Labour and the Unions
The Herald published an interesting letter yesterday - about how the unions use their influence to secure the Labour party nomination in local selection contests.
Except it doesn't always according to plan and sometimes - as the author of the letter explains - it sometimes ends up in choosing a candidate who's a complete dud.
The answer is to take the union muscle out of the picture - then at least the process would select somone who genuinely reflects local party opinion.
"You’re right in your editorial today to deplore the behaviour of the now convicted fraudster Jim Devine.
The most extraordinary thing about the MPs’ expenses scandal has been the way in which many of our elected representatives have been shown to live in cocoons, sheltered from the realities of the world. The sheer arrogance of their petty pilfering has been astonishing and I’ve been left feeling let down by some Labour MPs in particular, who really should have known better.
All parties have a mixed bag of MPs and MSPs. Most are honest, able and hard-working; a fair few, you wouldn’t ask to go for the messages. We like to think that we, the voters, choose our representatives; but in safe constituencies, ones with huge majorities, the MP or MSP is in effect selected by the party holding the seat, and I have experience of how that works in the Scottish Labour Party.
In the run-up to the 2001 Westminster election, I sought selection as Labour’s candidate in two safe seats. The first was East Lothian, where Labour had a majority of 14,000; I was narrowly defeated in the selection by Anne Moffat, who was president of Unison at the time. She went on to win the seat, and for the next nine years the local Labour Party fought a bitter campaign to oust her, which saw them being suspended by Labour’s ruling executive committee at one stage.
Undaunted, I then sought selection in Strathkelvin and Bearsden, where Sam Galbraith held the seat for Labour with an even bigger majority. After an eventful hustings meeting, I was selected by local party members as their candidate by one vote; but then was rapidly de-selected by the Scottish Labour Party, for reasons they wouldn’t share with me. The re-run was a farce, with a sackful of postal votes and the count held in private. The winner and candidate for the next election was John Lyons, who worked for Unison.
He survived one term as an MP and then was defeated by Jo Swinson of the Liberal Democrats in the 2005 election; from a 16,000 majority to defeat in four years – quite a record.
DM,
Dunblane."
Except it doesn't always according to plan and sometimes - as the author of the letter explains - it sometimes ends up in choosing a candidate who's a complete dud.
The answer is to take the union muscle out of the picture - then at least the process would select somone who genuinely reflects local party opinion.
"You’re right in your editorial today to deplore the behaviour of the now convicted fraudster Jim Devine.
The most extraordinary thing about the MPs’ expenses scandal has been the way in which many of our elected representatives have been shown to live in cocoons, sheltered from the realities of the world. The sheer arrogance of their petty pilfering has been astonishing and I’ve been left feeling let down by some Labour MPs in particular, who really should have known better.
All parties have a mixed bag of MPs and MSPs. Most are honest, able and hard-working; a fair few, you wouldn’t ask to go for the messages. We like to think that we, the voters, choose our representatives; but in safe constituencies, ones with huge majorities, the MP or MSP is in effect selected by the party holding the seat, and I have experience of how that works in the Scottish Labour Party.
In the run-up to the 2001 Westminster election, I sought selection as Labour’s candidate in two safe seats. The first was East Lothian, where Labour had a majority of 14,000; I was narrowly defeated in the selection by Anne Moffat, who was president of Unison at the time. She went on to win the seat, and for the next nine years the local Labour Party fought a bitter campaign to oust her, which saw them being suspended by Labour’s ruling executive committee at one stage.
Undaunted, I then sought selection in Strathkelvin and Bearsden, where Sam Galbraith held the seat for Labour with an even bigger majority. After an eventful hustings meeting, I was selected by local party members as their candidate by one vote; but then was rapidly de-selected by the Scottish Labour Party, for reasons they wouldn’t share with me. The re-run was a farce, with a sackful of postal votes and the count held in private. The winner and candidate for the next election was John Lyons, who worked for Unison.
He survived one term as an MP and then was defeated by Jo Swinson of the Liberal Democrats in the 2005 election; from a 16,000 majority to defeat in four years – quite a record.
DM,
Dunblane."
