English Candidates Committee - making things better, one meeting at a time

This morning was always going to be a very long one so, fortified by a vast breakfast of fruit (see, Ros is having a positive effect on me already…) and various dead animal by-products (…but not that positive, it would seem…), I slipped into the meeting of the English Candidates Committee, and prepared for the long haul.

The early part of the meeting was taken up with regional reports, the election of our new Vice Chair, Glynis Dumper from Devon & Cornwall, and the debut of the new Chair of the Parliamentary Candidates Association, Martin Turner. Martin is a worthy addition to our deliberations, and I really believe that, working together, ECC and the PCA can make candidate approval, selection and development core to the successful campaigning work of the Party. As I recall, it’s all about electing Liberal Democrats to change society and our communities for the better.

The second half, on the other hand, was taken up with consideration of the report of the Approvals Process Working Group. Their efforts are very close to reaching fruition, and for obvious reasons, I don’t want to jump the gun by giving away any information until the time is right (and it genuinely isn’t yet), but I really feel that the proposed new system will be more efficient, more effective, and will produce candidates who can deliver successful campaigns and make good constituency MPs if elected.

I have learned one useful thing though. It is considered poor form to present a proposal from a group you are a member of, and then distance yourself from it in a meeting when it proves unpopular. Personally, I think that collective responsibility and a sense of honour would prevent individuals from acting in such a cavalier manner. However, we have always known that there are some amongst us who don’t understand such concepts...