BY BRAD JAMES
Today, a middle-aged man paid a visit to an elderly woman. The said old lady is like many others her age, sat within a rambling house, brimming with heirlooms belonging to ancestors past, recumbent in her history and living vicariously through her genetic future – children and grandchildren. The middle-aged man however, is eager for the old lady to grant him a boon in a similar manner as she did several years ago. Bestow on him credibility that he may have otherwise have lacked. The woman is sitting on auspiciousness and the younger male is eager for some share of that, as though it’s wealth and in a way it is. Her favour and permission enriches the one standing before her looking for a clear mandate and purpose. But this isn’t a man visiting his elderly grandmother for a vital loan, at least in the conventional monetary sense, this was the Prime Minister visiting the queen. Five years before, with a party barely in the lead, David Cameron visited Queen Elizabeth II with the desire to form a government, carving a tenuous agreement with the Liberal Democrats, eagerly forgetting the implications of the second part of their name, when real power was offered up. Five years after that sham marriage was consecrated in Buckingham Palace and in the year that in September will see Elizabeth II overtake Victoria as Britain’s longest reigning monarch, David Cameron beseeched Elizabeth II for a divorce from the Lib Dems and the second Hung Parliament in her reign to begin proceedings towards achieving a third, potentially.
Fresh from his visit to the queen, a starting gun has been fired. The starting gun will signal a frenetic dash to a position of victory across the finishing line in London. Of course, this race is far less popular in the public eye than the 100 metres final in the London 2012 Olympics, but ironically, is far more important. Ed Miliband is in a stronger position against David Cameron than Gordon Brown was and the previous Labour leader fought the current Prime Minister to a Hung Parliament. The same result is expected now and coalitions will be involved in the photo finish. Though what will the next five or so weeks hold before the ballots open?
Even though Parliament has dissolved, David Cameron officially remains the Prime Minister, retaining all his normal powers. Yet MPs however, do not. Each one is now a regular member of the public and cannot use the handle ‘MP’ any longer, even online or as a handle on Twitter, for example. Although this has been circumvented in the past, Alistair Darling for example, who was required to attend Brussels in 2010 and did so as Chancellor, despite no longer officially being an MP. A day later the coalition government was formed and Mr. Darling was out of a job, though his deal in Brussels stood firm. In the case of any international crisis, the Prime Minister would be expected to abandon campaigning and see to the problem at hand. April 14th is a meeting of foreign ministers of the G7 in Luebeck in Germany. Phillip Hammond is expected to attend this and reprise his role as Foreign Secretary for the duration of this summit. A state known as Purdah exists where between the dissolution of Parliament and the General Election, civil servants are forbidden from activities which could risk their impartiality. MPs are declared as such on the moment of their victory after the 7th May and will take their seats to represent their constituencies on 18th May.
Battle has commenced from this day forward and politicians are keen to save their spot on the Westminster benches, for at least another five years (or until the next by-election). The next few weeks will be drowned out by seas of rhetoric that will evolve into almost white noise, platitudes and promises we know will hardly be kept, yet what else is there? This very question resounds loudest in the empty chasms of sound between tropes blasted from the Hustings horn leading up to election day. All sectors of the UK population are painfully underrepresented, a 2013 survey by the Hansard Society discovered that around three quarters of British people didn’t know the name of their local MP. Here lies the inherent issue, complete nonchalance that will allow the political caste to function and administer their whims, whether we like it or not. Ignorance is not bliss in this regard, ignorance permits largely unelected allies of large corporate interests to maintain their chokehold on democratic due process. Whether through mass abstinence or mass involvement or large scale participation, that action needs to induce change and a mature attitude regarding our politics. Our nation needs to become active behind our leaders, they have to be the chess piece we move into position on the global board.
One additional thought, is that election coverage will drown the news, quite forcefully, leading up to the 7th May, yet also quite purposely too. Why is their deliberate blanketing on the news as to why the General Election is so paramount such a strong, recurring theme? So recurring, even though the buses and trains are running, electricity comes at the bidding of a plug or light switch’s motion on or off. Emergency Services are still a 999 away, but a vote is all-consuming in it’s vitality for the nation, for your meaning as a citizen… despite the fact that everything you need first hand is still running ship shape. The question they wish to avoid you asking is, what does electing an MP matter, if the country is running smoothly without them?
Yet victory may seem seven decades distant to all of the party’s concerned in the aftermath of the General Election this year. They desire a Hung Parliament least of all. Although the outcome in 2010 allowed the Conservatives a semblance of a mandate for rule, concessions needed to be made to the Liberal Democrats. Therefore the true brand, which would have essentially been a firebrand, of the Tories was dampened a shade by a tad of moistened pitch in the form of the Liberal Democrats. Their more egalitarian, soft form government buffeted a wind of Tory austerity that would have turned the nation blue from it’s cold, we are still shivering nonetheless under it’s harsh dominion. A Hung Parliament is the very embodiment of the disenfranchised, apathetic shoulder shrug and contemptuous sneer when the public thinks of politicians and our leaders. It is the quintessential Catch 22. Everyone knows the system needs a good shake-up. A top-down rearrangement that makes the whole system more diverse, divested of greater meritocracy and far more representative of a nation far exceeding the privately educated Oxbridge commanders. Yet who or what will be so bold as to storm the neo-gothic façade of Westminster from the Thames, piloting a well-needed raft of fresh ideas?
Nicola Sturgeon is the poster girl for new democratic process. Coming off the back of a roaring victory for her party, the SNP, last September. Never relenting on the gains made by her predecessor, Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister has cast her influence wider than the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh and has extended her potential reach across the entire UK. What’s more, she is keen for expanding sphere of influence that is to be of benefit to everyone the SNP’s political shadow casts itself over. Most recent polls indicate that the SNP will claim the majority of Scotland’s 59 Westminster constituency seats. Such a wildfire through the Highlands and Lowlands would give the SNP serious clout in the House of Commons. A level of influence UKIP and the Green Party could only achieve in the most outlandish of their dreams. With the prospect of neither the Conservatives or Labour achieving a legitimate majority come May, Nicola Sturgeon’s ability to affect change may be the most potent outcome of our General Election this year.
Speaking to a gathering of SNP faithful in Glasgow today, Ms. Sturgeon argued:
“I think I can safely say that we do still want Scotland to be independent. But at this general election – with the power of the big parties weaker than ever before – I say this to people of progressive opinion all across the UK. As long as Scotland remains part of the Westminster system, we will be your allies in seeking to shake up and reform that out dated and discredited system once and for all.”
“Westminster needs to change. To be more responsive to the needs and demands of ordinary people, wherever they are in the UK. So to people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, I make this promise. The SNP stands ready to work with you in making that positive change for all of us.” – Nicola Sturgeon.
She also vowed to try and abolish the House of Lords where she argued that Peers can get: ‘£300-a-day just for turning up.’
Nicola Sturgeon hopes to be even more emblematic to change and become a catalyst for reform in our nation. Instilling a political system, which sorely needs it. The Scottish First Minister is the virtual antithesis to the leaders of the main Westminster parties – female, working class, as opposed to the Old Etonian and Oxbridge educated elite that infect the House of Commons, like a mould a similar shade of green to the leather they sit on! There has seemingly been more action of late, now that Parliament has been about to shut up shop than there has been throughout the whole proceedings of Westminster this year. What with an unsuccessful attempt to elbow out the Speaker of the House of Commons and now Nicola Sturgeon’s call to arms. One salient, overriding factor of these two incidents are action, one positive, one negative. The move to replace John Bercow was a negative grab for consolidation of power from a Conservative Party that has failed to determine it’s own mandate to rule and very likely faces a few turbulent weeks left at the helm of a nation. The second was a positive action to galvanise and energise a deflated populace and reinvigorate their love for the process that handles their fate, government. The SNP have mastered affirmative action and have left the remainder of the UK wanting for it. As Alex Salmond’s deputy, Ms. Sturgeon watched her leader transform the listless and unrepresented Scottish masses into force to be reckoned with, from age 16 upwards, where 84.5% of Scots turned out at the polls. If less than half of that is achieved at this May’s General Election, it will be miraculous.