European Selection Results
Well, today is that terribly exciting day when we finally learn which of our MEP candidates will probably be heading off on the gravy train to Brussels at the next EU elections in 2009.
Much like the European Union itself, the party list system which is used to elect MEPs is incredibly undemocratic. In effect political parties rather than the electorate have almost total control over who is selected and elected.
For example, despite Giles Chichester being a sycophantic pro-EU MEP whose views are out of line with the majority of Conservative party members in the South West and indeed the electorate – unless he had chosen to step down or resign then there is no way for party members under the current rules to remove him from office or the list, and the British electorate in the South West certainly has absolutely no say either.
Then there is the scandal of how the party has chosen to enforce the elevation of the highest ranking women in the selections vote to the top of their list behind any incumbent MEP. In the South West this means that if the membership voted for the two female candidates Zehra Zaidi and Julie Girling to come in last, then regardless of the result the higher ranking of the two women would automatically be placed second behind the incumbent Giles Chichester.
The Conservative party is supposedly meant to believe in meritocracy, where people are selected on their abilities rather than the colour of their skin or gender. I say supposedly because in practice the parties own internal workings are far from meritocratic, and increasingly their policies are pursuing the elitist egalitarian line.
In light of the above, at a guess this is what I believe will be the result: 1) Giles Chichester MEP, 2) Zehra Zaidi, 3) Michael Dolley, 4) Don Collier, 5) Julie Girling and 6) Ashley Fox.
It is worth noting that despite being a party member since 2002 I did not receive any voting papers for these selections. This is not really surprising because the Conservative party is completely useless at organising internal elections – probably in part because it just doesn’t like the democratic element to them and wants full control over its candidates at all levels.
That said, even if I had received my ballot papers I doubt I would have voted anyway. So pointless and completely insignificant are our MEPs that it matters very little who we actually send off first class on the Euro-star to the numerous Champagne receptions and all those fantastically important sub-committee meetings in Strasbourg.
With perhaps one or two honourable exceptions the majority of our candidates (including those in the South West region) are in favour of the European project but still claim to be ‘eurosceptic’. They do not support EU withdrawal because they know that they owe their position to the party (rather than the electorate) and therefore will continue to pursue the party’s wishes if they want to maintain favour along with their perks and privileges.
