An ‘open’ primary was held in Esher and Walton, a Tory safe seat, last week. Dominic Raab, a lawyer who currently serves as Chief of Staff to Dominic Grieve, won on the second ballot after fellow candidate, Jo-Anne Nadler, was knocked out in the first round.
The event was attended by over 700 members of the [...]

Questions are being raised about how ‘open’ Beckenham’s primary for Conservative candidate will transpire to be. According to ConservativeHome local discontent is brewing following the Executive request of ‘someone who would be a first rate constituency MP and that the preference was for a local candidate’.
Yet out of the six representatives that made the shortlist, [...]

Sworn at. Verbally abused in the high street. Treated with contempt on the door step.
In the current climate who’d be a politician? And before you accuse me of exaggeration I’ve experienced all this and more in the last few months. And I have never been elected. Or received a penny in expenses.
Meeting the public and [...]

Writing in Sunday’s Observer, Oona King has highlighted the lack of diversity that still exists in British Politics. Returning to Downing Street, as a lobbyist rather than an MP, King remarks that:
‘even though the PM and his advisers are extremely helpful and progressive, I can’t help noticing they’re all men.’
With so much written about change, Open Up is [...]

“The only way to download power is by rebalancing the system towards the people. This is the agenda. Now we need the political will.”
I read back these words I wrote three years ago with mixed feelings. Back then, the idea that our greatest democratic institution, the Houses of Parliament, could be so publicly disgraced by [...]

Legendary comedy producer and Open Up’s very own man behind the Tales From The Duck House films, John Lloyd, had an eloquent post published on the Guardian’s Comment is Free blog this weekend.
Politics’ Drift Beyond Satire begins with the following astute observation: 
“The idea that politicians are not honest comes as a shock. It’s so surprising, [...]

If you’ve enjoyed our “Tales from the Duck House” films, take a look at this “making of…” video, featuring producer John Lloyd talking about what inspired him to role up his sleeves and dive in to the world of political reform.
We’ve also released a new duck video this week – watch a “Partly political broadcast” [...]

Today, Open Up is launching its first major ad campaign in the national press. See if you can spot the ducks swimming through your favourite newspaper, or take a sneak preview now (click on the image, left, to enlarge it).
Jon Miller, who helped create the ads, says he took as his inspiration the inertia of [...]

In the week or so leading up to today’s publication of the Kelly report, as his recommendations slowly and inevitably leaked into the news ahead of time, one thing has been striking. And that is the contrast between MPs’ reactions to Kelly’s proposed changes, and the reaction of the general public.
While MPs have railed against [...]

Here at Open Up, we’ve been following the story of Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Elizabeth Truss with interest. According to this report in the Guardian, members of the South West Norfolk Conservative association are considering deselecting Ms Truss, after it was revealed she had had an extra-marital affair with a Conservative MP – a fact [...]