As John Banks and Kerry Prendergast conduct post-mortems on their recent defeats in the Auckland and Wellington mayoralty campaigns, they would do well to pick up the autobiography of Peter Mandelson, the UK New Labour Party’s self-proclaimed “original spin doctor”.

Mandelson, as one of the key architects behind the rise of New Labour, talks of voters, even in difficult times, voting on their hopes, as long as they are credible, rather than their fears.

He is also adamant that in election campaigns, it’s critical to focus more on strategy than tactics. 

The eventual victors, Len Brown and Celia Wade-Brown recognised early on that voters were not necessarily interested in where Auckland and Wellington were now, but where they wanted the cities to be in months and years, and the decisions required to achieve this.

Both winners believed that rather than targeting what Mandelson would label the “dividing line”, that is the differences between they and their rivals, they should choose a bold vision for their campaigns.

Yes, it was always going to be an election about change, and yes, John Banks and Kerry Prendergast were unable to credibly offer change after their stints in office. However, both failed to at least offer an alternative vision and a clear policy platform. Voters were not sufficiently inspired by their decisions to focus on strong leadership and their respective track records.

Elections inevitably see the challenger focus on change, but John Banks and Kerry Prendergast should remember that for them, it’s just as much about the future as the past.