Open Britain and their fight against corruption and a Prime Minister dripping in scandal.
Open Britain are a well known, UK-based campaigning organisation, more than 100,000 strong. They fight for democracy and against political corruption and sleaze. They’re best known as the group behind the ‘People’s Vote’ and the ‘Stronger In’ campaign around the time of the UK Brexit referendum.
Boris Johnson, the (then) UK Prime Minister, had been mired in controversy throughout his time as leader, withstanding countless charges of corruption, outright lying in public office, handing multi-million pound contracts to former advisers and party donors, proposing controversial right-wing policies, and ‘party gate’, where Boris Johnson and other conservative party members broke their own lockdown restrictions and partied, even while the bereaved were unable to attend the funerals of their loved ones.
By July 2022, the UK public had long had enough of his reign, but still he refused to resign. The writing was on the wall, but there was still time for a leaving present.
Ramping up the public pressure, and having some fun in the process.
More public pressure would mean more internal political pressure to step down, and that was the only thing that could make a difference.
Open Britain decided it was time for one last stunt – they started an ActionStorm campaign to collect together the public’s true sentiments about Boris’ time at the top, publishing them in a giant leaving card, and taking it to number 10 Downing Street to ‘thank’ him in person.
The campaign picked up traction quickly and the campaign was shared across social media more than 4,700 times.
In the end, over 14,000 people submitted a message for the card – and they were all printed, without filter, onto 8 giant pages across a 8ft x 5ft card, including a front cover designed by Cold War Steve.
The card was delievered to 10 Downing Street, but unsurprisingly was stopped from entry, and instead was taken to Trafalgar Square for members of the public to be able to read and enjoy. The card got excellent national news coverage, including from The Mirror.
See the final card in action on this short video!
Bye bye Boris.
With the public’s displeasure clear, and with groups like Open Britain becoming more vocal, growing public pressure led to growing internal political pressure to resign.
And on the 5th September 2022, within 2 months of Open Britain’s campaign being launched, Boris had officially resigned from office.
So long, and thanks for all the memories.
Campaign highlights
- 14,730 signatures
- 14,056 comments of support
- 8,345 new subscribers to Open Britain’s email list (52%)
- The petition had over 4,700 shares across various social media platforms
- National news coverage in The Mirror and others
- 70,000+ views on video
- Victory in 2 months
“This campaign was born from wanting to do more with our supporters’ comments”
“The sad truth is most people feel like they’re not heard by the political leaders who were elected to listen to and serve them. This campaign was born from wanting to do more with our supporters’ comments – to help their views be heard by those in charge – unfiltered, unrestricted.
“The ActionStorm team were instrumental in the success of the Boris’ leaving card campaign. They helped shape the ideas that became the campaign, they helped promote the camapign, design and implement the card – even came with us to deliver the final card.
“The platform was a great place to host the campaign, and the simple usability and live social comments were surely a bit factor in attracting more than 14,000 honest comments from the public.”