More thoughts on the leadership contest

Now that my ballot is in - at least, I hope that it's in, I posted it first class on Thursday morning - I can perhaps reflect on the leadership race so far.

From a personal perspective, I have been disappointed. Not by the quality of the candidates, as I think that all three have had something to say and the means by which to deliver their vision, but by the actual campaigns. I expected people to contact me, by e-mail, or telephone, or even by letter (I'm quite old-fashioned like that) and that never happened. It would seem that you have to be a semi-public figure, like a PPC, or a membership secretary, to get contacted (apparently, Local Party Chairs don't fall under that heading, or Regional Officers for that matter).

I did get some e-mails from senior Party figures telling me why I should vote for X, presumably because I've been on their e-mail lists in the past (I particularly enjoyed the two I received from Sarah Ludford, telling me first to support Mark Oaten, and then later urging me to support Menzies Campbell), but as I've never been enthusiastic about supporting someone because the hierarchy tell me I should, they probably weren't very helpful. What I wanted was some content from the candidates, more about what they stood for.

Instead, we got the manifestos with our ballot and otherwise nothing unless you can attend a hustings meeting. You can follow the campaign via the media but coverage is on their terms rather than those of the candidates and can hardly be relied upon for neutrality.

I think we got the rules for leadership contests wrong. We should encourage the building of campaign teams, and more importantly, personal contact between campaign teams and the ordinary members. It is absurd that a potential candidate for the European Parliament is provided with a membership list, and leadership candidates aren't. I accept the cost arguments but perhaps the principle of a representative, informed internal democracy is overriding. After all, whoever wins this contest is going to be vaguely important in terms of the Party's future, I presume...