An article in the Times this week highlighted the ongoing debate over Tory ‘open’ primaries noting the dismay of some Tory MP’s at the ‘unintended consequences’ of the selection method. The discontent stems from Congleton where last weekend Fiona Bruce, head of a community law firm in Warrington, triumphed over Mathew Hancock, Mr Osborne’s chief [...]

This was the surprising endorsement from the Guardian’s Julian Glover on the Conservatives all-postal primaries. On Friday, over 12, 500 voters in Gosport picked Caroline Dinenage through an ‘Open Postal Primary’ to replace the infamous Sir Peter Viggars. Glover’s article highlights that Dinenage:
“is the 14th person to be picked to fill one of the safe [...]

The second ever “postal primary” was held in Gosport today, giving everyone in the constituency the chance to have a say in who should be the town’s Conservative Candidate.  The winner was Ms Dinenage, who will fight Tory Sir Peter Viggers’ seat, the MP who claimed for the infamous £1,645 duck house. According to the BBC news-site:
“The [...]

John Strafford has held office at virtually every level in the voluntary part of the Conservative Party, including nine years on the former National Union Executive Committee.   In his newly-published book, Our Fight for Democracy – A History of Democracy in the United Kingdom, he analyses the weaknesses of British democracy today and suggests how [...]

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, [...]