'First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win". This quote, usually attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, is thought to have been originated by Nicholas Klein, in a 1914 address to a US Trade Union congress. Ron Paul, the Republican presidential hopeful, used it in his campaign. In each case a leader encouraged his followers to persist against the odds.

Last week I was not invited to go forward to fight a parliamentary seat in the UK. Seems like an unusual thing for a HK resident to do; but I have long form in this matter. I sought a UK parliamentary seat more than 10 years back in the 1990's. It seemed like a huge mountain to climb, as a HK resident. To become a member of parliament (MP), you first join a political party and build up your experience by dint of hard work; doing errands, canvassing door to door, running campaigns, fighting elections until you run out of shoe leather, your nostrils are assailed by the smells of domesticity and your knuckles are rubbed raw by door knocking.

When you reach a certain level, the party will assess you to see if you have the right stuff to be a MP. If you have whatever it takes, you can then apply for vacant seats to the constituency parties. Each seat will have between 80 to 100 applicants, most of whom are losers anyway with no hope of being selected.

If selected for an interview, the first is with the small selection committee in the constituency and the candidate is one in about 20 people. The second interview is with the office bearers of the local party and six candidates before the vying candidates get whittled down to three. The final interval is a carnival with all members of the local party in attendance. Candidates speak for 15 minutes, are questioned for another 15 minutes before the vote takes place.

At my final selection in 1995, the chairman met us outside the room, since the voting was closed. He immediately shook the hand of the other candidate. An obvious sign to me that I had lost. Then he said, "I'm terribly sorry, Richard was selected!" So you never know how the cards will fall in politics. The man at the back looking angrily as you speak will be your greatest supporter, while the one laughing will vote against you. I missed out then because it was 1997 and I stood against Tony Blair's party. That's when I entered my political wilderness.

So when the MP for the UK constituency where I have lived for 25 years decided to resign at a moment's notice, I thought that despite the last 15 years, I would apply again. My constituency is polarized with half of it staunchly left wing, while the other half is staunchly right wing. Where the country votes, the seat goes.

I am an excellent potential candidate. I have done my time, I know the constituency intimately, and I can handle myself with the media. This is a by-election, a special election, held outside the normal general election and the press descended on the area like a pack of wolves, devouring every piece of bad news that they can. It is fun!

The hotshots won't go for the seat, as it is a kiss of death for an ambitious climbing politician. It is only held by 1,500 votes and is likely to be lost because by-elections bring out the cranks and weirdos, including Screaming Lord Sutch from the Monster Raving Looney Party. Dangerously for the Conservatives, these people are likely to take more votes away from them than from the opposing parties.

So to have the door bang in my face again was a disappointment. I can see why - the worries about having a candidate facing offshore tax questions are too painful for an electorate keen to pull itself down to the lowest common denominator. I could handle the opposition but in reality overseas Britons are a sensitive subject in UK politics.

I met Chris Patten in 1995 when he was governor of HK and he gave me this piece of political advice. "Never, never stand for a marginal seat; it will destroy your career!" Well, I looked around the magnificence of Government House and said "surely not!" But I did and it did.

I left a high-profile senior job for the grubbiness of political life. So let the candidates for LegCo be warned. Politics is a worm; it is like malaria; it never leaves your bloodstream. But success in any field requires drive, heroism - and above all persistence. As the US evangelist Jamie Buckingham said, "Attempt something so big that unless God intervenes it will fail."

The author is chief executive of Port Shelter Investment Management.

(HK Edition 08/31/2012 page3)