Political blog, June 11: Will Widdy win Speaker's race?
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I can't imagine that Ann
Widdecombe has entered the race for the job of Speaker
without calculating that she has a chance of replacing Michael
Martin, albeit in an interim role.
On the plus side for the Maidstone MP is the fact that she is
well-known, well-regarded, principled and popular.
She's also a favourite with the bookies - William Hill has her
at 4 to 1. (Fellow Kent Conservative MP Roger Gale, incidentally,
is quoted at 25 to 1 but he tells me he has no intention of
standing)
On the downside is the fact that it will be her Parliamentary
colleagues who will decide who gets the job and while she
undoubtedly has her supporters at Westminster, I'm not sure whether
there are enough of them to propel her to the Speaker's chair. The
election process is also rather complex.
I also wonder whether MPs will consider that a temporary Speaker
is the best thing given the chronic problems the Commons faces in
terms of restoring its battered reputation.
It's likely to be a crowded field, too with more candidates
declaring their interest as we approach the election day of June
21. Still, if Ann does get the job it would be a fine way of
bringing down the curtain on her career.
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The Conservatives were the undoubted
winners at the Kent County Council election - after all, they
grabbed 74 of the 84 seats up for grabs.
But in terms of the party that saw its share of the vote
increase the most compared too 2005 it was UKIP,
which went from 1.9 per cent in 2005 to 5.7 per cent last week.
Admittedly, it didn't get any seats but it is enough for the
ever-optimistic leader Nigel Farage to declare
that the party will now be taking local council elections much more
seriously.
A more immediate problem for UKIP is funding. The party, in
Nigel's words, are "brassic" after sinking all their resources into
the European election.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
There are a lot of people who question just how healthy it is
for democracy to have one party in such a powerful position. The
Lib Dems - who are now the official opposition group at County Hall
- has pointed out that its analysis of the results shows that the
Conservatives polled just under 50 per cent of the
vote but took 90 per cent of the seats.
The Lib Dems won a 22 per cent share of the
vote but were rewarded with just eight per cent of
the seats.
Of course, such outcomes are always likely with the
first-past-the-post system, which the Lib Dems have long campaigned
to change.
Still, perhaps given the current public antipathy to politicians
generally, Parliament should also consider how our local democratic
representatives are elected as a way of restoring faith in the
political process.
Thursday, June 11 2009
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