Douglas Carswell's Blog

Modernisers? On political reform, we're moving back to the 1750s

Here's a photo of John Wilkes' portrait, which hangs watchfully in the Members tea room in the House of Commons.

Elected MP for Middlesex in 1757, he fought to establish a fundamental right in our democratic system:  the right of local voters to determine who represented them in Parliament.

Before Wilkes, voters were able to elect someone to the Commons. But the powers-that-be in Westminster could – and did – overturn their choice. How odd that would seem today.

Except it is not far off what the government is proposing with its misnamed "recall" proposal.   

Under the goverment's scheme, a committee of SW1 grandees would have the power to do to wayward backbenchers what folk like them once did to Wilkes.  Rather than allowing local people to decide to remove a sitting MP, grandees would sit in judgement.  Many of the grandees would not even be elected, but would be career quangocrats.  What ministers are proposing cannot possibly be regarded as a right of recall - not least because under their scheme there would not actually be any recall ballot.

It depresses me that once again we are having to drag the government towards doing the right thing. They ought to be storming ahead with all this direct democracy stuff.  Done properly, the case for recall in overwhelming. 

Once again, those that decide these things think they know everything.  So once again, the same cosy SW1 thinking gets in the way of giving this country the change we so desperately need. 

Modernisation?  Back to the 50s, more like.  The 1750s.

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