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Danny Finkelstein: Political Calculus - consider the case as the vote tends to zero
Danny 
suggests here that some of us Labour Party people can gather together 34 different votes in the upcoming, hopefully upcoming Leadership elections. He dashes my hopes by missing out the Co-op Party and probably upset the celtic fringes by missing out our AMs and MSPs too. But he doesn't seem to understand the arithmetic at all.
There are three components in our electoral college.
The 400 or so parliamentarians get 33.333% of the say. A just a little smidge under 0.1% each.
The 200,000 ordinary members split the next 33.333%. A magnificent 0.0002% each. Doubling with apathy.
And finally the levy paying Trade Unionists who number around 4,000,000 and the total membership of all the socialist societies have a minute stake in the last 33.333%. Or 0.000001%. Quadrupling with the apathy we expect unless there is a decent contest with a personality and/or a policy platform for everyone.
The way everyone tells it only clunks of 44 members of the Parliamentary Labour Party can get a candidate onto the ballot paper but the whisper is that constituencies and affiliates who understand the rules could band together and put their favoured candidate in the running.
Does this person even need to be a parliamentarian? And as Parburypolitica points out 
in the direction of lawyer Harriet Harman a quick shufty at the election rubric would show her that the election is for leader and deputy leader of the party and not for Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister (if any).
Hands up who thinks Harriet'll be a good DPM, I mean DL ...
5 comments:
So how can the constituencies and the unions but someone on the ballot?
I mean put of course
30% nominating someone I've heard ...
Back again Will. The information above came from a champagne monopolizing researcher/advisor for your friend Margaret Hodge MP on the occasion of the Guardian/Observer party in the former free Trade Hall. This person was also keen on Margaret's approach to the BNP.
The rulebook does include the potential for constituencies and affiliates to make nominations but it does not specify any quota (that I can find so far) to guarantee a place on the ballot.
Whereas the clause about 12.5% of the Commons serving members of the PLP appears to be a strict one NOT allowing for nominations by another route to supercede it. So I may be wrong.
The NEC also seem to have the discretion to bump people into leader and deputy positions on an interim basis until Conference when a vacancy can be dealt with ...
Another thing. The nominees DO need to be parliamentarians - in the Commons.
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