Nearly half of people looking for a campaigning job support the Liberal Democrats.

That's the implication of a survey by The Right Ethos, a recruitment company specialising in campaigning jobs, which analysed those candidates CVs that mentioned an involvement with a political party.

Of the 550 people on the company's database, 80 mentioned political party involvement on their CVs.

“It's always been a left/liberal sector but the balance has changed with the Labour Government,” said Jonathan Dearth from The Right Ethos. “A decade ago, way over half would be involved with the Labour party, now a third are, one in five mentioned the Conservatives and 5% the Green Party.

“When I started working for campaigning organisations in the early 1990s, you would have been hard pressed to find many working for a campaign involved with the Conservative party.”

Jo Walker, campaigns officer at the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a charity which campaigns on personal safety issues, says the survey would need to be repeated and consistent over a one or two-year period to be more telling.

She said: “There are probably twice as many brunettes in our office as blondes but this might change a year from now. It's the same with the split in campaigners' political allegiance.”

Walker said political leanings of campaigns job seekers shouldn't matter and that it's perfectly possible for a person to be expected to campaign against their own party on many issues. “But I don't believe someone can put their all into a specific campaign that they do not believe in,” she added. “For example if you worked for an organisation who were involved in a pro hunting campaign and you are anti-hunting, that clearly would be untenable.”

Meanwhile, Dearth warned first time campaigns job hunters to get as broad a range of experience as possible. He said employers had told him they were concerned that candidates for campaigning jobs only had experience with a political party.

“Candidates should have experience in a range of campaigning environments,” he said. “If you want to get into campaigning, start as soon as possible. If you're at uni, volunteer with a campaign there and another in your holidays. It's a highly competitive field.”

The Right Ethos
www.therightethos.co.uk

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust
www.suzylamplugh.org