I'm finding the sight of so many ministers tripping over themselves to declare themselves lifelong supporters of electoral reform and proportional representation in the wake of yesterday's poll quite sickening. Realising their only hope of clinging to power lies with a resurrected Lib-Lab pact, and the price of that will be a referendum on PR, they are all busy wooing Nick Clegg.
An extended Today programme on Radio 4 included an interview with Neil Kinnock, who said something along the lines of time being up for a system where a massive Commons majority could be gained for only 40% of the vote. Evan Davis gleefully pointed out that Kinnochio had never been heard to complain about this state of affairs when his own party were the beneficiaries. This prompted the indignant response that Kinnock had been a long-term supporter of electoral reform but "knew he couldn't promote it in those days because the papers would have made a meal of the implicit admission that Labour couldn't win on their own." (I paraphrase).
That single sentence crystallised for me everything that is amiss with politics. What Kinnock was effectively saying is that he couldn't support what he truly believed in because he was afraid of how the media would spin it. Are we supposed to believe him? Or are we led to the conclusion that this is yet another example of him - along with all the rest of them - saying what he thinks we want to hear rather than what he truly believes. One thing is certain. Either he is lying now, or he was lying then. And if he was lying then, why should we trust him now? Trust - or the lack of it - is the single biggest reason for the public's disillusion with politics and politicians. None of them say what they really mean, or mean what they say. No conviction, no leadership, no honesty, no integrity and no long-term thinking which we need to solve long-term problems like transport, education, health and pensions.
No wonder the country can't make up its mind.
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2 comments:
We voted last election on dumping the "First past the post" system, but didn't quite get enough people to make it happen.
I think the replacement system was so hard for most folk to figure out, they decided to stick with the devil they knew. (Unfortunately)
Not quite sure why so many Brits are afraid of a minority gov't. Ours has worked reasonably well for years now, and I understand Germany and other European countries have it as well.
Hi Don,
No, I'm not sure what the problem is with minority gov't either. I'm not even sure the electorate IS afraid of it - I think it's more a spectre conjured by the mainstream media in an effort to force people to vote for the party the media supports.
Seems to be a widespread view that coalition govt's get lost in endless debate and never achieve anything. If that's not true in other countries why should the UK be any different?
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