Labour's Erith & Thamesmead selection process, and the undoubted unforgiveable skullduggery that has emerged during it, has been dragged into the familliar Brownite / Blairite narrative.
The thing is, looking at the facts, to my eye, as a Party member of reasonably long standing, none of the explanations that are being touted at the moment fit.
But never mind that: Here's how the whole thing can be sorted out with a cheap-and-cheerful re-run:
- Establish an ad-hoc rule: As of now, no candidates may canvass or solicit for votes. Doing so will result in disqualification.
- Find a suitable honest broker - I'd suggest Tony Wright MP - the one who makes a big deal about transparency and fairness in these things. I doubt if anyone in The Labour Party would object to him doing this. If not, I'm sure that someone else who would be acceptable to everyone can be found.
- Tony (or whoever else the candidates accept) and his staff can phone or visit every member offering them these options:
- an offer to deliver a ballot paper in person, and wait while it's completed, sealed in an envelope and returned
- an invitation to come along to the hustings in ten days time and cast the vote there and then on production of a party card
With tightly fought selections such as this, generally the leading candidates have a fair idea of what the outcome will be. The only candidates that will object to the scenario outlined above will be the ones who knew that they'd lost the election already - and I suspect that this points to the sabotage culprit as well.
Oh - one other thing - once the adjudicator has been picked, none of the candidates or their supporters can contact them until after the final result has been published.
So what's wrong with that then?
About the author: Paul is a London-based blogger with a mixed track-record over at Never Trust a Hippy and a few other places. He usually writes about representative democracy and decentralisation. Follow him at www.twitter.com/paul0evans if you usually do that kind of thing. Read more from this author
Glad my own selection was far more straightforward!
I can't agree with the first point though. Not as it stands. Canvassing and soliciting votes is what democracy is all about. The only reason it is frowned upon is that so few people bother doing it.
Skuds - normally, I'd agree. But this time the canvassing has already been done. The re-run will simply replace the balloting process that has been mucked up by whoever interfered with the ballot box.
The beauty of this approach is that the only grounds on which you'd object to it are that you don't think that you actually have the votes needed to win.
The people who are objecting, are the same people who are already (WORKING) for Thamesmead. I ask you, take a look around do you think thier doing a good job. Where i come from in Scotland looks like paradise compared.
How about just removing from the selection the spoilt little rich kid who has done and achieved nothing in her life, except win the support of a cosy little clique with no Labour values in their non-existent souls?
Even simpler.
You'd think Blaenau Gwent never happened...