruths told by Conservatives opposed to the Alternative Vote system.
On the day of the Referendum, it was reported by the New Statesman that David Blunkett had admitted that the spending claims for introducing the AV system had indeed been made up.
Political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
whose purpose was to persuade the public to vote against the Alternative Vote (AV) in the referendum on Thursday, 5 May 2011. NOtoAV was successful in maintaining the current voting system having received 67.9% of votes cast.
Parties in the House of Commons
- The Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
- Many Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
members. Although party leader Ed MilibandEd MilibandEdward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...
supports a 'Yes' vote, over 200 Labour MPs and Peers are supporting the 'No' campaign. Among the prominent Labour Party members against AV are Margaret BeckettMargaret BeckettMargaret Mary Beckett is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Derby South since 1983, rising to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith, from 18 July 1992 to 12 May 1994, and briefly serving as Leader of the Party following Smith's death...
(acting as President of the NOtoAV campaign ), David BlunkettDavid BlunkettDavid Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
, John Reid, John PrescottJohn PrescottJohn Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
and Lord FalconerCharles Falconer, Baron Falconer of ThorotonCharles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, PC is a British Labour politician, who became the Lord Chancellor and the first Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs in 2003...
. - Democratic Unionist PartyDemocratic Unionist PartyThe Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
(DUP)
Others
- Ulster Unionist PartyUlster Unionist PartyThe Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
- British National PartyBritish National PartyThe British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
- Respect Party
- Traditional Unionist VoiceTraditional Unionist VoiceTraditional Unionist Voice is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland founded on 7 December 2007, as an anti-St Andrews Agreement splinter group from the Democratic Unionist Party . Its first and current leader is Jim Allister who, until 2009, sat as an independent Member of the European...
- Communist PartyCommunist Party of BritainThe Communist Party of Britain is a communist political party in Great Britain. Although founded in 1988 it traces its origins back to 1920 and the Communist Party of Great Britain, and claims the legacy of that party and its most influential members Harry Pollitt and John Gollan as its...
Individuals supporting NOtoAV
- 29 historians including David StarkeyDavid StarkeyDavid Starkey, CBE, FSA is a British constitutional historian, and a radio and television presenter.He was born the only child of Quaker parents, and attended Kendal Grammar School before entering Cambridge through a scholarship. There he specialised in Tudor history, writing a thesis on King...
, Antony BeevorAntony BeevorAntony James Beevor, FRSL is a British historian, educated at Winchester College and Sandhurst. He studied under the famous military historian John Keegan. Beevor is a former officer with the 11th Hussars who served in England and Germany for five years before resigning his commission...
, Niall FergusonNiall FergusonNiall Campbell Douglas Ferguson is a British historian. His specialty is financial and economic history, particularly hyperinflation and the bond markets, as well as the history of colonialism.....
and Alison WeirAlison WeirAlison Weir is a British writer of history books, and latterly historical novels, mostly in the form of biographies about British royalty.-Personal life:...
stated in a letter to The Times newspaperThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
that they back the NOtoAV campagain. - Ann WiddecombeAnn WiddecombeAnn Noreen Widdecombe is a former British Conservative Party politician and has been a novelist since 2000. She is a Privy Councillor and was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997 and for Maidstone and The Weald from 1997 to 2010. She was a social conservative and a member of...
- Lord Owen
- Robert WinstonRobert WinstonRobert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...
- Ross KempRoss KempRoss James Kemp is a BAFTA award-winning British actor, author and journalist, who rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
- David GowerDavid GowerDavid Ivon Gower OBE is a former English cricketer who became a commentator for Sky Sports. Although he eventually rose to the captaincy of the England cricket team during the 1980s, he is best known for being one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of the modern era. Gower played 117 Test...
- Darren GoughDarren GoughDarren Gough is a retired English cricketer and former captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The spearhead of England's bowling attack through much of the 1990s, he is England's highest wicket-taker in one-day internationals with 234, and took 229 wickets in his 58 Test matches, making him...
- James CracknellJames CracknellJames Cracknell, OBE is a British rowing champion and double Olympic gold medalist and adventurer. Cracknell is married to TV and radio presenter Beverley Turner; they have three children. In the New Year Honours List, 2004, he was appointed OBE for services to sport...
- Sir Frank Williams
Campaign funding
In May 2011, three days before the referendum vote, The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper released an analysis of the accounts of donations to the campaign, showing that it been funded almost exclusively by Conservative Party donors. 42 of the 53 named donors to the NoToAV campaign were Conservative Party donors, having given between them £18.4 million to the Conservative Party since 2001. Nine were not identifiable from official donor records, another source was identified as official funding from the Electoral Commission
Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)
The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. It regulates party and election finance and sets standards for well-run elections...
, and one was a Labour Party donor, the GMB union. Among the donors to and prominent members of the Conservative Party were seven Conservative peers
Peerage of the United Kingdom
The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...
, including Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, who had donated nearly £3m to the Conservative Party since 2005. Jonathan Wood
Jonathan Wood (hedge fund manager)
Jonathan Wood is a British hedge fund manager and donor to the UK Conservative Party. He is the founder of the hedge fund SRM Global. He donated £500,000 to the Conservative Party in 2010....
, who was the biggest shareholder in Northern Rock
Northern Rock
Northern Rock plc is a British bank, best known for becoming the first bank in 150 years to suffer a bank run after having had to approach the Bank of England for a loan facility, to replace money market funding, during the credit crisis in 2007. Having failed to find a commercial buyer for...
bank when it collapsed in 2007 and later tried to sue the then Labour government
Premiership of Gordon Brown
The Premiership of Gordon Brown began on 27 June 2007, when Brown accepted the Queen's invitation to form a government, replacing Tony Blair as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and ended with his resignation as Prime Minister on 11 May 2010...
over its handling of the bank's nationalization
Nationalisation of Northern Rock
In 2008 the Northern Rock bank was nationalised by the British Government, due to financial problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis...
, and Baron Fink, the Conservative Party's co-treasurer, British fund manager and former CEO and deputy chairman of the Man Group
Man Group
Man Group plc is a British alternative investment management business. It provides a range of funds for institutional and private investors globally. The company manages about US$68 billion and employs around 1,700 people in 15 locations worldwide.Man’s headquarters are at Riverbank House...
plc, have both donated £75,000 between them to the campaign in 2011. Stockbroking and corporate finance group Shore Capital donated £25,000, hedge fund Odey Asset Management Group, founded by Crispin Odey
Crispin Odey
Crispin Odey is a London hedge fund manager as owner of Odey Asset Management. In 2008 he gave himself a £28,000,000 paypacket after predicting the credit crunch would happen and subsequently betting that Bear Stearns would go bankrupt....
in 1991, donated £20,000; Lord Wolfson
David Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale
David Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale is a British politician and businessman.The son of Charles and Hylda Wolfson was educated in Clifton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a Master of Arts in economics and law in 1956...
, chairman of the clothing chain Next plc gave £25,000; John Nash
John Nash (private equity)
John Alfred Stoddard Nash is a British businessman, co-founder of private equity firm Sovereign Capital in 1988 and chairman of Care UK. He was chair of the British Venture Capital Association . He is on the board of the Centre for Policy Studies.-Career:Nash read law at Corpus Christi College,...
, co-founder of private equity firm Sovereign Capital
Sovereign Capital
Sovereign Capital Partners LLP is a UK-based private equity investor in British service companies, including D C Leisure Management and Alpha Plus Group.-History:...
and chairman of the healthcare company Care UK
Care UK
Care UK is a British company providing health and social care. The company's services include GP practices, National Health Service Treatment Centres, and residential and nursing homes....
, donated £25,000. The figures obtained by the Guardian do not include donations received by the NoToAV campaign prior to the passing of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 in parliament in February 2011.
Campaign criticism
The NotoAV campaign has attracted heavy criticism in the run up to the referendum, due to its repeated claims that implementing AV would be expensive, due to the necessity of installing electronic voting machines. This claim is denied by the opposing campaign. In April 2011, the senior cabinet minister Chris HuhneChris Huhne
Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne, generally known as Chris Huhne is a British politician and cabinet minister, who is the current Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for the Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire...
threatened legal action over the supposed untruths told by Conservatives opposed to the Alternative Vote system.
On the day of the Referendum, it was reported by the New Statesman that David Blunkett had admitted that the spending claims for introducing the AV system had indeed been made up.