As most herald the success of all-postal ballots the loosening of control over candidate choice has predictably ruffled some feathers. The argument though largely dismissed in the case of Congleton is that open primaries are vulnerable to particular interest groups an accusation not supported by research or the Open Up campaign!

In Congleton out of 220 participants, 35 members of Fiona Bruce’s local church took part in the primary leading to one Shadow Minister’s fear of religious groups mobilising support:

“We do not want the Tory Party to become like the Republican Party in this respect”.

“The 38-year-old mother-of-two secured 4,892 votes, or 38.6%. James Bethell, a venture capitalist based in London, came second with 2,965 votes. Sam Gyimah, an entrepreneur, came third with 2,867 votes, and Julia Manning, an eye specialist in the NHS, came fourth, polling 1,935.“

The selection process was first used in Totnes, in July earlier on this year where local GP, Dr Sarah Wollaston replaced expenses row MP, Anthony Steen.

Yet out of the six representatives that made the shortlist, none of them are from the area. This is despite the fact that two locals did apply: MEP Syed Kamall and GLA Member for the constituency James Cleverly. Cllr Nicholas Bennet, former MP and until the most recent AGM Beckenham constituency Chairman and Cllr Steve Carr are also rumoured to have ‘thrown their hats in the ring’.

According to ConservativeHome, CCHQ are ‘actively discriminating against local candidates because they know the open primary process involving a public hustings… favours them’. Open Up calls on CCHQ to ensure their positive step of embracing primaries are safeguarded by ensuring local people can both stand and vote and that choice will reside with constituents and not HQ.

Add your name to the petition and help change Britain into a more honest, effective and modern democracy.

‘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 calling for action. Open primaries will break the party hold on politics which has failed the diversity of this country so greatly. That people do not care about politics in Britain is not true. People have always cared about politics, and our system must represent all and not just some.

According to Oona: ‘one answer for the political sphere comes from openupnow.org and its campaign for open primaries so that political candidates are selected by a wider range of people’ .

Totnes has provided a benchmark, where a female local GP who truely represents the constituency was voted in with a record turnout- this must happen throughout Britian.

Its time for politics to Open Up and recognise the diversity of Britian. MPs chosen by the people for the people.

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, in fact, that it’s not even funny: satire works because it plays on people’s preconceptions. “

Continuing in that vein, John carefully sets up and lays out the case for open primaries.

It’s generated a lot of debate so far, why not head over and join in?

While MPs have railed against travelling up to an hour by train home from Westminster instead of shoring up for the night in a city centre pied-a-terre at taxpayers’ expense, the general public have loudly compared this fairly reasonable journey home with their own daily commutes. And while MPs have pointed to the harm and heartbreak that will result in Kelly’s veto on the employment of family members (rather melodramatic, given that the recommendations will not come into force until after the general election, and even then, may well be watered down), the general public have looked at the employment and equality legislation which binds them, and scratched their heads in bemusement. MPs are not living in the real world, the public cry. From the outside, this looks true, and should be worrying: MPs have the power to shape the real world for the rest of us, after all.

The truth is that nothing that Parliament or Government have done since the expenses scandal has come close to addressing the fundamental question that scandal raised, namely, how can MPs and the general public see things so differently? How can they think it’s acceptable to use our money – above and beyond what we pay them to do their jobs – in order to enrich themselves on the property market, to pay their gardening bills, to even pay their accountants to organise the whole steal for them?

The only answer can be that the relationship between MPs and constituents is broken. Kelly’s recommendations will do nothing to mend it, nor will Legg’s iron fist. MPs may think we want to see them punished. In fact, quite the opposite is true. We want to bring the trust and respect that should exist between MPs and their constituents back from the dead. The first step towards doing that is resuscitating representative democracy through the introduction of open primaries.

The major party leaders have instructed “their” MPs to swallow everything Kelly and Legg throw at them. But it’s not a tightening, but a loosening of grip that is needed from party leaders now. The party leader who first backs Open Up’s call for open primaries in every constituency in the UK will be the person who has made the first step away from the expenses scandal and towards a brighter future. Because in doing so, he will have put power back where it belongs: in the hands of the people.

The local party and those Conservatives aligned to the central office have been trading insults on blogs and in the press. But wouldn’t it be better if instead of spatting, the Conservatives gave the residents of South West Norfolk the opportunity to decide for themselves who represents them in the next Parliament, by holding an open primary? We think so, and that’s why we sent the local Conservative association a letter yesterday, reproduced in full below. We’ll keep you posted on how this develops.

Mr David Hills
Chairman, South West Norfolk Conservative Association
Shirley House
23 London Street
Swaffham
PE37 7DD

2nd November 2009

A return to local choice for South West Norfolk – Open Up

Dear Mr Hills,

Having read the article ‘Conservative leadership takes on local party faithful’ in the Guardian (31/10/09), I am writing to introduce the Open Up campaign and offer our support for local choice in South West Norfolk.

Open Up is a non-partisan campaign calling on political parties to hold Open Primaries in every constituency before the next General Election. Also, Open Up calls for all MPs standing in the general election to compete for re-selection through an Open Primary.

Open Up is not backed by any political party, candidate, association, or company—we are simply a group of people who feel the current political system doesn’t work in the interest of taxpayers and voters anymore.

We are deeply concerned that local constituents have little say into which candidates are deployed by Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) to stand in the General Election. We believe that Open Primaries empower local people to select the candidate that’s right for their community.

The Conservative Party made a positive choice to hold an open primary in Totnes, and have committed to following suit in Gosport. We encourage the South West Norfolk Conservative Association to demand that CCHQ hold an Open Primary in your constituency—thus giving the choice back to the people of South West Norfolk.

Open Up can help in a number of ways, including making our experienced supporters available to answer any questions that might arise over the feasibility of holding an Open Primary. For example, Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at Oxford University and a constitutional expert, would be delighted to answer any questions you might have. In addition—but only if you wish—Open Up can help drive positive media coverage of the primary. And of course we are open to all suggestions you may have about how we can assist.

This is a huge opportunity for South West Norfolk to join the success of Totnes, Bracknell and, soon, Gosport in transforming the political system to one that’s honest, effective, modern and democratic – a government of the best possible people representing local issues.

We want to feel proud of our politicians again, to feel proud of our government, to feel proud of our country. I will follow up this letter with a phone call to you, to see how we might move this forward.

Yours sincerely,

JOE HEWITT
www.openupnow.org

In print, we hit the London Evening Standard, Times Online, Portsmouth News, Liverpool Daily Post and Wirral News. Author, former MP and political journalist Martin Bell showed his support for our campaign in an article in the Telegraph backing our pursuit of open primaries. On top of this, Sky news online posted up our duck films. The total number of viewings of the duck films has now reached a massive 33,000!

Twitter-wise, we have near-on 600 followers, with tweets about the campaign continuing to grow day by day.

Within the world of blogging, Open Up continues to be a subject of great debate, appearing on the Canvey Beat blog, as well as on openDemocracy’s network. From discussions by political commentator Iain Dale and Birkenhead MP Frank Field, it is clear to see our profile is rising and reaching the right ears and eyes. In fact, Frank Field has openly challenged the Open Up campaign to put their money where their mouth is and aid in the calling for an open primary in Birkenhead. Though we can’t fund a primary in Birkenhead, we have agreed to do all we can to help. We’re hoping this will lead to more and more constituencies announcing their desire to reselect MPs through open primaries.

Hitting such a diverse set of media only goes to demonstrate how relevant our campaign is for everybody. So if you haven’t already, please join the call for change.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Peter is chair of Comic Relief. He writes:

“When Comic Relief was started in the 1980s, it faced similar challenges about engaging people. People knew and were moved by the heart-breaking effect desperate poverty and environmental challenges were having on their fellow men and women at home and abroad. They saw it, in some form or another, every day on the news. But they felt powerless as individuals to change the situation. Back then, people questioned the juxtaposition of comedy with serious issues, the seamless televisual segue from stand-up to starvation. But experience has shown that, done right, the power of entertainment to engage people to think deeper about issues that are of common concern and to act in concert to address them can work and work well. Comic Relief has played a vital part in changing the attitude of a generation towards their own ability to change their world.

The Open Up campaign hopes to harness this power once again.”

You can read the full piece here.