Editing Referendum Party (section)

===Campaign===
The Referendum Party did not contest any of the [[by-election]]s in 1996 and 1997.{{sfnm|1a1=Carter|1a2=Evans|1a3=Alderman|1a4=Gorham|1y=1998|1pp=481–482|2a1=Heath|2a2=Jowell|2a3=Taylor|2a4=Thomson|2y=1998|2p=95}} For the 1997 general election, it hurried its selection of candidates,{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=474}} who had only one interview—and no background checks or screening—before acceptance.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=474}} The funding for each candidate's official campaign was supplied entirely by the party centre.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=474}} Candidates were brought to a training day at a [[Manchester]] hotel in February 1997, where they were presented with several hours of speeches and given a handbook. Many felt that the event had been a public relations exercise rather than a concerted effort to train candidates.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=474}}

Goldsmith's party was the biggest spender on press advertising in the 1997 campaign;{{sfn|Butler|Kavanagh|1997|p=242}} it spent three times as much as the Conservatives and five times as much as Labour on press adverts.{{sfn|Ford|Goodwin|2014|p=26}} Its media profile greatly eclipsed that of UKIP.{{sfn|Ford|Goodwin|2014|p=28}} Goldsmith also used his financial resources to deliver a [[Videotape#Professional cassette formats|videocassette]] to five million UK households in March 1997.{{sfnm|1a1=Butler|1a2=Kavanagh|1y=1997|1p=219|2a1=Carter|2a2=Evans|2a3=Alderman|2a4=Gorham|2y=1998|2p=477|3a1=Ford|3a2=Goodwin|3y=2014|3p=27}} This was a novel strategy in British politics, and was conceived as a way of reaching the electorate while bypassing the mass media.{{sfn|Hass|1997|p=490}} The packaging of the videocassette did not specify that it was produced by the Referendum Party but rather carried several slogans: "The most important video you'll ever watch", "The story the politicians don't want you to hear", and "If you care about Britain, please pass this video on."{{sfn|Hass|1997|p=490}} The 12-minute film, presented by the former ''[[That's Life!]]'' presenter [[Gavin Campbell (presenter)|Gavin Campbell]], warned of a coming "federal European super-state".{{sfn|Hass|1997|pp=490, 492}} In his analysis of the video, scholar David Hass argued that the film was deliberately designed to elicit fear in the viewer, something achieved through "eerie sound effects", the image of a blue stain spreading across a map of Europe, and slow-motion shots of German Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl]] striding towards the screen.{{sfn|Hass|1997|p=492}} In Hass' view, the film "manifestly reduced that complex issue of Europe to the lowest common denominator, and aimed to shock."{{sfn|Hass|1997|p=495}}

The [[BBC]] also permitted the party one five-minute [[party political broadcast]] because it was fielding over 50 candidates. The party insisted that it should have three such broadcasts, but the BBC claimed that this was disproportionate for a smaller, new party with no elected representation. The party took the issue to the [[High Court of Justice]], which sided with the BBC.{{sfnm|1a1=Butler|1a2=Kavanagh|1y=1997|1p=149|2a1=Hass|2y=1997|2p=492|3a1=Carter|3a2=Evans|3a3=Alderman|3a4=Gorham|3y=1998|3pp=477–478}} The broadcast featured Goldsmith talking directly to the camera, arguing for a referendum.{{sfn|Butler|Kavanagh|1997|pp=149–150}} Goldsmith implied that the BBC had a pro-EU agenda by referring to it as the "Brussels News Corporation",  also claiming that there was a "conspiracy of silence" negatively impacting the coverage received by his party.{{sfn|Hass|1997|p=489}}

[[File:Goldsmith in Referendum Party Campaign Video.png|thumb|left|Goldsmith appeared in the Referendum Party's election broadcast, screened on the BBC.|alt=A balding, white middle aged male wearing a grey suit sitting on an armchair facing the viewer]]

In 1996, both the Conservative and Labour Parties committed to the idea that they would require a referendum on any proposed [[Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union|economic and monetary union]] with the EU; the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] had already committed to this idea.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=479}} It is difficult to quantify what role the Referendum Party had on the adoption of this position.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=479}} Goldsmith condemned the Conservatives' pledge as an "empty gesture".{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=480}} Concerned that they would lose votes to the Referendum Party, many in the Conservative Party were pressing Major to enter talks with Goldsmith, although the Prime Minister refused to engage in any formal dialogue.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=481}} The electoral threat posed by Goldsmith's party was taken seriously among the Conservatives,{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=481}} with senior party figures like Major, [[Ken Clarke]], [[Douglas Hurd]], [[Brian Mawhinney]] and [[Michael Heseltine]] launching vitriolic and often personal criticisms of Goldsmith and his group.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=481}} Hurd declared that "the government's policy must not be put at the mercy of millionaires who play with British politics as a hobby or as a boost to newspaper sales".{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=481}}

In the general election, candidates for the Referendum Party stood in 547 constituencies, the most that any minor party had ever fielded in a UK election.{{sfnm|1a1=Butler|1a2=Kavanagh|1y=1997|1p=102|2a1=Carter|2a2=Evans|2a3=Alderman|2a4=Gorham|2y=1998|2p=482|3a1=Barberis|3a2=McHugh|3a3=Tyldesley|3y=2000|3p=138}} None of these candidates were in Northern Ireland. This was because Goldsmith had made an agreement with Northern Ireland's [[Ulster Unionist Party]] that he would not field any candidates against them if their one MEP joined his [[Europe of Nations]] grouping in the European Parliament, something that ensured that the grouping remained large enough to retain its Parliamentary funding.{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=475}} It also avoided putting up candidates in constituencies where the leading candidate (65 of them Conservatives, 26 Labour and 2 Liberal Democrats) was considered sympathetic to the Referendum Party's call for a referendum.{{sfnm|1a1=Carter|1a2=Evans|1a3=Alderman|1a4=Gorham|1y=1998|1pp=482–483|2a1=Heath|2a2=Jowell|2a3=Taylor|2a4=Thomson|2y=1998|2p=95|3a1=Barberis|3a2=McHugh|3a3=Tyldesley|3y=2000|3p=138}} Goldsmith appeared to acknowledge that it was unlikely to win any of the contested seats, stating that the party's success would be "judged solely by its total number of votes".{{sfn|Carter|Evans|Alderman|Gorham|1998|p=475}} The party officially launched its electoral campaign on 9 April 1997 at [[Newlyn]] in [[Cornwall]], where Goldsmith sought to whip up Eurosceptic sentiment among fishermen who were angry with the restrictions imposed by EU fishing quotas.{{sfnm|1a1=Butler|1a2=Kavanagh|1y=1997|1p=103|2a1=Carter|2a2=Evans|2a3=Alderman|2a4=Gorham|2y=1998|2p=482}}