Cynthia Payne through by standing for Parliament as a candidate for the Payne and Pleasure Party in the Kensington by-election in July 1988, followed by her standing in her own area of Streatham for the Rainbow Dream Ticket in the 1992 UK General Election. She did not gain a parliamentary seat. There are two films that are loosely based on her life, both released in 1987: "Wish You Were Here", about her adolescence, with Emily Lloyd in the lead role, and "Personal Services", about her adult life, starring Julie Walters. Both were written (and "Wish You Were Here" was directed) by David
Cynthia Payne an MP, a number of solicitors and company directors and several vicars". A cartoon in the press at the time, according to Sarah Baxter in "The Sunday Times", "showed a vicar in bed with a prostitute, confronted by a policeman. 'I demand to see my solicitor,' said the vicar, 'who is in the next bedroom.'" When the case came to trial in 1980, Payne was sentenced to eighteen months in prison, reduced to a fine and six months on appeal. She served four months in Holloway prison. In 1986, the police raided Payne’s home again, this time during a "special