Over the next twenty four hours I am interviewing Francis Maude, Shireen Ritchie (Tory Deputy Chairman, Candidates & Madonna's Mother in Law!) and Sam Younger (Chairman, Electoral Commission) for 18 Doughty Street. If you have any questions you'd like me to ask them, please leave them in the comments. Once the programmes are on the archive I will add the links here. Transmission times are as follows...
Francis Maude - Tonight 9pm
Shireen Ritchie - Tomorrow (Wed) 9pm
Sam Younger - Tomorrow (Wed) 8pm
34 comments:
You must start with the obvious one: How does the party get out of the current mess and return to government?
Does anything else matter?
Slight post-lunch confusion here.
Which one is Madonna's mother-in-law?
And is this the sole claim to fame and suitability as a candidate?
Question for Younger - how can you possibly justify your treatment of UKIP when you have done nothing about the Lib Dems?
You should ask Sam Younger about votes in the Armed Forces and what is being done in the way of reforms. This question only gets attention at general election times but lets bare in mind that we have Local, European and Mayoral elections in which our troops should still get a vote.
When will the CP come to its collective senses... or does it really want to be in Opposition for the next 10 years?
Ask which of them is willing to take a pair of pliers to Michael Ancram's.........
..... guitar strings.
What did you think I was going to say?
Do you think a few polices might help?
Off topic but I had been waiting for you to mention your new blog banner.
If the photograph of you on the banner really had been taken with Parliament in the background you would have needed to be located on the South end of Westminster Bridge.
Therefore the banner should read "Political commentary, analysis and gossip from the heart of Westminster as seen from the Borough of Lambeth".
For S Ritchie -
Did Guy and Madonna enjoy their private dinner with David & Samantha Cameron? What was on the menu?
:) LoL
Ask Francis Maude why the Tories don't just come out for a written democratic constitution to enshrine and protect our traditional values.
Don't tell him I suggested this!
Anthony
Labour promised to keep spending DOWN to Tory levels for 2 years - Osbourne has just promised to keep spending UP to ruinous Brown ones for three years - how many votes will that GAIN, and from whom, and how many like mine will it lose ? We would be turkeys voting for tax-hikes !
Alan Douglas
You might ask Shireen Ritchie why almost no one outside the Westminster Village has ever heard of her
I'd like to know why Mrs Ritchie felt it nessessary to put so many Chelsea and Kensington candidates on the inital A list but hardly any Midlands and Northern candidates where many of the marginals are.
Sam Younger
1. Do you support the suggestion that elections should take place on Sundays? Would that not increase turnout?
If not, why not?
2.Postal voting arrangements are a shambles and remain an open door for fraud. When can we expect effective measures, including reverting to the status ante quo, to remedy the ills produced by this Government's tinkering with the system?
Question for Sam Younger:
How long is "a few weeks" (as in "We are considering the available evidence and expect to reach a decision on whether to apply for such an order in the next few weeks"? (Statement on Fifth Avenue 27.10.06)
Why does he think that applying to the High Court for the forfeiture of £2.4 million donated to the Liberal Democrats might be prejudicial to criminal proceedings against Michael Brown? (Response to Peter Viggers MP reported earlier this year : Peter Viggers: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to him of 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 791W. The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not intend to make any decision in relation to donations made to the Liberal Democrats by Fifth Avenue Partners Ltd. until it has received confirmation from both the police and the Crown Prosecution Service that legal proceedings would not be prejudiced by it doing so.)
What was the business of 5th Avenue Partners at the time it made donations to the Liberal democrats, and how could the judge in the HSBC trial say that the company had never traded if the Liberal Democrats had made due enquiries about the company at the time the donation was made?
What were the Electoral Commissions conclusions when they dealt with 5th Avenue partners?
Is it true that the first complaint about 5th Avenue partners was made in June 2005, but the Electoral Commission didn't atually take any action until after the Conservative Party conference later that year?
Is he trying to sweep it all under the carpet and hoping that it will all disappear?
When will he resign?
Iain,
actually the question about ukip is brilliant!
He should also be asked why minor parties are treated as second class citizens. Surely in an election all candidates should be treated equally. But election broadcasts on TV and Radio are judged by how many MP's MEP's etc etc a party has. It is unbritish and unfair WHY?
Why are the Lib Dems afforded the same number of election broadcasts as the Tories and Labour? When they do not have as many MP's MEP's and Councillors and, importantly, members!
What are they doing to stop fraud at the ballot box? Especially the scandal over postal ballots.
_________________
MAUDE when are you going to join New Labour?
______________________
Mrs Ritchie: Are you representative of British Tories and what are your views on:- The EU. Capital Punishment.Corporal Punishment. Illegal Immigrants.etc.
To Ritchie
Can you get Madge to meet Dave? It's just what we need to show how serious the party is now.
Maude: if you believe in the A-List so much, why not give up your seat to a woman or an ethnic minority candidate? Or you just a hypocrite?
Question for Sam Younger: Why do you insist on sending out masses and masses of expensive printed publications to MPs, whose staff simply bin it?
It's an astounding waste of taxpayers money and natural resources.
Can't you publish online and then those who wish to read it can do so there or print it off?
Why will the Electoral Commission not employ people who have worked in elections (either for political parties or in electoral administration) for five years? Is this why they are so clueless about elections?
**gossip/bitching alert**
mysterious reference on nadine dorries' blog - who is she talking about?
quote
Cruella De Ville has set up home with one of David Cameron’s top advisers.
Every Dalmatian in Westminster ( er, sorry, Notting Hill) must be shaking in its basket.
Lock up your dogs.
Is it just me, or did the banner on the top of today’s Times newspaper make anyone else feel uncomfortable?
Can you ask Younger why at the next election all constituencies aren't going to have the same size electorate? With devolution a reality there is no excuse for this not being the case!
strapworld said...
"Surely in an election all candidates should be treated equally. But election broadcasts on TV and Radio are judged by how many MP's MEP's etc etc a party has. It is unbritish and unfair WHY?
Why are the Lib Dems afforded the same number of election broadcasts as the Tories and Labour? When they do not have as many MP's MEP's and Councillors and, importantly, members!"
The number of election broadcasts for any party is based on the number of CANDIDATES.
I will do some for Sam Younger ... So Maddie's mother in law is the Tory-almost-in-charge-of-candidates? She may be able to put in a good word over Maidstone and Weald.
Ask Shane Ritchie if he is going to be Alfie Moon again?
Sam Younger:
I am blogging a series of SAM missiles and will be back shortly with a link.
Shireen Ritchie:
Can you please make Maidstone love Iain?
The number of election broadcasts is NOT based upon the number of candidates, at least not directly.
However, question for Sam Younger. In a recent district election it appeared, but was unproveable that one set of candidates ( guess which ) used the Royal Mail so much that the stamps alone would have exceeded each candidate's lawful expenses. WHY are they allowed to do that ?
Why not make it unlawful to use normal Royal Mail and instead post all election material THROUGH the Returning Officer's staff. That way we would know how much the postage added up to.
This is not a minor fraud and has changed the complexion of one council I know ( at least 10 seats out of 50 ) and no doubt others.
No doubt he will say, well you can go to the police ect ect. Baloney, they don't want to know. They refer these things to York with the absolute intention of wasting the six months time limit.
What are we meant to do, pick them out of the letter boxes, slightly illegal. And yet, friends who are in a position to know, within the Post Office can count them flying through the machines. Of course they would lose their jobs if they reported the crime which they see before their eyes.
For Sam Younger:
What do you think about pressing the Government to give the electoral commission more teeth? For example, if the electoral commission believes individual voter registration is the answer, then that should be enacted by the Government of the day. The electoral commission should be run by 3 Judges, who are answerable to Parliament, but what they put forward on electoral law should be enacted.
For Ritchie, when is the candidate selection panel going to wake up and get our candidates in place, stop sitting on your hands and get it sorted.
Anonymous 6.33 PM said...
"The number of election broadcasts is NOT based upon the number of candidates, at least not directly."
If you think that then I suggest you look at the Electoral Commission's website. It makes it clear that minor parties do get a look in if they field a sufficient number of candidates. It says:
The process of allocating PPBs
has developed over time and
is based heavily on convention.
Usually the governing party
and main opposition party are
allocated the same number of
broadcasts, and no party is
offered more than five
broadcasts in total. The number
of PPBs offered to major
parties (Labour, Conservative
and Liberal Democrats, plus
SNP in Scotland and Plaid
Cymru in Wales) is related to
previous electoral support and
the number of candidates
standing at the election. In
addition a minor party standing
candidates in one-sixth of the
total seats contested qualifies
for a PPB.
Andrew Woodman said...
"I'd like to know why Mrs Ritchie felt it nessessary to put so many Chelsea and Kensington candidates on the inital A list..."
Because most of them are her friends. She is a councillor in K&C.
European Elections - why are new candidates only applied to two regions? People are not restricted to that for Westminster selections.
Have scribbled down ten questions for Sam. Jump page is here.
Questions for Mr Younger.
1. I'm always reading that Conservatives need to win a greater share of the vote at a general election to form a gov't than Labour do.
Could you please ask Mr Younger if this is true, and if so what the Electoral Commission is doing to fix it?
2. Douglas Carswell (MP for Harwich) suggested in an interview that multi-member constituencies might reduce the number of safe seats.
Does Mr Younger think that would be a) desirable and b) do-able?
(Posted these questions on your 'today's top ten and tonight on 18DS' post earlier, adding them here in case I was in error.)
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