Opinion: Unnatural Selection

Published on: 23 Jul, 2018
Updated on: 12 Aug, 2018

By Martin Giles

A councillor told me the other day that not only were councillor candidate selection meetings notoriously poorly attended, there had even been one where the only attendee had been the prospective candidate themselves! A short meeting, presumably.

True or not, it is widely acknowledged that there is far too little competition to be a borough council candidate and the political parties can struggle to find enough to stand in all 48 seats in the 22 wards that make up Guildford Borough.

As a result, all the main parties put up “paper candidates” who are asked to stand, with no expectation, or even desire, of victory. They are there simply to capture a share of the available vote. Problems can arise when an unexpected swing launches such candidates into seats, as we saw in 2015.

So if lack of interest is the normal problem, the news from Holy Trinity Ward that the three incumbent Conservatives are facing another rerun of their selection meeting, because of complaints about the way the first two have been organised, might be an indication of a healthier state of affairs.

Whatever the poor organisation might say about the party, the fact that there is such attention, including that from other prospective candidates, is a good thing.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.

But if the news from Holy Trinity could be considered hopeful, the news from Worplesdon is depressing. A Conservative candidate has been deselected, we can only conclude, because he refused to bend his knee to the autocratic leadership of his party at GBC. A shameful decision.

Anyone who knows Cllr Bob McShee also knows he is a man of integrity, who simply wishes to serve the community in which he lives. What could possibly have been the thinking behind his deselection other than an intolerance of any independence of opinion?

Cllr Bob McShee (2nd right) with his wife Ann (in blue) attending a memorial event in Jacobs Well in 2014.

He is on record as saying: “My priority is to serve the residents of Worplesdon above any party politics.” Many would say he has got his priorities right.

And it is not just words. He has a track record of service as a parish councillor having served on Worplesdon parish council for 28 years, 13 years as its chairman. He is of far higher calibre than many others that have been approved by the first phase of the Tory selection process, as some Conservatives councillors have privately admitted.

The only conclusion can be that his determination to represent his constituents to the best of his ability cannot be tolerated. Only obedience is approved, whatever else might be claimed.

The Conservative members of Worplesdon branch can still make their views known at the branch candidate selection meeting. They might be interested to know why they have been denied the right to continue to vote for Bob McShee as a Conservative. So would we all.

Hopefully it will be, for once, a well-attended meeting and there will be some forthright debate,

Historically though, it is in small, private, poorly attended, Conservative party meetings where most of our councillors have been selected. It is true that they then have to win the election but with so many voters in Guildford automatically voting for their normal political party preference and the dominance of the Conservative party throughout Surrey, the candidate selection, in effect, is the councillor selection.

This is not right and it is not healthy. For our democracy to work, each stage must work. Selection should be on the basis of merit and the willingness to serve a community not the willingness to be subservient to a party whip or leader.

And then, once elected, for our communities to be properly and democratically represented, individual councillors must vote on each occasion in the way they feel best represents their ward, not the wishes of their party leader or any other individual.

A good leader would rely on the power of their argument and the quality of their policies, not the threat of petty retribution by means of deselection.

Who knows, perhaps this time a line has been crossed? Perhaps enough folk in Worplesdon will take notice and carry out their own deselection, when the time comes.

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