Torbay MP Adrian Sanders and Watcombe Councillor Steve Darling have raised concerns over the selection of Torbay Elected Mayor Nick Bye for the Totnes Parliamentary primary election.
Concerns have been highlighted over a potential conflict of interest as Brixham, Churston, Galmpton and areas of Paignton currently under the mayor’s jurisdiction are included in the Totnes constituency. With executive control over Torbay council and its budget, there will be fears that there is the potential for resources to be used in these areas to attempt to influence the outcome of the election.
Adrian said “This is something of an unforeseen problem with the Elected Mayor system. No one imagined a Mayor would want to become an MP, unlike Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson who resigned as MPs to become elected Mayors.
“This position is different because in the past when council leaders sought to become MPs they were likely to stand down their leadership role, even if temporarily. Those who remained could not use their position to influence the election as they were restrained by needing the majority of councillors to ratify decisions. This does not happen with the elected Mayor system.”
“The proper course to ensure council taxpayers receive the services of the full-time elected Mayor they voted for, and to avoid any temptation to use council resources in a way that could advantage a selection vote or a General Election campaign would be for the candidate to resign as elected Mayor. It is a case of doing the right thing."
Councillor Darling added: “There are far too many problems that need the Mayor’s full attention in Torbay. We have one of the lowest scores for public confidence in a local authority and urgent issues with children’s services, getting more better paid local jobs and improving our local environment. There is far too great a risk that he will take his eye off the ball.”
The Totnes Conservative primary is a welcome new development in British
politics. However there are two large flaws. the first is that the primary is
controlled by the very same people who chose the last MP. Cameron's
commendation confirms this. I would like to see the primary controlled by
a Conservative association that is, in turn, controlled by local Conservatives,
not controlled by the Establishment, indirectly, by their agents within the
local community. The Establishment, by the way, also controls the Labour
Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, not mention just about every org-
anisation with a small degree of power to the most powerful.
The second flaw is that a thirty minute speech is not enough to evaluate
a candidate, by far. I would to suggest a primary selection process that
will select a candidate who is honest, capable and loyal to his cons-
tituency, not the Establishment. Form a new political association. This
new political association will then advertise for many applicants for the
position of candidate (or for the position of primary candidate if there are
more than than one associations in a Parliamentary district). The assoc-
iation will then use rigorous tests, including, most importantly, psych-
ological evaluation, and investigation to select a candidate. For more
details, see:
www.home.earthlink.net/~jnewell957 , see article no. 1.
John Newell
NYC NY USA
Posted by: John Newell | 28/07/2009 at 05:43 PM