Will our new PM be elected on the back of a dodgy vote?

[CraicMammy]

The Guardian reports that Conservative Party members may have been sent more than one ballot paper for the vote to decide the nation’s next Prime Minister.

The election is not being scrutinised by the Electoral Commission to ensure that it is conducted fairly.

Apparently the Conservatives are not going to do anything to ensure people do not submit multiple votes, other than ask them nicely not to do so.

It’s bad enough that a tiny minority of the country decides on the appointment of our next PM during the most serious constitutional crisis in living memory; but that we cannot even be sure that the winner has been elected fairly is beyond acceptability.

What the Hell has happened to this country?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/06/tory-members-multiple-ballots-for-picking-leader?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It's bad enough that the next Prime minister is only being voted for by 160,000 members of the voting public without there being a chance that the vote has been rigged, it just about sums up the Tories.

It would be exactly the same for a Labour PM. Remember Gordon Brown? Jim Callaghan too. It’s a shame people post without knowing any political history! Who says Labour elections were fair either? Who knows as they were not scrutinised either.

Indeed, BubblesBuddy, some people just need to go back to school in order to have just a little fundamental basic knowledge of political history instead of talking through the opposite end of their windpipe. Let's for starters take into consideration the recent Peterborough by-election where you have thousands and thousands of "postal votes" being sent in.

What? For a by-election of which there is no significant importance? Now tell that to your grandmother!

And it makes my toes laugh to hear people complaining "a tiny minority of the country decides on the appointment of our next PM". it's as though 17,500,000 people (instead of 160,000) is of any significance to these self-appointed righteous people. Go, take a look at yourself in the mirror!

It’s a shame people post without knowing any political history! Who says Labour elections were fair either? Who knows as they were not scrutinised either.

Do you know they weren’t scrutinised? Show us your superior knowledge then!

I see you don’t dispute that we’re in a major constitutional crisis

I’ve just checked and neither Gordon Brown nor James Callaghan were elected as leaders of their parties by votes of the party membership.

The “political history” you refer and rely would appear to be imaginary.

Not that precedent is the point here, despite your obfuscation, it’s clear the Conservative Party is incapable of conducting an election free of the appearance of incompetence. Given they are the party of government I find this deeply concerning.

Labour leaders are elected by party members and trade unionists - how many get two votes that way?

CraicMammy - no more incompetent than the civil service conducting UK elections.or I suspect Labour.

You’ve just checked up re Gordon Brown? Surely you should know your facts before starting a thread on a subject you know nothing about?

I didn’t start a thread on the history of PM elections.

In any event, whoever it was upthread who tried to draw a comparison with previous labour elections clearly didn’t know what they were talking about, as the circumstances were not comparable.

I started this thread to link to a newspaper article which paints the Tories in an incompetent light and gave my thoughts on it.

It’s telling that those PP who have sought to defend the Tories, have struggled to do so. If the best you can do is ‘yeah well we bet Labour were just as bad’ and didn’t bother to check if they actually were, you really haven’t got a lot going for you, have you?

Good God! Brown was “elected”
Leader of the Labour Party in an uncontested “election”. This was after Tony Blair resigned. Jim Callaghan stood against other candidates when Harold Wilson resigned and in those days MPs voted for the Leader.

You indicated a tiny minority should not decide on the next PM. I am pointing out to you that it’s way bigger than Jim C or Gordon B. He didn’t even get challenged! Just anointed. It is important to understand history to be able to justify comments. The circumstances, in that these people became PM is identical. Therefore Tory bashing isn’t fair in this case.

No, these elections were not scrutinised outside the parties involved. Who scrutinises only one candidate!?

My point was that the Tories aren’t capable of managing an election of their leader competently, yet they are running the country.

It’s funny how you keep overlooking this

And the Labour Party allowed thousands of new members to vote in their first election of JC. Who verified they didn’t vote twice?

The problem is that no leadership contest for any leader is foolproof and can be scammed if the rules are changed or it’s not scrutinised effectively. It is arguable it’s worse when it’s the PM but no party is whiter than white! They all figure out ways to get who they want and ignore the MPs!

Enough with the whataboutery!

The Tories are inept.

Oh well if that's what the politically unbiased newspaper The Guardian says it must be true mustn't it?🙄

You are entitled to your view but at least take the trouble to be informed about how all parties work or don’t. Labour is inept too! At lots of things. Especially at winning elections!

I thought it was scandalous that Labour was accepting new Members who were signing up and paying just to ensure Corbyn got elected.

At least it's just the established Conservative members who get to vote. So what if it's just 160,000 or so of them.

Come the next election, whenever it is, the public will decide whether they want Bojo/Hunt or Corbyn.

However, I wouldn't be putting any money on Corbyn as he hasn't got a hope in hell. He is unelectable. Unfortunately the Corbynistas are too blinded with their idolatory of him to see that he is a huge liability to Labour.

If the Tories can run an election, how can they resolve the greatest constitutional crisis in living memory? And let’s not forgot this crisis was created by the party’s inability to manage its own party politics.

They are a shower of incompetent fools!

Politics is permeated with dodgy tactics and dark tactics. I have never known it to be so untrustworthy

Why have people immediately jumped to a tit-for-tat about Labour’s iniquities? I despair of politics in this country, how will we ever have a grown-up debate about how to improve our, frankly, risible across-the-board standards in ALL parties, if people immediately jump to deflect by pointing the finger elsewhere?

The situation with the current shoo-in of Johnson stinks. Yes, there have also been many other really stinky episodes, perpetrated by other parties. That doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to this, FFS.

We should be cleaning politics up, not colluding in a race to the bottom.

I believe the Tory's have stated that, some people had changed their names got married etc, and anyone who votes twice will be kicked from the party permanently.

Hmm they can say that, but without any independent scrutiny (and so few people joining parties these days) how will we know if they do?

The whole business is a disgrace. The worst of it is the Corbyn has destroyed labour and handed the country to bunch of incompetent right wing lunatics. It's about time Brexit was settled with a public vote based on the real options and not the lies banded around by Boris and Co.