No Forgiving, No Forgetting

I shared the wise words of Owen Jones on Facebook:

"The Lib Dems voted to make the poor poorer. No forgiving, no forgetting. The dustbin of history awaits you." 

In reply came the wise words of Richard Cotton, staunch Eurosceptic and Brompton Oratory congregant:

"Apparently in 1951 (still Labour's biggest ever vote), almost every election result announced ended with the words "And the Liberal candidate lost his deposit". We have to destroy the Fib Dems if we are to win the next election. No deals cooked up in the editorial offices of the Guardian that Quisling rag, no compromise. We should fight hard in every seat including those Fib Dem/Tory marginals in the West Country."

Where Labour is in third place or below, and perhaps also where it is in a sufficiently distant second place, then it should dispense with any requirement that its prospective nominees be party members (although they would of course have to join if they were selected), provided that they had been registered voters within the constituency's then boundaries for at least 15 years, and provided that they were recommended to the Constituency Labour Party by the public signatures of at least five per cent of the voters. If affordable, the Constituency Labour Party General Committee's shortlist of two such applicants should be submitted to an independent, binding ballot of the entire constituency electorate.

Labour should also undertake to meet maximum election expenditure in every constituency. The unions are loaded, but not all of them are, or need necessarily become, affiliated to the Labour Party. The RMT and the FBU both no longer are (the RMT's cheque is returned uncashed every year), but they both retain membership of the Labour Representation Committee chaired by John McDonnell, and that Committee is constitutionally committed to the election of a Labour Government. 50 per cent of Labour Party members are also members of the technically unaffiliated teachers' unions, the non-fan clubs of Michael Gove. There is the Unison General Political Fund. And so on. Immense possibilities, if one knows where and how to look.

Meanwhile, Owen and Richard would balance each other rather well in Parliament, and we could probably bring Owen round on the EU. They should both go for it in 2015.