Liberal Vision

Greg Dyke gets it…so should we…

Back from Bournemouth, and having caught up on my much-needed sleep and given myself time to reflect on the events of the week, my first offering (hopefully not my last, but we’ll see)  is this.

 Get Greg Dyke involved in Lib Dem policy on constitutional and democratic reform NOW !

If not spokesman then roving ambassador/tzar /advisor …something… Please.

Having listened to him speak at the Liberal Vision Fringe meeting “Moats, Mortgages and Mayhem” he is clearly not only one of the most eloquent speakers on the subject - but one of the most passionate. HE JUST GETS IT. ….

“The evidence that our democracy is failing is overwhelming…yet those with the biggest interest in sustaining the current system, the Westminster village, the media and particularly the political parties, including this one, are the groups most in denial about what is really happening”

He not only “gets it” - HE SAYS IT STRAIGHT. ….“

“…most MPs can’t do their jobs…. When I was director-general of the BBC I regularly appeared before select committees and often had quite dumb people coming and giving me tough questions….How can those people question you now? How can someone who’s flipped their mortgage possibly sit there and start asking me about expenditure at the BBC? Because you just come back at them. I think some (MP’s) are completely undermined by this. They should go because they can’t do the job”

 

You see, his speech was not just an analysis of what is so wrong with the current system - but a damn compelling recipe for putting it right… ”…halving the number of MPs….electoral reform (some form of Proportional reform)…an elected House of Lords…the abolition of the whips system…moving parliament out of Westminster into a building fit for 21st century politics ” etc..

On Sunday’s London Politics Show  Mark Littlewood suggested that one area that the Lib Dems could and should do more is on the area of democratic and constitutional reform. I think he is spot on. This is not the same old moan about how unfair the current “first past the post” system is ( that no one cares about).

This is bang-on topical. That chimes with people’s anger and frustration with Westminster politics.The expenses scandal exposed all the flaws of the current political system. And the frustration and anger with all politicians and the whole political system can still be felt on every door step, every day. People have not forgotten about it , even if the media dont talk about it anymore.

Nick Clegg showed his understanding of the public mood when he “broke with tradition” to be the first party leader to call for the Speaker Michael Martin to go and when he made the suggestion that Parliament should abandon summer recess to sort out the mess left in the expensesgate wake.

But, we seem to have stopped there….

I may be wrong but I did not hear any promise to clean up politics, reinstate the balance of power in favour of the people, bring the political system kicking and screaming into the 21st century, in the Leaders speech on Wednesday. Perhaps it was there - but if so it was buried.

My suggestion to Nick is this. Let us be the party of constitutional and democratic reform. Build this in as a fundamental plank of our election strategy. People should know that we hear the country’s demand  for a fundamental wholesale change to our democratic system - and spell out WHAT we would change and WHEN.  

And Greg Dyke is quite simply the best advocate of democratic and constitutional reform that there is.

Nick, please, take up this fight. And get on that phone to Greg. Persuade him to take up the Lib Dem banner on this. He may well, of course say no. BUT. If you can get him to say yes..the nation will thank you for it. And so will the party.

Tags: constitutional reform, electoral reform, expenses, Greg Dyke

If we had FPTP for the Speaker’s position

A brief observation for our passing Tories:

If we had First Past The Post for this election, Bercow would have already won (!)

Ooomph!

Tags: electoral reform, John Bercow, Speaker

+++Breaking news: Labour to propose electoral reform+++

I know Gordon Brown and the Labour Party have the Midas touch at the moment but I have a horrible feeling they might screw this up.

Tags: electoral reform, Labour

Prime Minister Johnson will lose the election, but could still torpedo Cameron

With expectations of a full scale Labour meltdown in the local and European elections this week, we are in another wave of speculation about whether the Prime Minister is about to be ousted in a coup. If the Labour Party had retained any sort of sense of self-preservation, Brown would have been shot long ago. But perhaps this time, his Cabinet colleagues will finally grow a backbone.

Surely, it’s way too late for the government to stand even a remote chance of clinging on for a fourth term. Their real challenge is just to avoid full scale electoral oblivion. Prevailing orthodoxy – although no actual polling data – suggests that Alan Johnson is the man to pull Labour back from its headlong dive towards annihilation.

That’s why the Health Secretary’s suggestion of a referendum on electoral reform might be more than mere kite-flying. Giving the public a straight choice between AV Plus and FPTP on General Election day could – if won by electoral reformers - cause the Tories some major positional difficulties during the election campaign and Cameron a huge headache as the incoming Prime Minister.

Although electoral reform wouldn’t necessarily be the dominant issue in the run-up to polling day, it would be a significant one. The Conservatives would be practically alone in advocating a “no” vote. This would flush them out as being merely committed to tinkering and cosmetic constitutional change.

But – deliciously – if the AV Plus proposal was carried, Prime Minister Cameron would be faced with having a duty to legislate for a major constitutional change that he personally opposed. If he failed to do so – and swiftly – his hand-wringing about the lack of a vote on the Lisbon Treaty would sound very hollow indeed.

As setting political traps goes, Johnson has a far sharper mind than the present incumbent of 10 Downing Street. Mind you, that’s not a particularly high hurdle to clear.

Tags: Alan Johnson, David Cameron, electoral reform, Gordon Brown

Will Snoutgate lead to full blown constitutional reform?

As Westminster takes its first, tentative steps towards a reform of MPs’ expenses, could full blown constitutional reform now be leveraged onto the agenda?

That’s the big challenge for Nick Clegg and the LibDems. Although modernising and democratising Britain has been a high priority for the party for decades - particularly securing electoral reform for the House of Commons - it has not been a major communications priority in recent years. The orthodox thinking has been that banging on about STV just does not resonate with the voters.

Has the zeitgeist just changed? Radio 5 this morning had an hour long phone-in on the topic. Hearing members of the public sounding genuinely impassioned about PR was bizarre - but encouraging. The Tories appear to have nothing to say on the matter - once the expenses regime is changed, and they are on  the government benches, they seem to think that the system is ‘fixed’.

The best case I’ve seen so far, linking the expenses scandal to our electoral system, was a wizard piece of research on Mark Reckons’ blog - he’s already been referenced by both Polly Toynbee and Guido Fawkes - an impressive straddle of the political divide.

Can the party come up with the same sort of elegant arguments to help make reform a major issue, rather than one seen as the particular preserve of ’saddo’ LibDems?

Tags: electoral reform, Guido Fawkes, Polly Toynbee