|
All members are equal The Green Party is also undertaking selection for provision to stand in Brent South. We, too, apply rules, but the contrast with New Labour could hardly be more pronounced ('Outsiders picked for Brent South election', Times, March 23). Any party member with a valid nomination paper is put forward to the local membership for ballot. There is no behind-the-scenes panel deemed fit for judging who should or should not be screened out - sorry, they mean shortlisted - prior to the final stage. If those balloted sought to prioritise or ignore factors such as race or local profile in their selection of a candidate they would be at liberty so to do. So you see, I can well understand how activists of any political party could get angry to find themselves denied the right to judge who should or should not be able to stand for their own party. Add to this the suspicion that Boateng's departure was timed to contrive reliance upon a centralised selection panel - there's a rule for that, of course. So it will come as no surprise to many of the public that New Labour's control freakery in government exactly mirrors its contempt for internal democracy. The two are inextricably related. How could they not be?
Dr Shahrar Ali |
|
Letter published in |