Last night one Labour backbencher tweeted about how pleased he was that Ed Miliband was proposing to abolish the principle of elections for members of the Shadow Cabinet. It would, he said, allow Labour MPs to get on with the task of serious opposition rather than being distracted by democracy.
Which makes me wonder about the capability of some of our MPs. Is having an election every couple of years really that onerous and time consuming a task that it prevents those who would seek a place in the Shadow Cabinet from actually getting on with the job? Surely, putting in a good stint on the front bench would be the best bit of campaigning the Shadow Cabinet member could do if they wished to impress their colleagues. And for those not in the role already, I’m sure performing well as a challenging backbench MP would hardly damage their chances.
We may all be delighted to see democratic reforms spreading through the Arab world, but it seems they can be a damned inconvenience back home. If only old Hosni had thought of going on Egyptian television and making the case that he had important work to do running the country rather than stopping to hold those bloody inconvenient elections! Oh, what do you mean… he did precisely that!
We are told having elections causes disharmony, encourages cliques, costs too much, and now we are expected to believe it distracts from the job of being… a Member of Parliament! For a party that likes to describes itself as ‘democratic socialist’ it appears to be somewhat lukewarm on both fronts. I’ve long since given up on the notion of the party delivering socialism (Ed’s dad got that one right 50 years ago) and now the democracy bit is gradually disappearing too.
Hi Bob; Nice to see that you’re learning. The Labour Party , particularly the P.L.P. has always had an ambivalent attitude towards internal party democracy, one might even say paying lip service to it, one of the reasons I left all those years ago. What was it some geezer called Lenin said about Social Democrats; “Neither Socialists nor Democrats.”
“one of the reasons I left all those years ago”… And in the intervening years you’ve done… errm, what?
What was it some geezer called Lenin said about Social Democrats; “Neither Socialists nor Democrats.”
Well he should know!
Hi Bob; Not a lot, got married, brought a family up, worked hard and then retired, and when I could worked for the return of a Labour Government(even knowing it would lead to disillusionment,then rejection every time) and 9 times out of 10 worked for the return of Labour candidates at local elections(where I lived the C.P. either didn’t have the resources or supported a good progressive or Labour left candidate; probably someone like you before your No To A.V. campaign) Once, during the 1987 general election campaign, while working in London, I helped out in Westminster North constituency, trying , unsuccessfully to unseat the sitting Tory M.P. John Wheeler; then a few months later, I helped in the by- election in Westminster, created over the scandal of selling 3 cemetries for a few quid. Participated in demonstrations over Vietnam, Heaths Industrial Relations Act, C.N.D. the Greenham Common Womens protests, support for the miners, Poll Tax, Iraq and other great causes, unfortunately often not very successfully it must be said, but hey ho, we have to do something. And then I tried to enjoy myself, usually succesfully. Then when I could get the chance teaching my son how to support the MIGHTY LEEDS UNITED( if only because I never got much of a chance to get to Paradise at Parkhead and see the MIGHTY GLASGOW CELTIC). So therefor Bob, I might not have done a lot ,but Idid what I thought was my best, without any thought of opportunism or careerism, hopefully most Labour Party members can say the same. Now that I don’t get out as much as I used to, it seems a matter of regret that we aren’t seeming to get many young people involved in politics as they seemed to when I was younger(I hope that does’nt sound terribly ancient); particularly when you look at the crisis we are faceing, and even worse if Greece goes down the economic pan.