The current Tory system of electing a leader is rigged and undemocratic. MPs choose which two of them will go on the final ballot paper that might eventually go to party members if the MPs have not defenestrated each other first so as to leave only one candidate standing. That is how we ended up with the hopeless Mrs May.
Labour had a members vote and got Corbyn. The difference is Corbyn has strong grassroots support and Mrs May's support comes only from some MPs and the CBI. Also Mrs May is a proven poor campaigner while Corbyn is a proven good campaigner. So if things stay as they are Corbyn will win easily in 2022.
The undemocratic Tory system is that you have to vote for one of our two elite MPs whom we will choose for you. That just won't do in the 21st century. It disenfranchises and demotivates the ordinary party members who do the work to get governments elected. If the Tories want to have a chance next election they have to ditch their elite's fear of Boris and give their foot soldiers a leader they can and will fight for and vote for and increase the size of their army.
Boris is the man Corbyn and the EU fear most. Ergo he is the right man for the job. I doubt the Downing Street cat fears or loves Mrs May.
3 comments:
The present Conservative system was installed precisely to prevent ordinary members being able to overrule the parliamentary party. Ian Duncan Smith was the choice of the rank and file members but not of the MPs, so it was decided that he must be got rid of and such a thing must never be allowed to happen again.
As an outsider with many other things to think of, I did not try to follow the story in detail but believe they solved the problem by putting Ken Clarke in charge of party democracy! His methods also ensured that Europhile MEPs could not be deselected by giving sitting MEPs " squatters' rights" to prevent anything so vulgar as Labour MPs now have to suffer at the hands of Momentum.
However, I could not disagree with you more about Boris Johnson - a man with some good turns of phrase but, as his former boss Max Hadtings remarked, not exactly wedded to the truth ( or anyone else as it has turned out recently) . The trouble is there is not one of the present prominent personalities in the Conservative in whom I feel any confidence.
Thx Mr Spalton for adding the IDS angle. Like you I know little of the Tory party
I rate Rory Stewart - a man to watch IMO.
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