Who Or What Is The Dragon in 2007?
The dragon facing modern day Georges in England are those opposed to real democracy. The dragon is embodied in quangos, Labour leadership and to my deep shame Conservatives. Off the cuff, here are my top 10 (!) examples of anti-democratic action at home over the LAST MONTH.
1. State funding for political party proposals - Hayden Phillips proposals.
2. Removal of democratic choice re EU constitution - Tony Blair wriggles out of EU referendum promise
3. High level disrepect for legal institutions - Lord Goldsmith refuses to stand aside in the cash for peerages case
4. Removing members' say - Conservative Party tables anti-democratic proposals for MEP selections*
5. Enshrining secrecy - David McLean (Conservative MP!) tries to obtain exemptions for MPs from the freedom of information act
6. Taxpayer funding of incumbent MPs - Labour Party votes in £6m+ bung for sitting MPs
7. Electoral roll inaccuracies - Electoral Commission polling estimates at least 1 million and up to 3.5 million "ghost voters" on the election rolls.
8. Disrespect for democratic outcomes - Labour Party ignores wishes of its members.
9. Crony appointments 1 - Postal vote counting contract goes to Labour party supplier.
10. Crony appointments 2 - Gordon Brown's pollster under investigation.
* - Decision today.
Have you ever felt under siege? If you count yourself to be a democrat, you ought to. There is a big opportunity to be the party that trusts people and champions democracy. If the Conservative Party leadership blows this chance, the UK is in big trouble.
7 comments:
Champions Democracy!
It was not that long ago when MPs, let alone party members, didn't get a vote on Tory party leadership.
Any comments to my post or the future?
Electoral Commission v UKIP.
How fitting the party board meets today. I hope the board has some George's on it who will defend the rights of Conservative members to select the people who would represent us in the quagmire of Brussels.
How does one get hold of you you don't have any contact on your blog
Writing as a LibDem I'm sometimes disappointed that we spend too much time discussing the precise definition of 'liberal' and not enough time thinking about how to make our country more democratic.... I'd like to see democrats (of all political colours) take a slightly more 'in-your-face' attitude to unelected bodies...
Thats a tremendous post P.
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