THE campervan seized by police amid the probe into SNP finances has drawn a flurry of comment, controversy and speculation.
The £110,000 Niesmann+Bischoff campervan was reportedly earmarked for the SNP Holyrood election campaign in 2021 as Covid-19 swept across Scotland, but then sat outside Peter Murrell’s mother’s house after lockdown restrictions were eased.
Described by some segments of the media as “campervan-gate”, the vehicle has also been called a “luxury motorhome”, “high-end”, “lavish” – or even “state-of-the-art”.
But from Vote Leave's EU referendum bus to the Jo Swinson-emblazoned Liberal Democrat coach, this is far from the first time a political party has spent funds on a political campaigning bus.
Before the battle bus arrived in the late 1970s, politicians travelled by car followed by a gaggle of journalists as they toured around the country.
That was the case for Clement Attlee – the longtime Labour party leader and Prime Minister from 1945-1951 – who campaigned around the country with his wife in a 12-year-old family car.
Since then, election battle buses have become an ever-present fixture in UK politics.
Liberal leader David Steel’s vehicle for the 1979 election campaign was complete with two TV sets, an electric typewriter and photocopier, a coffee-making facility, as well as its own washroom.
Vote Leave's EU referendum bus – emblazoned with the much-disputed promise of a £350 million-a-week NHS Brexit bonus – is perhaps one of the most notorious in recent times, and cost the pro-Brexit group £90,000 to hire, according to official filings.
“All parties use them, they are an important part of campaigns,” said Professor Justin Fisher, of Brunel University London.
During the 2019 General Election, all the major parties had a campaign bus.
Boris Johnson’s blue Tory bus was emblazoned with a Union flag and predictably declared: “Get Brexit Done.”
Labour’s red bus drove around then leader Jeremy Corbyn with the slogan, “Time for Real Change”.
The Liberal Democrat’s decked theirs out with a giant picture of then leader Jo Swinson, labelling her party “Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats”.
The SNP’s was, predictably, yellow and decked out with the slogans "Vote SNP", "Send Boris a Message" and "Ease the Squeeze".
Battle buses have played a central role in political culture but also serve a more practical function.
“Leading figures in the party, sometimes the leader, need to travel in a reasonable level of comfort. It also often includes the press, so you need facilities for them too,” said Fisher, who is an expert in political campaigning and finance.
He added: “The great myth of election campaigns is that they've all gone digital. Obviously, digital campaigning has grown and it is becoming increasingly important. But people respond, voters respond best to face-to-face contact.
“A visit from a leading figure in a particular area or particular constituency mobilises support for the party in that seat, and may on occasion persuade people.
“It's a really important thing to demonstrate to voters.”
Referencing the SNP motorhome, Fisher said he thought it was interesting why the party chose to purchase rather than rent given the “massive depreciation in value”.
He added: “It might well have proved cheaper. And it may be that, in the context of Scottish elections, where of course, if you're the SNP, you're doing well in both Holyrood and Westminster, you've got a lot of constituencies to visit.”
Fisher, however, took issue with the motorhome continuously being described as “luxurious”.
He said: “The description of it being a luxury bus, it just tells you everything there is to know about how people regard campaigning.
“If you've got party leaders being bused around and you're accommodating the press, they are obviously not going to be in the sort of coach that you take school groups to the zoo in.
“Why shouldn't it be properly equipped for people to do their job in very tiring circumstances going around the country?”
