Spoil Your Vote Campaign Bus

The Space Hijackers, noted for their challenging political interventions today drove around London in their General Election Battle Bus urging people to "reject the lot of 'em and spoil your ballot".
London, UK. 01/05/2010

The group, based at Limehouse in East London, describe themselves as anarchitects. Previous actions by them have included challenging MPs to a cricket match, organising a police party at Bank and taking a tank to auction outside the DSEi arms fair.

Last April 1 they were arrested while travelling to the City on a six-wheeled military vehicle in fancy dress as riot 'police' - with costumes about as realistic as the plastic police helmets sold to tourists. The police, with characteristic lack of humour, arrested eleven of them and charged them with impersonating police officers. Eventually, after many months, the Crown Prosecution Service eventually realised the case would be laughed out of court and dropped all charges.

The 'Spoil Your Ballot Battle Bus' left Limehouse to tour London at 1pm, but its progress around the city was slowed by various events including the May Day march which had brought the city close to gridlock, with traffic on many major streets moving at less than walking pace. It was a quarter to four before the red open-topped vehicle, its upper deck full of Space Hijacker 'agents' waving and shouting at the crowds on the pavement drove slowly past the Houses of Parliament. Some held up the series of four 'Class War' produced posters with large head and shoulders portraits of Brown, Cameron, Clegg and Griffin each with a simple one-word slogan - 'W*NKER', while others on the lower deck were at the rather small opening windows handing out leaflets.

The Space Hijackers message was clearly spelt out in large banners on both sides of the bus, Spoil For Choice, Voting Only Encourages Them, Reject The Lot Of 'Em!, Spoil Your Ballot.

On their web site they say:
"If voting actually changed anything they would ban it. Did you get to vote on the Iraq war? Did you get to vote about regulations on banking? Did you get to vote on MP's expenses? Is this a democracy or a bad joke?

Why play by the rules in this farce of an election?

Every spoilt ballot gets counted and shown to the candidates in that constituency, so why not reject the lot of them and tell them what you think with your ballot paper?"

I've met and photographed all three main party leaders and many other politicians, and there are among them quite a few I admire across various parties but none of whom are ever likely to become prime minister. Being thoughtful, sensible, honest and straightforward is seldom if ever a way to be successful in our current political system. Many voters feel it really is time for a change and along with many of them my conclusion is not that I should spoil my vote, but that a parliament in which no party has an overall majority is our only hope of getting change. Which perhaps explains why the two main parties are campaigning so forcefully against what they call a 'hung Parliament.'