Rory Stewart OBE who was a candidate at the Bracknell Conservative Primary (See how he preformed my review here) and is now the Conservative PPC for Penrith and the border is on television tonight.
Rory Stewart if he wins (he should do Penrith is a very safe conservative seat) will be a useful addition to any government. you only need to read his CV on Wikipedia to know that. I’m not sure how good he would be as a constituency MP given his history but if he gets in I will be watching with interest to see how he gets on in Government. He certainly has an interesting way of campaigning which does bold well for his possible future constituency, see Iain Dales blog A Walk With Rory the Tory.
He is on BBC 2 Tonight (Saturday 16th January) in a two part program called the Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia. To quote David Butcher a reviewer on the Radio Times;
“As a former soldier, diplomat, travel writer and governor of an Iraqi province, Rory Stewart is just the kind of dashing character to offer a personal take on the life of TE Lawrence, something he does superbly in this two-parter. Stewart's angle is that the lessons Lawrence learnt about the Arab world, desert warfare and insurgency are painfully relevant today. In fact, as he points out, today's US Army officers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are encouraged to read Lawrence's writings as well as counter-insurgency manuals influenced by his ideas. Whether they bother is another matter. Stewart walks us through Lawrence's early years as a historian and archaeologist and traces how a shy, romantic young student became first a spy and then, in World War One, a guerrilla general, leading an army of Bedouin rebels against the Turkish Ottomans who at the time ruled Arabia. It's a stirring story, and blessedly free of reconstructions, though the odd clip from David Lean's classic film doesn't hurt.“
Now I think you can see just what an insightful program this will be into the problems in this part of the world and perhaps into the interesting mind of Rory Stewart.
Showing posts with label penrith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label penrith. Show all posts
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Monday, 26 October 2009
Thoughts on Iain Dales Thoughts on Candidate Selection from Bracknell
Iain Dale has posted an article on his Blog here about his thoughts on candidate selection after his experience at Bracknell’s primary. Katy Lindsay also applied for Woking and Sleaford (conservative Majority over 6000). Rory Stewart applied and won selection for PPC in Penrith (a very safe seat with a majority of over 10,000).
The discussion on a local or non local candidate is just one of the issues. I prefer a local candidate but I do understand that this is not always possible and if the quality of candidates is not there locally then not always the best option. I believe most electorates prefer a local candidate however.
Can you really concentrate on more than one constituency at a time? A number of the Bracknell candidates put a lot of hard work into learning about Bracknell and not just doing the arranged meetings but also have done their own work to find out about the local issues. But if your trying to win in consecutive seats without any break in-between, how can you do the work needed to understand an area when those constituencies are as far apart as say Bracknell and Penrith are.
But the real problem is in parachuting candidates into safe seats. Granted an open primary gives the electorate a chance to select their candidate. But unless this is a postal vote how many of the electorate actually turn up to a Primary. Bracknell’s was less than half a percent of registered voters these candidates for the most part are still selected for what is essentially a safe seat. The actual election almost becomes a rubber stamp on the PPC already chosen in the Primary. Is this really good for our democracy or is this hiding the real problem of safe seats.
We all know that with a majority of over 10,000 in Penrith, Rory Stewart will almost certainly win in the upcoming general election unless something amazing happens. I have no doubt that Rory Stewart could be a good MP and he could be cabinet material. I just worry that we are kidding ourselves that this is democracy, when what we really need is full reform of our whole electoral system so that seats are no longer so safe. I wish the incoming conservatives would consider the Single Transferable Voting system as it is fairer then First Past the Post. It gives voters more choice and puts power in the hands of the voters rather than the party.
http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/article.php?id=103
The discussion on a local or non local candidate is just one of the issues. I prefer a local candidate but I do understand that this is not always possible and if the quality of candidates is not there locally then not always the best option. I believe most electorates prefer a local candidate however.
Can you really concentrate on more than one constituency at a time? A number of the Bracknell candidates put a lot of hard work into learning about Bracknell and not just doing the arranged meetings but also have done their own work to find out about the local issues. But if your trying to win in consecutive seats without any break in-between, how can you do the work needed to understand an area when those constituencies are as far apart as say Bracknell and Penrith are.
But the real problem is in parachuting candidates into safe seats. Granted an open primary gives the electorate a chance to select their candidate. But unless this is a postal vote how many of the electorate actually turn up to a Primary. Bracknell’s was less than half a percent of registered voters these candidates for the most part are still selected for what is essentially a safe seat. The actual election almost becomes a rubber stamp on the PPC already chosen in the Primary. Is this really good for our democracy or is this hiding the real problem of safe seats.
We all know that with a majority of over 10,000 in Penrith, Rory Stewart will almost certainly win in the upcoming general election unless something amazing happens. I have no doubt that Rory Stewart could be a good MP and he could be cabinet material. I just worry that we are kidding ourselves that this is democracy, when what we really need is full reform of our whole electoral system so that seats are no longer so safe. I wish the incoming conservatives would consider the Single Transferable Voting system as it is fairer then First Past the Post. It gives voters more choice and puts power in the hands of the voters rather than the party.
http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/article.php?id=103
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