The four rules of political defections
As evidenced by this week’s news, there are some remarkably consistent things which happen when people switch party, regardless of who, where and when.
#1 The rule of principle
a. If an elected politician leaves your party, it’s a cynical move driven by fears over their future
b. If an elected politician joins your party, it’s a principled move, driven by fears over the future of our country
#2 The rule of vocabulary
a. If an elected politician leaves your party, it’s a defection
b. If an elected politician joins your party, it’s a switch
#3 The rule of seniority
a. If an elected politician leaves your party, they are no-one of importance any more
b. If an elected politician joins your party, they are a senior person
#4 The rule of by-elections
a. If an elected politician leaves your party, demand a by-election, claiming this is a principled view
b. If an elected politician joins your party, rebuff calls for a by-election, claiming this is a principled view
but 4.. the FACT is that in the UK we elect an individual candidate, not a party, let alone the party leader(unless we live in their constituency). The ‘club’ they happen to belong to, along with their religion, their sexuality, their marital status, whether they are rich/poor, etc, etc. are all points of information about the individual, but it is the individual we elect.
But yes, there should be a system of recall, triggered by a petition of one third of the registered electorate of their constituency
The four rules are amusing…and true.
However I will not resile from believing that if you leave a party on whose programme you stood and whose name you used then you need fairly promptly to take the Chiltern Hundreds and be easily re-elected by your grateful constituents.
Ironically had the SDP done just that all those years ago BEFORE Thatchaer caused the Falklands War by seeking to destroy the Royal Navy … then a large slug of former Labour and Tory MP’s would have been duly returned as SDP MP’s. Different dynamic.
We’re seeing a good example of Rule 3 in action with the authoritarian left competing to minimise the status of the TIGgers, identifying them with both baked beans AND rotten teeth (cartoonist Steve Bell) and minnows (Chair of Luton South Labour Party). Looks as if the leavers have hit a sensitive nerve.