Open Up Politics » Gosport http://blog.openupnow.org Just another WordPress weblog Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:38:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 “Open primaries, and in particular all-postal ones, are working” http://blog.openupnow.org/2009/12/07/%e2%80%9copen-primaries-and-in-particular-all-postal-ones-are-working%e2%80%9d/ http://blog.openupnow.org/2009/12/07/%e2%80%9copen-primaries-and-in-particular-all-postal-ones-are-working%e2%80%9d/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:35:07 +0000 admin http://blog.openupnow.org/?p=386 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 seats that have just come vacant (with eight more currently to go)”.

As noted by Glover, 38%  of these new candidates are women, three are doctors (one chosen just ahead of a teacher) and the final two run businesses. Only one of the new influx of Tory candidates went to Eton. Has the stereotypical upper-class, very wealthy, aloof Tory been replaced by:

“ local, middle income, probably state educated and quite possibly employed in the public sector, with a record of voluntary work and a deep-seated distrust of the central state and the European Union”?

As the Conservatives seek to win a solid majority in the General Election, open primaries are proving to provide a breath of fresh air, not only to the Conservative party, but also to the state of British politics

Glover endorses the Conservative policy of directing candidate selection as being responsible for the “change” of future MPs.

]]> http://blog.openupnow.org/2009/12/07/%e2%80%9copen-primaries-and-in-particular-all-postal-ones-are-working%e2%80%9d/feed/ 0 Postal Open Primary – Gosport http://blog.openupnow.org/2009/12/04/postal-open-primary-gosport/ http://blog.openupnow.org/2009/12/04/postal-open-primary-gosport/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:25:58 +0000 admin http://blog.openupnow.org/?p=380 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 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.

]]> http://blog.openupnow.org/2009/12/04/postal-open-primary-gosport/feed/ 0