Holyrood should heed Cameron's leadership lesson

Published on Tuesday 20 June 2006 02:23

OH FOR someone in Scottish politics like David Cameron. It needn't be a Tory - that might be asking too much - just someone, anyone, in a position of influence willing to inject some much-needed imagination and with the courage to try new ideas would be refreshing.

A week does not seem to pass without Mr Cameron announcing a fresh initiative that shows he wants not only to change the public's perception of the Conservative Party but to engage with people, especially those who have become so disenchanted with politics that they no longer vote.

Last week he revealed that the Conservative candidate for London's mayor, arguably the third biggest job in British politics, would be chosen not by local party members, but through an open primary system, with anyone registered on the London electoral roll entitled to vote.

Modelled on the United States system, in which primaries are used to choose a nominee for office at many levels, right up to the head of state, the idea has won converts among Conservative activists since it was first used to select candidates for a handful of seats before last year's general election, including Rob Wilson, the new MP for Reading East.

For budding politicians of all parties the concept offers several advantages.

In primaries, prospective candidates have to shape their message and sharpen their presentation to appeal to the broader electorate rather than the party faithful, who can be self-selecting and out of touch. It's not enough to look the part if candidates cannot sell themselves or their party.

For electors the attraction is that they are able to participate and therefore influence candidates from an early stage. Encouraging politicians to be responsive makes voting worthwhile, helping the apathetic to re- engage and participate again.

This means the Tory campaign will be up and running, attracting media coverage for 18 months before the election, allowing Conservatives to set the agenda and leave current mayor Ken Livingstone playing catch-up. To make this new approach even more appealing, Mr Cameron has announced that would-be candidates who are not currently Conservative members can apply for the nomination so long as they join the party before their name is offered to the public.

In one of those strange but typical coincidences of politics, the Scottish Conservative Party announced last week, privately of course, how its candidates would be ranked for the Scottish Parliament elections next year. If ever there was an example that Annabel Goldie is not David Cameron in a skirt, this was it.

Central control and secrecy are everything for the Scottish Tory leader. Not only might prospective constituency candidates be prevented by a leadership-appointed star chamber from contesting the list rankings if they have caused some displeasure, but they have also been proscribed, with immediate effect, from campaigning to attract members' votes in January's postal ballot.

There can be no canvassing, no e-mails, not even speeches on the rubber chicken circuit. If candidates want to explain how their policies and strategies offer fresh hope, they would be better joining a golf club. Under current leadership, the Scottish Tories represent a political party that despises politics.

And yet if there is a solution to the Scottish Tories' low ratings and electoral detachment, Mr Cameron has just, implicitly, suggested it. While it's too late in the electoral cycle to select more than a dozen Tory candidates by open primaries, as most of them are already chosen, it would be possible to rank the Tory list using regional primaries based on the electoral roll.

At last, Scottish Tories would have to engage with the public rather than themselves, confront their demons, decide what they stood for and what policies, if any, they believed in.

New blood would have a real chance and the incentive to freshen up the Tory group at Holyrood. The incumbent Tory MSPs, many of whom are criticised for going native, and being lazy and concerned only about their pension, would have nothing to fear if they could show they were hard-working and self-sacrificing and had a finger on the local pulse. And if a few were to fail this test, would the party not be stronger for it?

Ranking list candidates by open primary also overcomes Labour's failure to introduce open lists that would allow the public to choose not only the party but also their favoured candidate with their second vote. Recommended by the Arbuthnott Committee, it not only reduces party control, but gives list MSPs an electoral mandate they currently lack.

Virgin candidates who believe Scotland is over-taxed, over-regulated and over-governed, and possess the charisma and colour to attract new support, could step forward to save not only the Tories from themselves but Scotland too. Involving the public in the process could allow the latent opposition to Holyrood's political correctness and waste of hard-earned taxes to be harnessed and a real opposition to materialise.

We have heard a great deal of tosh about a new Scottish politics that Holyrood would usher in - and it hasn't happened. Open primaries could be the harbinger of that change - working with the Scottish people's innate support for democracy and debate and giving people their say. It's not too late for Scottish Conservatives to learn from David Cameron and show that they want to open up to the Scottish people and put their trust in them. How about it Annabel, do you have the courage and humility of David Cameron to risk it?

• Brian Monteith is an independent conservative MSP