And another thing…

QUITE a lot of condemnation in the comments to the last post (I’m still surprised at how much bile is injected into these comments by people who would clearly never use such language in polite company, but hey — that’s the internet for you) about the prospects of Jack Dromey becoming an MP.

“Outrageous nepotism”, seems to be the conclusion for most hate-mongers of the Right. Yet when they cite examples of such nepotism in the Labour Party, they tend to fall rather short. The case of the recent selection of a candidate in Erith and Thamesmead, where the daughter of Lord (Philip) Gould failed to win, seems an odd example, for obvious reasons. Another favourite example of Labour nepotism oft quoted by the hard-of-thinking is Glasgow North East, where there were rumours that Michael Martin’s son, Paul, wished to succeed his father at Westminster. Such rumours were more than enough to start the mouths foaming, even though Paul had no intention of standing and an altogether different candidate was subsequently selected.

Another equally-laughable example of Labour nepotism is in Hull, where retiring MP John Prescott was almost succeeded by his son. Almost. Mr Prescott Jr. lost out in the selection, but that didn’t stop the Right claiming it was only Prescott Jr’s relationship to the former Deputy Prime Minister that got him… er, beaten. Or something.

But let’s turn our atention to the Conservative Party, shall we? To Douglas Hogg, perhaps, the son of a former Tory Lord Chancellor? Or to Henry Bellingham MP, the 17th of his line to enter the Commons? Francis Maude’s father was an MP, as was Bill Wiggin’s. And there are plenty of other examples on both sides of the House. Who honestly thinks Hilary Benn should be excluded from office just because his father (and grandfather) was also an MP?

The point, surely, is that there is absolutely nothing wrong in politicians’ sons and daughters following them into parliament. Those of the rabid tendency seem to believe that it is undemocratic to allow such offspring to compete for party nominations. Or to be more accurate, they believe that it is undemocratic to allow such offspring to compete for Labour Party nominations. If you’re a Tory politician whose parent served in the House, you obviously achieved office by hard graft and through being eminently qualified for the job. If you’re a Labour politician, however, and your mother or father was an MP, well, that’s nepotism, that is…

I would suggest that it’s pretty unavoidable that the sons and daughters of politicians enter politics themselves. In fact it should be welcomed: political sons and daughters are probably better prepared for the media scrutiny and demands of constituents previously visited upon their parents.

Given that Jack Dromey has lived his entire life in the Labour movement, and given that his wife is a long-serving, prominent MP, wouldn’t it be stranger if he didn’t consider seeking election as an MP? As to being “parachuted” into a safe seat, if Jack is selected, he will have had to plead his case against other candidates in front of a selection conference which includes every paid-up member of whichever local Labour Party is looking for a new candidate. And please don’t bother whittering on about Totnes and open primaries; that won’t happen in many — if any — more Tory selections this side of a general election, and pretending that open primaries are now the “norm” in the Conservative Party isn’t going to wash.

KNUCKLE draggers who actually believe that candidates should be rejected because of their parentage should pay attention to this comment, left in response to my latest posting on Erith and Thamesmead:

Many years ago there was a constituency called Nantwich, which was pure Tory. Next to it was a constituency called Crewe, which was pure Labour.

After the boundary changes of 1983 the constituency of Crewe and Nantwich came into being. Labours candidate was Gwyneth Dunwoody who managed to win the 1983 election by with a majority of less than 300. (290?).

Over the following years until her untimely death Gwyneth built that majority up to ~7000. She did this mainly by convincing the Tory majority in Nantwich that even as a Labour MP she could and would defend their interests. Although a life long member of the Labour party her principal was always to fight for what was best for her constituency regardless of party policies.

She was one of the few people who survived being attacked by the central party when the party tried to oust her from the chairmanship of the Transport committee. Mostly because of her honest and not merely compliant running of the committee even if that involved saying the party was wrong.

And the point of this post ?.

Her mother, Norah Phillips, was a life peer.

The people of Crewe and Nantwich will be lucky to have another MP who represents and fights for them as much as that daughter of a peer.

I don’t know her or her politics but I would urge Georgia Gould to campaign for and fight to represent the people of Erith and Thamesmead. The constituency (like every constituency) deserves somebody who will get involved at a local level, who will listen to the people and will fight for you and your votes.

I am not a natural party voter, no single party represents my views, but Gwyneth would always get my vote because even if I disagreed with a particular point I always knew she was trying to do the best for the people she represented and not just kowtow to dogmatic party lines. She wasn’t my Labour member of parliament, she was MY member of parliament and that means a lot more to floating voters like myself than if she was the daughter of a peer.

I HAVE never met Georgia Gould but she is already the most famous Labour activist in the country.

She is contesting the selection for Labour candidate in Erith and Thamesmead  and has already made a rookie mistake, such a blindingly obvious faux pas that you have to ask yourself if she’s really cut out for politics at all: she has become popular among the local membership.

But it’s not enough, apparently, to be capable, intelligent, likeable and committed (which from all accounts she is). Ms Gould’s worst liability isn’t even that she doesn’t live in the constituency (and we all know that anyone who hasn’t lived all their life in the constituency they aspire to represent can’t possibly hope to be remotely effective as an MP. Apparently). No, her biggest disadvatage is that she’s the daughter of Philip (now Lord) Gould, who was, you may remember, a close friend and adviser to Tony Blair as well as his polling guru.

Now some Dave Spart-typer over at LabourHome is joining in the Georgia-baiting that has become a compulsive sport for some in the party of late. Equating a life peer appointed by Labour’s most successful prime minister with hereditary lords, Daniel Clarke says:

The offspring of Lords and Ladies have been over-represented in Parliament for centuries and the Erith and Thamesmead CLP members now need to make clear that being born into wealth and privilege is no longer sufficient qualification to be a Member of Parliament

Truly pathetic.

Isn’t it remarkable that post-Smeargate, when everyone is ostensibly beating themselves up over briefing against colleagues and reporting such briefings as fact, that here we have a young woman being villified and briefed against by Labour Party members for committing the unforgiveable crime of having a father who’s pals with our party’s most succesful leader ever and who is proving a far better campaigner than any of the other candidates in the field. And the media are dutifully reporting this poison. As they always do and always will, I suppose.

No-one would blame Georgia for saying “sod off” to Labour and heading off to somewhere where she might a bit more appreciated. Ah, but there’s the problem: she’s already appreciated by the members of Erith and Thamesmead , hence the destruction of the postal ballots which, I’m willing to bet, would have given her the nomination.

I hope she doesn’t walk away, because I don’t think we want to send out the message, particularly at the moment, that off-the-record, briefings by bullying middle aged men can see off talented young women.