Let me ask you a question, hypothetical of course. You're a member of your local politicial party, one of the main 4 in Scotland and you're a part of the executive group responsible for drawing up a list of candidates for selection in a local by-election. All the required information regarding each candidate has been given to you and your colleagues, including name, address, age, work experience etc. With me so far? Good.
The selection process goes ahead and a candidate is chosen. Fine. The publication of the candidate's election material goes ahead. Fine. The letterbox stuffers go ahead and stuff local letterboxes. Fine.
A phone call from a local resident spoils your not so tiny sense of accomplishment. What was the phone conversation? "Your candidate doesn't live in this area." Pardon? Erm.. really? Rush to now start checking what should have been checked weeks before if not months. The candidate had moved house some time ago and now lived outwith the area. Oh dear, not so fine, in fact not fine at all.
This is today's labour party and their standards of organisation and administration. Due to such incompetence there is no labour candidate for the Monifieth and Sidlaw by-election as another couldn't be found before nominations closed on 3 June.
Carnoustie Labour councillor and Angus deputy provost Peter Murphy apologised for any confusion caused by the Labour mail drop. "We had someone that was identified as being a candidate but he didn't fulfil the residential qualifications," said Mr Murphy.
You'd think a party which has governed Scotland more more or less 50 years would have a basic system to check candidates eligibility wouldn't you. Ah, but this is the labour party, today's Scottish branch of the labour party.
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12 comments:
And these people want to run the country... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....
a run brewery in piss-up a Couldn't
Rearrange these words into a wellknown phrase or saying.
You have ten seconds but if you are Labour party member 3 months.
Go!
Been Billy!!
Aye tris, you can't believe it can you? The bloke who applied was just as stupid though because he never bothered to check his new address was on file. Is it any wonder folks are going over to the SNP!
Actually that kind of cock-up can happen in any party - the SNP has had its fair share.
You have to remember that any political party is made up of 99% volunteers and 1% professionals.
Still, it's a good story.
Interesting to know Indy although from my experience the SNP did their admin well and this wouldn't have occurred in this area. Mind you lots of the volunteers were professionals and possibly more professional than the other 1%.
Typical Labour balls up, such a bunch of NEDS. In the national sense, it's that they've spent all the money and only realised it after 12 years of rampant spending.
I hope the SNP wipe Labour off the map by offering the cultural and national distinctiveness everybody wants.
Yes indeed SL. I was quite surprised by Indy's comment saying it happened it all parties and appears to be rather a common occurrence. Surely whoever is in charge of volunteers has the ability to do some checking, even though they're unpaid, they have responsibilities.
I know in my voluntary work if such a mistake was made, the people involved would either be reprimanded or quietly allowed to drop out of sight. That's unpaid voluntary work btw.
The weak link in most parties seems to be between paid politicians and the voluntary party, solving this solves a lot else.
I agree, the voluntary sector here also conducts itself with all the organisation of an international law firm; mistakes are rarely repeated and sorely punished!!
SL again you describe more or less what happens here. Fools aren't welcome and because of that stupid mistakes just don't occur. Obviously labour doesn't have much choice in the quality of volunteer.
Mind you, no matter how intelligent you are here, you've still to have the capability to get out there and stick material through these hideous new ground-level letterboxes - unless you have a doctor's note (the last comment is a joke just in case someone takes me seriously).
Loved the fact that they also printed their leaflets as well asking people to vote for the invisible candidate. Just about working as well as Gordon Brown's government.
Here's what the P&J said
The Labour Party in Angus has been accused of being in “meltdown” after it distributed campaign leaflets for a council by-election it is not contesting.
The party’s preferred candidate for the Monifieth and Sidlaw by-election, who has not been named, had fallen foul of residency criteria.
He had moved from Monifieth in Angus to Ballumbie, four miles away, which is within Dundee’s area.
Many thanks for that Fitaloon. I got my info from the Courier which wasn't quite so detailed.
It seems he moved house about a year ago.
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