Building local parties in return for open selections of candidates
My collaborator on PICamp, Paul Evans, has launched a site called Reselect.org this morning with help from the Spectator’s Martin Bright and the Liberal Conspiracy site.
I think that the idea will have a good deal more traction in England, Scotland and Wales than it will here (and the site doesn’t currently have figures on it for the Northern Ireland parties), though I’d be happy to be corrected on this.
Either way, it illustrates the way that political campaigning may change – that disruptive gamechanging ideas are easy to set up and try out – and sometimes, they can make a difference.
Great site idea, Mick. However, reform is far from straightforward. The whole business of reviewing MPs’ positions may be very complicated. For one thing there may be much more to come. What horrors would be revealed in an audit of office costs? What happens too, if there’s stand-off between central party star chambers and the constituencies?. M’learned friends may be rubbing their hands already at the prospects of judicial review over inconsistent treatment. Even in a case where the PM has near- dictatorial powers, Downing St squashed speculation that Hazel Blears will soon be sacked. Brown’s comments were not intended to suggest that Blears’s position was under threat, the lobby briefing was told. The prime minister’s spokesman said that Brown had full confidence in her, that she was doing “a good job” as communities secretary and had recently delivered “a good presentation” to cabinet and that she had been the first person to acknowledge that there had been a problem with the unpaid capital gains tax. BTW The Luton MP Margaret Moran has just been referred to Labour’s star chamber on selection. Is there such a big difference between the two cases?
Note that the Times is reporting ” David Cameron’s expenses advice ignored as constituencies back MPs.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6323104.ece