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Snotty
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quote:
You can't fabricate a contest where there isn't one. Significant consultation with members is taking place this weekend. As a member of the Conservative Party National Convention I have spoken over the last couple of days to a huge number of Conservative Future members in my area and not a single one has suggested that they want a vote. This is the case up and down the country; there are better ways to spend £250,000 than on a non-competitive vote!
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Subdueing the competition is different than there being no competition. No one wants to be branded 'un-united'. All the members that are being consulted, and all the members that you have spoken to are going to be the most active in the party. If they did feel any disquiet with howard, then they would be highly unlikely to put their head above the parapet, and they would feel the ostricization most keenly if they were branded. An anonymous vote would give them the freedom to truly express how they felt, and thats why you arent having one. The vote would be seen as a vote of confidence with howard and could be the death knell for his career before it started.
On the other hand, a huge positive vote would give the party a great boost but it doesnt really need it right now. As you say, the large sums of money involved would be reason enough for not having one, especially with the fear it could go the wrong way.
Out of curiousity did the torys get to vote on which MEPs they wanted to represent them?
As for lop-sided, I think youre doing a cracking job of it. Do you know any tory leaning boards where I could get a good workout?
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*End Is Forever*
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Salford, UK
Jan 1970
time: 05:31
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Snotty,
quote:
Subdueing the competition is different than there being no competition. No one wants to be branded 'un-united'. |
The hypocrisy is astounding. A matter of mere weeks ago, people like yourself would have been saying that the Conservatives were incapable of uniting, and that they were unworthy for government because they were too busy fighting each other. Look at the press release sent out by the Vice-Chairmen of Liberal Democrat Youth and Students to the Student Press...
quote:
What is clear is that the Conservatives are a party that just cannot be led. Margaret Thatcher, John Major, William Hague, and now Iain Duncan Smith. If the Conservatives put as much energy into tackling the government over the issues that matter to students as it does to internal wrangling perhaps plans for Tuition Fees and Top Up Fees could have been stopped in their tracks |
...and yet now you are criticising us for the exact opposite! Make your mind up...
quote:
All the members that are being consulted, and all the members that you have spoken to are going to be the most active in the party. If they did feel any disquiet with howard, then they would be highly unlikely to put their head above the parapet, and they would feel the ostricization most keenly if they were branded. |
Again, how does this square with the constantly-portrayed image of the Conservatives by people like yourself as disunited public squabblers? Which is it going to be?
quote:
An anonymous vote would give them the freedom to truly express how they felt, and thats why you arent having one |
We aren't having one because it isn't necessary, and there are much better ways to spend a quarter of a million pounds.
quote:
The vote would be seen as a vote of confidence with howard and could be the death knell for his career before it started |
For what it's worth we organised a quick poll of our members here at the York Tories (hardly a bastion of blue-rinsers anyway, as anyone who has discussed politics in any depth with me will be able to confirm!) and after just over a third of the ballots have been returned there has been one solitary vote against Howard - an approval rate of over 95% is hardly dreadful...
quote:
Out of curiousity did the torys get to vote on which MEPs they wanted to represent them? |
Short answer, yes.
The selection process for Conservative MEPs under the party list system is that a series of selection meetings are held in each region; every member in the region is entitled to attend and vote.
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Snotty
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quote:
...and yet now you are criticising us for the exact opposite! Make your mind up... |
If the only way the torys can unite is in such an underhand manner, then so be it. I see no hypocrisy in criticising the way they have gone about it.
quote:
Again, how does this square with the constantly-portrayed image of the Conservatives by people like yourself as disunited public squabblers? Which is it going to be? |
Thus enters the 'new tory order'. Just how long is it going to last? Unless some miricle has happened in the minds of all the members, the ingrained backbiting will continue behind the scenes. Making public dissent punishable was a good move, but its simply going to drive it underground. Leopards, spots and all that.
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Zulu Elephant
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I was thinking more of the recent past - say since 1900... How many times since 1900 has the leadership contest been, er, uncontested...?
My theory is almost never - maybe even not at all until this time. |
Actually thjr Conservative party didn't have leadership elections until the late 60s. The top brass of the party simply got together and decided (top brass was less than a dozen top MPs) who was going to get it.
I think Alec Douglas Home was the last leader to be picked like this. Im pretty sure Ted Heath was elected in some way.
And EIF, only the MPs have united behind Howard. The party members have not been given an opportunity to show their unity or not.
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spartak
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and of that handfull most are too old now to say or do anything. How many years does the tory party have left at the current rate of attrition? Can the lest one alive turn off the lights around Maggie's alter?
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07-11-2003 05:44
), the Tories had this interesting mantra...
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