Democracy, EU-style: A single candidate who only just wins – Bill Jamieson

Bored rigid by the drawn-out Conservative leadership election battle? Then let’s raise a cheer for the triumph of Ursula von der Leyen.

Ursula von der Leyen speaks at the European Parliament (Picture: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty)

She scraped through the vote of MEPs in Strasbourg to become the President-elect of the European Commission.

In the ballot of MEPs, in which her name was the only name on the ballot paper, she was approved by 383 votes to 327, with 22 abstentions and a single void ballot.

This was just nine votes ahead of the threshold of 374 required to be approved – but nearly 40 votes short of the total that the jovial Jean-Claude Juncker received five years ago.

How ironic that she should win by a slim majority of just 52 per cent of participating MEPs. A familiar percentage? Indeed so.

It is the same as the ‘yes’ vote in the UK’s 2016 referendum on membership of the European Union.

Clearly, a second vote may be needed as the MEPs “clearly didn’t know what they were voting for”.

Less clear cut – even if Conservative front-runner Boris Johnson wins the party leadership by a thumping majority – is the resulting outcome.

A combination of Conservative backbench dissenters and a by-election loss could cut the UK Government’s majority to just two, making an early general election most likely.

Perhaps, after all, the Brussels approach to leadership selection has its merits.