David Cameron has no power to enforce his A-list of "elite" parliamentary candidates on local constituency associations, the party said last night.Yup. Thought as much. The Tory party does have some form of local democray.
As many as six would-be MPs are ready to take legal action at being excluded from Mr Cameron's priority list of about 110 candidates.Um, should I be laughing about this as much? Probably not.
Let's here it for pointless, headline grabbing publicity stunts! Got any policies yet Dave?
2 comments:
I wouldn't feel too smug yet, Mat.
For one thing, the Daily Telegraph is run by the uber-right, and many of them have been trying to undermine the A-list for ages. This article is not based on fact.
Experience shows that Central office can impose candidates. Look at the last paragraph of that article and see what happened to the Slough Association when they refused to cowtow. The entire association got suspended and CCO still picked its candidate.
A political party is not a company. They do not employ you, so you can't sue because they chose someone else over you, however bad the reason. Why? Because one can always stand as an Independent. Many people have successfully run against their parties after being deselected. Pete Law in Blaenau Gwent for one!
The six would-be-MPs would do well to look at previous judges decisions on similar issues. Precedent is on the party's side as they are not breaking any law.
Don't forget that there is still an Approved Candidates List with over 1000 names on it. These complainers are on this main list, they just didn't get on the priority list which spotlights some of the names on the main list. If they think they can sue then their knowledge of the law is woeful and they probably aren't smart enough to be MPs.
There are many reasons why positive discrimination is not a good idea, and I have to admit I was a bit dismayed about the A-List idea.
However, the fact that ithas caused all sorts of BNP supporters and lunatics have resigned from the party and wealthy elites are complaining because their kids are not on it means that they are definitely doing something right.
I know about 14 people working on various policy groups now. They will be ready in a year's time.
It seems like you still have a lot of pre-conceptions about what the Conservative Party is. There are many different types of people that fall under the umbrella. A little less judging please.
Oh, I've no doubt that the Telegraph is spinning things. But I also find the whole idea of imposed lists worrying - I'm a strong believer in local democracy, Peter Law is a good example of why that's a bad idea.
However, the case of the Labour candidates that sued for sex discrimination over all women shortlists established that parties are denying a form of employment, or at least an opportunity of one, as party labels were recognised as a qualification (or something, it's awhile since Ir ead the notes on the case).
Very happy to see the loons leaving, although the idea that the BNP are becoming 'respectable' in any way bothers me. Was going to do a longer peice on it, but got very sidetracked. My new project has had more pageviews in 6 hours than I normally get in 24 here. All because a friend asked me if I was ready for his article yet. Ah well.
Didn't know Rees Mogg had a blog, let alone that he was actually responding to comments. That's actually pretty cool, especially given his seniority.
Anyway, need to get our and read a few things before I turn in. Thanks for a thoughtfull comment - and no judging, I wrote up the whole broad church thing ages ago, right
But I do think Cameron is playing to the gallery a bit too much, it's an achilles heel. I want to here from him (and his team) some strong ideas, not just headlines and trips to Norway.
Then, at least he is grabbing headlines. Ming, where art thou?
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