What A New Party Might Look Like

It would allow people to choose either or both of local and national membership, and it would also welcome affiliation at either national or local level, subject to national or local approval respectively. Local members, national members, members of nationally affiliated organisations, and members of locally affiliated organisations would have exactly equal rights and responsibilities as members of the party, with no sections, Electoral Colleges, or what have you.

The basic unit would be the Branch, at Ward level or as a branch of an affiliated organisation. In each constituency, the parliamentary candidate would be selected by putting out to a ballot of every registered voter in the constituency a shortlist of the two potential candidates who had been nominated by the most Branches. Likewise, the Leader would be elected by putting out to a nation-wide ballot of the entire electorate a shortlist of the two potential Leaders who had been nominated by the most Branches. In either case, each attendee at the relevant Branch Meeting would be entitled to vote for one potential candidate or Leader, and the Branch would nominate its two highest scorers.

And the top 10 policies thus proposed by the Branches (i.e., vote for one and the Branch proposes the top two) would also be put out to such a national ballot, with people entitled to vote for up to two, and with the top five guaranteed inclusion in the General Election Manifesto.

These three types of ballot would simply take place, as a matter of routine, in the course of each Parliament. Furthermore, every three years, a ballot like that on policy would be conducted to elect nominees for peerages. And there could be no disciplinary action against any MP, as such, unless ratified by over half the Branches in his or her constituency.

As to the substance rather than the form, in addition to signing up to at least three, including the top two, of the five policies chosen in the national ballot, all parliamentary candidates would have to sign up to at least seven, including the top three, of the 10 economic policies determined by an Advisory Board appointed by the unions, of the 10 social policies determined by an Advisory Board most obviously drawn from certain religious interests, and of the 10 foreign and security policies determined by a self-perpetuating Advisory Board of paleoconservative commentators.