For the UK-challenged, when an MP wishes to cease being an MP, there are two ways of doing it. The less popular way is to die. The more popular way is to become Steward or Deputy Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds or Steward or Deputy Steward of the Manor of Northstead in Yorkshire. These are ceremonial roles, under the appointment of the Chancellor, and under the rules, since they are offices of profit under the Crown, the MP loses his or her seat. The rule that an MP cannot just resign comes from the days when many men were elected MP who were unwilling to serve; had they been able to resign, they would not have had to serve. I wonder if this archaic law will be swept away by the constitutional reforms proposed by the Prime Minister.
Once a seat is vacant, there is what is called here a “by-election” to fill the vacancy. The former prime minister Tony Blair is the current holder of the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, and thus his Sedgefield seat in County Durham was filled in a by-election yesterday. Labour held the seat (with a reduced majority). However, the full results show something that no one else has remarked upon:
Sedgefield results:
Phil Wilson (Lab) 12,528 (44.77%, -14.11%)
Greg Stone (LD) 5,572 (19.91%, +8.02%)
Graham Robb (C) 4,082 (14.59%, +0.19%)
Andrew Spence (BNP) 2,494 (8.91%)
Paul Gittins (Ind) 1,885 (6.74%)
Toby Horton (UKIP) 536 (1.92%, +0.36%)
Chris Haine (Green) 348 (1.24%)
Stephen Gash (Eng Dem) 177 (0.63%)
Tim Grainger (Ch P) 177 (0.63%)
Alan “Howling Laud” Hope (Loony) 147 (0.53%, +0.15%)
Norman Scarth (Anti-Crime) 34 (0.12%)
Lab majority 6,956 (24.86%)
11.06% swing Lab to Lib Dems
The British National Party, a knee-jerk nationalist, anti-immigrant, rabblerousing party got nearly 9% of the vote. This in a constituency that hasn’t returned anything other than a Labour MP for more than 30 years (if not more).
I don’t know about you, but I’m worried about that.
I’m not particularly worried by the BNP results per se, more suprised that we’re getting that from a constituency such as Sedgefield. The BNP will never win in this country, just as other extremist parties will never get a chance. Don’t forget, the British people are by and large sensible and decent people. That’s a lot to be said!
If anything, it proves that if we stifle proper debate about these issues that concern people such as immigration, the only outlet seems to be the BNP.
Last general election, in 2005, the BNP didn’t even bother to field a candidate, and a National Front candidate got a piddling 1%.
I also don’t believe that the BNP is likely to win a general election. However, sensible British people have elected people such as Enoch Powell, George Galloway, and various other unconventional and controversial candidates before. Just because they’re not likely to enter government doesn’t mean that the occasional seat won’t be won.
I don’t think that debate about immigration has been stifled; if anything, it’s been widened. The difficulty is that people who are afraid of being put out of their homes or jobs through immigration are being rabbleroused by a bunch of nutters who have no sensible solutions for the great questions of state except get rid of the immigrants.
Who will pick our fruit and veg, who will clean our offices, who will take care of children while the parents work, who will wash dishes and wait on tables in restaurants? Certainly not BNP voters. Study after study has shown that immigrants contribute mightily to our gross national product, through taking low-paying job that Brits wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot-flagpole-with-a-Union-Flag-on-top.
There are always lots of sensible and decent people around everywhere. However, sitting on their hands during by-election campaigns means that the better candidate isn’t likely to win. Worse, by the time they figure out they should have done something, it might have been too late (late 1930’s Germany, for example).
Taht actually looks like a pretty good post-Blair election result to me.
We had probs with One Nation -a similar group to BNP- down here for a while, but they could never get past a certain level of votes.
Almost nobody voted for them in my state…it’s a thugly heat thing like the American South here.
Wonder what it is there?
Our MPs can indeed just resign in Oz, though.
I agree mostly with that, but I really don’t feel that we are allowed or encouraged to debate freely race related issues and immigration without automatically being thought of as, or branded a racist. Uncontrolled and illegal immigration is a problem. We don’t want riff raff in this country whatever their background. And when numbers are too intense in a short timescale, an influx will place strains on our ability to look after the welfare of everyone – schooling, housing, medical care. You my dear, pay for them through your taxes. For example, we have Romany gypsies from Albania or Romania turning up at Woking, knowing full well we will house them and feed them, and not automatically deport them. There is a great deal of abuse.