Election 2010: Can independent candidates change the political landscape?

[IndianaGreen]

"The established parties think they have a divine right over people's votes," says Iqbal, "but the people are fed up with the mainstream political parties. People are looking for a credible alternative, and I am offering that alternative."

Election 2010: Can independent candidates change the political landscape?

With the major political parties more unpopular than ever, could this be a great election for independent candidates?

Stephen Moss
The Guardian, Friday 2 April 2010

It's a beautiful spring morning and I'm standing outside Ealing town hall in west London, looking for the Man in the White Suit. Martin Bell, who overturned Neil Hamilton's vast Conservative majority in Tatton in 1997 to become the first independent candidate to win a seat in the Commons since 1951, is the éminence blanc of the burgeoning independent movement and is here to endorse the candidacy of Sam Akaki, a political lobbyist for CND who has chucked in his job to stand for parliament as an independent.

Though at 71 he has decided he's too old to stand himself, Bell is working hard on behalf of other independents, and has produced a set of principles for ethical political behaviour. The principles, founded on "selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership", are so obvious that you wonder why they had to be set down, but then you remember the expenses scandal and Stephen Byers's admission that he is a "taxi for hire", and realise why it is necessary to start from scratch. The fledgling Independent Network insists that all the candidates it backs – 20 so far and rising fast as the election approaches – subscribe to the principles as a signal of their commitment to clean up parliament.

Last year, Bell published a book on the expenses scandal called A Very British Revolution. "We cannot return to where we were, which was the politics of the pig trough, because the people will not stand for it," he wrote. The revolution, however, seems a long way off on this bright spring morning. Akaki, who likes to call himself "Uncle Sam" (in an avuncular rather than a pro-American way) has gathered together about 20 supporters to hear him declare his candidacy. An independent from the neighbouring constituency of Brentford & Isleworth, a middle-aged woman with bright red hair and the magnificent name of Teresa Venneck-Surplice, has come along to lend her backing. It is a warm and friendly gathering, but it doesn't feel as if the Bastille is about to be stormed.

"I became a member of parliament entirely by accident and without intending to," Bell tells the gathering. "I had never mapped out a parliamentary ambition. It is something that happened to me, but it was a huge honour to be the first elected independent since 1951. I found there really is a useful place for independents in the House of Commons because (for them) every vote is a free vote, and you're much more influential than the lobby fodder of the backbenchers of the main parties because you have to think things through. People come to you for support on the things that matter, and you are listened to."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/02/general-election-independent-politicians

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Just after that article was written, another independent that could split a Labour vote

announced in Stoke:

Labour activist to stand as independent against Tristram Hunt in Stoke

Local party constituency secretary is aggrieved Downing Street intervened to choose candidates for shortlist

A local Labour activist will stand as an independent in the general election after a new selection row as the party attempts to get candidates into vacant constituencies.

The historian Tristram Hunt, who won the selection to become the candidate for Stoke Central on Thursday night, will face a challenge from Gary Elsby, the local party constituency secretary, who is aggrieved that Downing Street intervened to choose candidates for the shortlist.

Elsby hopes to replicate the success in Blaenau Gwent in 2005 when the late Peter Law won as an independent after being disregarded by the national party.
...
There is concern that Elsby's decision could split the Labour vote and allow the Liberal Democrats, currently in second place, to come through the middle. The BNP is also strong in the town.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/02/tristram-hunt-shortlist-labour

Previous results (ignore The Guardian's 'prospective candidates' list - that was written several weeks ago): http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/constituency/1337/stoke-on-trent-central

And a piece on why the BNP is a serious threat in that constituency: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/01/labour-stoke-bnp-peter-mandelson

This is going to be the most interesting British election in years, in terms of what the final result will be. 1992 was finely balanced, but it was fundamentally a 2 party race - the Liberal Democrats were at a low point (under 20% of the vote, and just 20 seats - 3.1% of the total). Now, there are all kinds of permutuations possible, with the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties stronger than ever, and the expenses scandal giving small parties and independents their best chance ever. Before 1992, you have to go back to 1974 for elections which were so close.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Let the Blair/Brown New Labour die an ignoble death, and a well deserved one at that

Unlike the US, the UK has a viable alternative to the corrupt Labour and Tories: Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats.

[xchrom]

2. If I think of The People as an institution -- the holder of wisdom --

An innate goodness to the collective will-
I find them to be as broken as the institution
of political parties.

[salguine]

3. The regular ones can't, that's for damn sure. Independents and third parties may be the only hope.