Ambition and enthusiasm are undoubtedly key attributes for any up-and-coming politician, and Michael Crichton gives the impression that he has both in spades.
Despite his party having failed to come close to winning a parliamentary constituency in Dundee this side of the Second World War, he is adamant he can make the breakthrough.
The Glasgow University politics student may have had his confidence boosted by more than doubling the Liberal Democrat vote in the Dundee East constituency at the Westminster election in December.
I just think it is a perception that we can’t win, but we can. It takes time and effort but if we’re prepared to do that, we can win.”
“It was at least six days a week knocking on doors. I really enjoyed the campaign. It was cold, but we more than doubled the vote to almost 8%,” he said.
“I just want that as a stepping stone for the next time. I’m ready to go. I just don’t want to do this for the sake of doing it. It’s not for me, I think the party has the policies.
“I just think it is a perception that we can’t win, but we can. It takes time and effort but if we’re prepared to do that, we can win.”
He will have the chance to try to do so again next year, when he stands in the Dundee City East seat at the Holyrood election, and on the north-east regional list.
Colleagues are excited by his progress, including Dundee City Council’s Lib Dem group leader, Fraser Macpherson.
“Michael, at this young age, already has parliamentary experience where he frankly as good as doubled the Liberal Democrat vote in Dundee East at the general election last December.
“He ran an exemplary campaign and I think he is not just a young candidate, but a very charismatic and hard-working person, and I’ve absolutely no doubt he has a bright future in politics.”
‘Main inspiration Charles Kennedy’
Mr Crichton believes his interest in politics, and the Liberal Democrats, can be traced back to some of his earliest memories.
“The main inspiration for me is Charles Kennedy. I saw Charles Kennedy on TV as a really young child, when I was four or five years old,” he said.
“Obviously, when you are that age you don’t think about ideological political lines, but when I was watching him on TV, especially when Iraq was going on, I could see he was a decent man.
“Especially because he was from Scotland and was a strong Scottish voice at Westminster, and I really liked that.
“Throughout my childhood I kept on listening to the Liberal Democrats and, I wasn’t politically aligned, but I knew where I was.”
Better Together
At Grove Academy, he was lead debater in his senior years, and it was around this time Mr Crichton became actively involved in politics, in the run-up to the 2014 referendum.
“My first real involvement in any political activity was when I was at school and I saw the way the referendum was going,” he said,
“I wasn’t even old enough to vote, I was turning 16 two months after the vote, but I phoned the Better Together campaign the night before the referendum polls opened and said, ‘I need to help out’.
“Because I saw the upward trajectory of the Yes campaign and thought I needed to help out, so I was on the polling station for the Better Together campaign in Barnhill, Dundee.”
He added: “I had always wanted to be involved in politics but that was the real catalyst. At the age I was, I could do something about it.
“I just thought it was so divisive and there’s no way back, and I really didn’t think there was no way back.
“I just really didn’t think it was the right choice and it really motivated me to get up and do something about it.”
After the referendum, the activities of a local Liberal Democrat soon caught the attention of Mr Crichton, and led to him joining the team in 2017, and the party in 2018.
“I saw Craig Duncan was standing for the local elections in 2017 for Broughty Ferry as a councillor,” he recalled.
“I had heard of his name for years and years before, and it was not to do with the party, it was to do with, his name kept on cropping up but I didn’t know who he was.
“I found out he was a Liberal Democrat candidate, he wasn’t even elected, but the name kept on coming up because he kept on getting in the paper. He kept on taking pictures of potholes.
“And then I rang him and met him and said, ‘I really want to help you out’. He encouraged me to get involved.”
‘I’m a Dundonian’
Mr Crichton has been heavily involved ever since, and showed his commitment to the cause by moving home to Broughty Ferry, meaning he must commute to classes at Glasgow University.
“At the end of 2018 I got asked if I would want to stand in an election if it was coming up, because that was when Theresa May wasn’t doing so well, and there might be a snap election,” he said.
“I thought it would be hypocritical of me to be living in Glasgow if I was to stand in Dundee, and I’ve always wanted to stand in Dundee; I’m a Dundonian, and I want to stay here, it’s where I grew up and it’s where I live.
“So that is why, primarily, I moved back, to become involved mainly with the Lib Dems here.
“I could have stood and lived in Glasgow, but I just thought that would be hypocritical and I just wanted to do more.”
With one eye on future battles, he added: “I don’t want to be a paper candidate. I want to help the team and help the Lib Dems get as many votes as they can.”
