New Party fights widespread mistrust of politicians

The New Party began life as a political think-tank five years ago but has recently re-launched itself as a party.

Spokesman and former soldier David Pinder has become its figurehead, standing in two local elections before joining the contest in Haltemprice and Howden.

“As a think-tank, we had got to the stage where we needed a new direction,” he said.
“We had published a number of policy papers which were largely ignored. The next step was forming a political party to give us a wider platform.”

Advocating a range of policies from fair taxation and cutting red tape for businesses to reducing the influence of the European Union, the party is spending around £20,000 on the by-election campaign.

It's a sizeable sum which has helped maintain a high-profile over the last fortnight, from the use of mobile billboards to the hiring of a plane towing a party banner over the constituency.

As a veteran of Army campaigns in Northern Ireland and tours of duty with Nato and the United Nations in Bosnia, Mr Pinder is no stranger to conflict.

However, even he admits to being surprised at having encountered hostility from Green Party activists in Cottingham and smiles and handshakes from a Monster Raving Loony Party supporter dressed in a suit made from bananas.

“Most of the candidates I've met have been very pleasant except the Greens,” said the 62-year-old.

“The overwhelming feeling I'm picking up from the public is that they don't really understand or even care about the 42-days detention issue.

“There's also a widespread mistrust of politicians and I can understand that from my days in the Army when the general feeling was that politicians were there to cheer you off and pat you on the back when you came home but inbetween they didn't really care what happened to you.

“As a new party, that's the biggest challenge of all - trying to win people's trust in you after so many other false political dawns over the years,” he added.

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