...well, kind of. It was about a week before the 1997 election, Blair's Babes were on the march, John Major's underpants were the subject of much speculation and Alex Salmond was having his first crack as SNP leader. I was in primary 5 and the classes on the top floor decided to hold a mock election, with each of the four classes putting up one candidate. I was chosen as our candidate and with the three others, we drew lots to see which party we would represent.
This was 1997, the height of Blair mania, things can only get better, so naturally I hoped to be the Labour candidate. Besides, I'd met Donald Dewar that week in Greggs and he gave me a New Labour balloon, so what was not to like?
Alas, it was not to be - with the lots drawn, I was to represent Paddy Ashdown's Lib Dems. I set to work learning about their policies, which included such vote-winners as raising income tax by 1p.
A few days later, things got into full swing. Hustings were held across all the classes, ballot boxes were made from shoe boxes and Mrs Walker's classroom was turned into a polling station, with painting easels forming makeshift booths.
At the hustings, the Labour and Conservative candidates kept trying to out-do one another with more and more made up populist policies and when asked how they'd pay for them replied, "print more money". Meanwhile, I sat there as the sensible Lib Dem, offering well thought-through, fully costed but unspectacular policies. I got two votes, one of them cast by myself.
In the end, Labour and the Conservatives ended up neck and neck, the SNP put in quite a good showing while the Lib Dems were all but wiped out. I wonder why this springs to mind today?
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