View from the Sidelines

Dorothy Margot writes

I am no academic, and I have made no study of the Politics of my country. Nevertheless, I have been a keen observer of the political scene since I first proudly walked into a polling booth, to vote for the first time, thanks to the  Representation of the People Act, 1969, which gave me the vote at 18 years old. 

 I voted Liberal. Frankly, it was to hack off my RAF father, and all he believed in, but I also thought Jeremy Thorpe was more convincing than the sexually ambiguous, Edward Heath. (Oh the irony). I doubt if I could have told you a single policy, from any party. I voted for the man who seemed most sincere.

If you Google Ed Miliband, you will note the second most popular search is 'Ed Miliband bacon sandwich'; if you Google David Cameron, the next most popular search is 'David Cameron, Twitter'. People actually want to know what Cameron is saying, whereas Miliband is good for a laugh.

In the days when the Labour party could field a man of the calibre of the late Labour Leader, John Smith, they stood a chance of sweeping the Tory party away. Who, amongst the ranks of the faithful, consider the unprepossessing and uninspiring Miliband any threat to Cameron? Cameron acts out the part of the statesman and family man to good effect, irrespective of what he is actually saying.

Political pundits rather downplay the influence that mere personality exerts on the voters' minds. That might be a simplistic summation, but Arnold Schwarzenegger garnered 4,206,384 Republican votes in 2003 on the back of having a good physique and a few quotable one-liners. It would be wrong to imagine the British voter has more savvy and is not swayed by celebrity and charisma, witness the Farage Effect!  My father was persuaded by the personable Blair to vote Labour after a lifetime of Daily Mail-informed conservatism, but during recent local elections, he voted UKIP, because he admires Nigel Farage, for 'talking sense'.

To quote Chesterton: ''The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything".

Have you read your papers recently?:

Comedian Al Murray has announced he plans to stand against Nigel Farage in the seat of South Thanet in May’s general election.

He will stand as his comedy alter ego “the Pub Landlord” for the Free United Kingdom Party, or FUKP. In a video posted to YouTube launching his bid for parliament, he says: “It seems to me that the UK is ready for a bloke waving a pint around offering common sense solutions.” 

The first of his pledges is to make pints of beer cost 1p and to brick up the channel tunnel"

Frances Perraudin, The Guardian January 14, 2015

Politics is dying on its feet, when a stand-up comedian, mocking UKIP, warrants column inches in all the press. The next election seems set to fragment politics even further, to devalue it and to fail to offer the country a radical leader/thinker of the likes of Greece's Alexis Tsipras, who ensured he was always seen, without a tie! Political stagecraft, and it got International press coverage of the 'this man means business' variety.

In June 2013 the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire Labour Party, had the opportunity to adopt an outstanding female Labour councillor, Jenny Lynn as their next election candidate. She has worked tirelessly for the party and her community and much more besides; she was the first woman to represent her ward in over 30 years.

 She is an openly practicing Christian, and I have witnessed the great respect she gets from the local Muslim community, (no mean feat), by her leadership of the Halifax Friends of Palestine and her support of asylum seekers. She is eloquent, her voice is easy on the ear, she has a 'common touch' and a good sense of humour, and she is passionate about her politics. So whom did her party choose, when she was proposed as a candidate, and stood against 3 other hopefuls? A fresh faced, anodyne London-based 'local' lad who has yet to serve his community, Josh Fenton-Glynn.  Yes, let's not select a fiery, single, middle aged woman, let's have a safe smiley Mili - Bland clone. Well, good luck with that choice.

Josh twittered on 7 Feb 2015:

"We are 'likes' away from 500 on the 'Josh For Calder Valley' Facebook page, let's see if we can get there by Monday". Inspiring, isn't it?

 So, finally, to answer the question. By choosing, post-Kinnock, yet another albatross leader to hang around their necks, the Labour party is indeed already dying, by slow suicide