Open primaries: a roundup of the blogs

Sarah Wollaston will likely be the first MP to be selected in an open primary

The Conservatives’ £40,000 experiment with a new selection procedure procedure came to fruition this week as the citizens of Totness chose GP Sarah Wollaston as the Tory candidate in an open primary in which anyone could vote.

Don Paskini muses on an outcome from Totnes that gives ambitious PPCs cause to be nervous. You’ve worked for an MP, become a councillor, networked like crazy and climbed the greasy pole within your party structures, only to find that voters want someone with, erm, real life experience:

Open primaries give a huge advantage to people who have “proper jobs”. For example, in this case the candidate who was a doctor beat two people who were involved in local government.

Mike Smithson suggests that such primaries are a good way of reconnecting with voters given that most seats are either safe or at least held by the incumbent party in most elections:

One of the weaknesses of the the current system is that in the vast majority of seats the general election outcome is not in doubt and ordinary voters have almost no say in the selection of the person who will represent them at Westminster.

Letters From a Tory concedes that this was a “fascinating experiment from a democratic perspective” before outlining  “flaw after flaw” with the system:

Firstly, the cost - £40,000 in postage and printing [...] Secondly, there is the very reasonable argument that members of the local constituency party will be pretty cheesed off at other people choosing who will represent the party that they paid to join should they win the seat at a general election.  Thirdly, opposition parties are clearly capable of organising campaigns to back the candidate that they think has the least chance of winning.

Matthew Paris chaired a hustings in the constituency attended predominantly by “likely Tory voters, or members of the Association”. Along with some interesting background on the candidates he assesses the way in which the procedure shaped the debate:

The procedure we were pioneering, by altering the arena in which finalists were being tested, subtly altered the conjectured audience to which they were playing. Unconsciously they were influenced to pitch for the general vote, rather than activists’ approval. This must be a healthy way for a party to choose its MPs. Hats off to Totnes Tories for giving it a try.

Finally, The Guardian is running some amusing quotes from miffed (and cravat-sporting) members of Totnes Conservative Association.