Alas, There Is No Alternative

I wish that that the Labour Party in Parliament and beyond still gave a voice to those whose priorities include the Welfare State, workers’ rights, trade unionism, the co-operative movement, consumer protection, strong communities, conservation rather than environmentalism, fair taxation, full employment, public ownership, proper local government, a powerful Parliament, and a base of real property from which every household could resist both over-mighty commercial interests and an over-mighty State, while having a no less absolute commitment to any or all of the monarchy, the organic Constitution, national sovereignty, civil liberties, the Union, the Commonwealth, the countryside, grammar schools, traditional moral and social values, controlled importation and immigration, and a realistic foreign policy. I wish that that voice were still taken into account in the formulation and implementation of Labour policy and strategy. But those days are gone, and they are never coming back. So we need electoral reform. AV avoids party lists, and it retains the single-member constituency link, with the MP responsible for and to every constituent.

I wish that that the Conservative Party in Parliament and beyond still gave a voice to those whose priorities include agriculture, manufacturing, small business, national sovereignty, the Union, economic patriotism, local variation, historical consciousness, traditional moral and social values, the whole Biblical and Classical patrimony of the West, close-knit communities, law and order, civil liberties, academic standards, all forms of art, mass political participation within a constitutional framework (“King and People” against the Whig magnates), conservation rather than environmentalism, sound money, a realistic foreign policy, a strong defence capability used only for the most sparing and strictly defensive purposes, the Commonwealth, the constitutional and other ties among the Realms and Territories having the British monarch as Head of State or other such constitutional links, the status of the English language and the rights of its speakers both throughout the United Kingdom and elsewhere, the rights of British-descended communities throughout the world, the longstanding and significant British ties to the Arab world, support for the Slavs in general and for Russia in particular as the gatekeepers of Biblical-Classical civilisation, a natural affinity with Confucian culture, exactly as much central and local government action as is required by these priorities, a profound suspicion of an American influence and action characteristically defined against them, and an active desire for a different American approach. I wish that that voice were still taken into account in the formulation and implementation of Conservative policy and strategy. But those days are gone, and they are never coming back. So we need electoral reform. AV avoids party lists, and it retains the single-member constituency link, with the MP responsible for and to every constituent.

A I wish that there were still a party in Parliament and beyond which gave a voice to those whose priorities include civil liberties, local communitarian populism, the indefatigable pursuit of single issues, the Nonconformist social conscience, the legacy of Keynes and Beveridge, traditional moral and social values, consumer protection, conservation rather than environmentalism, national sovereignty, a realistic foreign policy, the Commonwealth, the peace activism historically exemplified by Sir Herbert Samuel, redress of economic and political grievances in the countryside, and the needs and concerns of areas remote from the centres of power both in the United Kingdom and in each of its constituent parts. I wish that that voice were still taken into account in the formulation and implementation of such a party’s policy and strategy. But those days are gone, and they are never coming back. So we need electoral reform. AV avoids party lists, and it retains the single-member constituency link, with the MP responsible for and to every constituent.

These mighty political forces are in fact constitutional checks and balances as important as any. The first has never enjoyed exclusive control of the Labour Movement (although it was always predominant until the death of John Smith), nor has the second ever enjoyed exclusive control of the Conservative Party rather than of the age-old Toryism that has only ever been a part of that party’s constituency, nor has the third ever enjoyed exclusive control of whatever has been the vehicle for the Liberal tradition at the given time. Yet their respective roles within those larger formations were further examples of the checking and balancing that is the essence of constitutionality, and did in fact save British constitutionality on a number of occasions. But those days are gone, and they are never coming back. So we need electoral reform. AV avoids party lists, and it retains the single-member constituency link, with the MP responsible for and to every constituent.

With that link retained, we can also move to something which, had it been in place, would have precluded the exclusion of these moderate, mainstream, commonsensical voices from the House of Commons. Each party should submit to a binding ballot of the whole constituency electorate its locally determined internal shortlist of two for Prospective Parliamentary Candidate. That should happen in the course of each Parliament, as a matter of routine. As should each party’s submission to a binding ballot of the whole national electorate of its nationally determined internal shortlist of two for Leader. And as should each party’s submission to such a ballot of the 10 policies proposed by the most of its branches, with each voter entitled to vote for up to two, and with the top seven guaranteed inclusion in the subsequent General Election manifesto. We also need a ballot line system, such that voters would be able to indicate that they were voting for a given candidate specifically as endorsed by a smaller party or other campaigning organisation, with the number of votes by ballot line recorded and published separately. Again, had that been in place, then we would never have lost the proper parties. But it wasn’t. So we need electoral reform. AV avoids party lists, and it retains the single-member constituency link, with the MP responsible for and to every constituent.

In adopting and adapting the American primary system, we can and must avoid its faults, of which one is the absence of any spending limit, but another is the closed primary system in some states. Parties would shortlist internally, though strictly at local level for PPCs rather than as in practice at present. But the final decision would be for the whole electorate, with no rule barring those who voted in one ballot from voting in the others. So there could be nothing like the takeover of the Republican Party by the Tea Party. The Republicans would have done well this year anyway, as the Democrats would have done well in 2008 anyway. But if twenty per cent of Americans identify with the Tea Party, then eighty per cent do not. It is arguable that other tendencies are already in dereliction of their duties as constitutional checks and balances within one of the two great parties. It is unarguable that the Republican Party is rapidly approaching dereliction of its duty as a constitutional check and balance on the Democratic Party. That duty cannot be done from only one vote in five, which it will be approaching if the Tea Party takeover persists beyond this highly unusual year. There would be none of that if everyone could vote in every primary, which is what we must therefore have here. We should have had it already. But we did’t. So we need electoral reform. AV avoids party lists, and it retains the single-member constituency link, with the MP responsible for and to every constituent.