General election: The Conservative candidates ditching the Tory brand

Published

12 months ago

June 14, 2024

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How bad is the Conservative brand?

Bad enough for dozens of its own candidates to avoid using it, according to research from Sky’s Online Campaign Team and Who Targets Me.

We looked at the adverts published on Facebook and Instagram by 521 Labour and Conservative candidates from 1 May until 12 June.

Of these, 376 adverts contained official branding (logos and colours), 104 had some form of partial branding, and 41 had no branding at all.

And the vast majority of those with no branding – 38 – were Conservative.

Of the 80 Conservative candidates who had partial branding, 59 (73%) only mentioned the party in the funding disclosure – where they were legally obliged to do so. They did not mention the party anywhere else in the text of the advert, or on the visuals if the advert was an image (no videos were watched).

Of the 19 Labour candidates, all mentioned the party in the written text above the advert, as well as in the funding declaration.

Most Labour candidates’ adverts are plastered in party branding.

But for a number of Conservatives, it’s hard to tell at a glance that they’re Conservatives.

That includes several prominent figures, including veterans’ ministers Johnny Mercer, defence secretary Grant Shapps, and former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

The online adverts are the quantifiable aspect of a trend that, anecdotally, appears to be the case on the ground too.

Johnny Mercer completely avoids Conservative branding in his election leaflets. The reverse page mentions the party in small text and in brackets as part of the funding disclosure, where candidates are, again, legally obliged to.

And Andrea Jenkyns, first elected as a Conservative MP in 2015 and a former minister, does at least paint her leaflet in true blue.

But the first picture is of her posing with the leader of another party entirely – Nigel Farage.

It’s an unconventional strategy.

Speaking on Friday morning, Treasury minister Bim Afolami refused to be drawn on it.

“All candidates are fighting their own seats,” he told Sky News. “I am not going to comment on Andrea or anyone else, it’s up to her how she wants to appeal to her electorate.”

It is, however, worth stressing that the majority of Conservative candidates are using party branding.

But a significant number think they’re better off without it.

Or better off with Nigel Farage.

Note: Sky’s Online Campaign Team examined the branding on all political adverts from the main parties. Of the top advertising spenders, only 16 of them were either Lib Dem, Green, Reform or Sinn Fein. All were fully branded, except for one advert by Michelle O’Neill, vice president of Sinn Fein, which was partly branded.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Politics

Scottish Labour win Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election as SNP suffer shock defeat

Published

8 hours ago

June 6, 2025

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Scottish Labour win Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election as SNP suffer shock defeat

Scottish Labour’s Davy Russell has won the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.

Mr Russell took top spot with 8,559 votes. The SNP placed second with 7,957 votes, with Reform UK closely taking third with 7,088 votes.

The new MSP said he was “proud” to have been elected, adding: “I said in this campaign that I will put this community, our community first.

“I will work every single day to do that.”

The by-election was called following the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.

The Scottish government minister died in March at the age of 57, having last year taken medical leave to undergo treatment for secondary breast cancer.

South Lanarkshire councillor Katy Loudon had hoped to retain the Holyrood seat for the SNP, given her party’s heavy losses to Labour at last year’s UK general election.

First Minister John Swinney congratulated Mr Russell following the result.

In a post on X, the SNP leader said Ms Loudon had “fought a superb SNP campaign”.

He added: “We have made progress since the election last year but not enough. We still have work to do and we will do it.”

All eyes were also on Reform UK and whether it would enjoy a “tartan bounce” in light of the party’s recent slew of local election wins in England.

With Reform UK never having won an election in Scotland, party deputy leader Richard Tice said candidate Ross Lambie coming in third was a “massive boost for us”.

He added: “It’s a fantastic result, just a few hundred votes away from the SNP, nobody predicted that.

“I think that sets us up with excitement and momentum for the next 11 months into the Holyrood elections.”

Mr Russell said the constituents had voted to “take a new direction” with his party.

He added: “Like the people here in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, and right across Scotland, we all feel we have been let down by the SNP.

“They’ve broken our NHS, wasted our money, and after nearly two decades they don’t deserve another chance.”

Mr Russell said the community had also “sent a message” to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage “and his mob tonight”.

He added: “The poison of Reform isn’t us, it isn’t Scotland, and we don’t want your division here.

“Reform have no real answers to the issues we face, and they can’t beat the SNP here or replace them across Scotland.”

Mr Russell said his party was ready to “fix” the NHS and “end the SNP’s addiction to wasting your money”.

He added: “The road to a new direction for Scotland in 2026 – with Anas Sarwar as first minister and a Scottish Labour government – begins right here. So, let’s go and win it together.”

Ten candidates went head-to-head in the Holyrood by-election:

• Collette Bradley, Scottish Socialist Party – 278 votes
• Andy Brady, Scottish Family Party – 219 votes
• Ross Lambie, Reform UK – 7,088 votes
• Katy Loudon, Scottish National Party (SNP) – 7,957 votes
• Janice MacKay, UK Independence Party (UKIP) – 50 votes
• Ann McGuinness, Scottish Green Party – 695 votes
• Aisha Mir, Scottish Liberal Democrats – 533 votes
• Richard Nelson, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party – 1,621 votes
• Davy Russell, Scottish Labour Party – 8,559 votes
• Marc Wilkinson, Independent – 109 votes

The votes were verified and manually counted at South Lanarkshire Council headquarters in Hamilton.

Campaigning became heated in the run up to the by-election, with Reform UK accused of running a “racist” ad on Facebook against Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

Reform leader Mr Farage continued to double down, accusing his rival of “sectarian politics”.

In response, the Scottish Labour MSP branded Mr Farage a “poisonous little man” and accused him of running a “campaign of dirt and smear”.

First Minister Mr Swinney had earlier warned it was a “two-horse race” between the SNP and Reform UK, urging voters to “defeat the gutter politics” of Mr Farage.

With less than a year to go before the Scottish parliament election, the result potentially offers a snapshot of how the political landscape north of the border could look in 2026.

Mr Sarwar said: “I think people need to change the script, because we’ve proven the pollsters wrong.

“We’ve proven the commentators wrong, we’ve proven the bookies wrong. We’ve proven John Swinney wrong and so many others wrong too.”