Ed Blinks First
What an anti-climax.
After much anticipation and tough talking about 're-founding' the Labour party - Ed Miliband - has backed down in his power struggle with Britain's union bosses (the Bubs).
Ed has had previously signalled his determination to dilute the power of the Bubs - by creating a new role for registered party supporters in leadership elections.
The idea - modelled loosely on open primary elections in America - was to have a new, fourth category of Labour voter who could take part in exciting events like electing the party leader - but without having to become a full-blown member.
See post dated 22 September 2011 - The Fourth Dimension.
The aim was to place these new voters in the trade union section of the electoral college - where penny numbers of people vote - i.e. trade union members who pay the political levy - but without any requirement to be a Labour party member.
So far so boring and unremarkable - far from 're-founding the party' I think I'd be asking:
"Why there are all these different categories of Labour members - some of whom are more equal than others - when it comes to voting on the big issues of the day?"
Sadly, Ed didn't get that far.
Because the Bubs faced him down and forced the Labour leader to agree - that any additional votes from 'registered' supporters (who will have 10% of the vote in future) - will be spread across all three sections of Labour's electoral college.
In other words that the Bubs vote is diluted - but in just the same way as everyone else - which means that nothing - in essence - has changed.
So why all the fuss in the first place?
Nothing has been achieved with all this fighting talk - except making Ed Miliband look like he's a bit of a pushover.
After much anticipation and tough talking about 're-founding' the Labour party - Ed Miliband - has backed down in his power struggle with Britain's union bosses (the Bubs).
Ed has had previously signalled his determination to dilute the power of the Bubs - by creating a new role for registered party supporters in leadership elections.
The idea - modelled loosely on open primary elections in America - was to have a new, fourth category of Labour voter who could take part in exciting events like electing the party leader - but without having to become a full-blown member.
See post dated 22 September 2011 - The Fourth Dimension.
The aim was to place these new voters in the trade union section of the electoral college - where penny numbers of people vote - i.e. trade union members who pay the political levy - but without any requirement to be a Labour party member.
So far so boring and unremarkable - far from 're-founding the party' I think I'd be asking:
"Why there are all these different categories of Labour members - some of whom are more equal than others - when it comes to voting on the big issues of the day?"
Sadly, Ed didn't get that far.
Because the Bubs faced him down and forced the Labour leader to agree - that any additional votes from 'registered' supporters (who will have 10% of the vote in future) - will be spread across all three sections of Labour's electoral college.
In other words that the Bubs vote is diluted - but in just the same way as everyone else - which means that nothing - in essence - has changed.
So why all the fuss in the first place?
Nothing has been achieved with all this fighting talk - except making Ed Miliband look like he's a bit of a pushover.
