tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post3523963130109950013..comments2024-03-27T16:39:43.522+00:00Comments on Liberal England: Zuffar Haq: The ideal candidate for Leicester SouthJonathan Calderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00730157683743989696noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-56840686383580058732019-10-12T14:54:17.017+01:002019-10-12T14:54:17.017+01:00Having read Sunder's article, I cannot see how...Having read Sunder's article, I cannot see how Jonathan K can make the comment about the "focus" on proportion...etc. I did not see any such focus. Perhaps Jonathan K is mistaken........Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03871572332755390286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-23639359944539908492011-04-18T13:10:37.405+01:002011-04-18T13:10:37.405+01:00I'm sorry, but I can't see how this focus ...I'm sorry, but I can't see how this focus on proportion of people being "white" or "non-white" helps anything. Either you are implying that the LibDems are openly avoiding giving places (like Gloucester and Middlesborough) to minority candidates due to some kind of desire to keep the party all white or that they should actively recruit people based on their racial self-description. The former option would be hard to prove as I'm utterly convinced it's not true, the latter would be running contrary to the principles of a meritocratic party. <br /><br />What's more, doesn't it say more about the Lib Dems that Jonathan here focussed on Mr. Haq's ties to the area and his charitable work? The Lib Dems focus on local issues, they can't so easily act like Labour and parachute in someone from Westminster, because they know they won't automatically get a large chunk of votes even if a Yorkshire pudding was their candidate (well, maybe not in Lancashire).<br /><br />But using statistics in this way seems to me that you're backing up an implication that the Lib Dems should use race as a campaign tactic, if not they look racist or at least fuddy-duddy and conservative.<br />----------------<br />Comparing Lib Dems to Labour I find that Labours bare-faced refusal to back any candidate from an Estonian background appalling. A stubborn form of localism (or even nationalism) encourages them to plump for candidates with a far more British or at least Commonwealth background. Lembit Opik's former ability to appeal to a Welsh constituency is a credit to the Liberal Democrats. <br /><br />(this is meant to be ironic. don't quote me, especially not on that last bit)Jonathan Knoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-18930699191940185482011-04-18T08:16:19.177+01:002011-04-18T08:16:19.177+01:00Jonathan,
Good luck with your campaign, though I ...Jonathan,<br /><br />Good luck with your campaign, though I am confident Jonathan Ashworth will do very well for Labour, precisely by not taking the voters for granted.<br /><br />Nice blog, and use of the local roots card for an Asian candidate against the Nottinghamshire "outsider". <br /><br />However, I am rather sceptical, because there is an important and serious point about why the LibDems have retained an all white parliamentary party, and haven't been able to emulate the Conservatives in the last decade in breaking that pattern. <br /><br />The LibDems (perhaps because of this localist argument) have a consistent pattern of selecting non-white candidates mostly where they reflect a large section of the local community - ie, ethnic faces for ethnic voters, with lots of candidates concentrated in East London, Birmingham and Leicester, and very few in places the party expects to compete and win.<br /><br />This is problematic in various ways (and almost constituencies are majority/plurality white). One of the ways it is problematic is that the LibDems very rarely win such seats, excepting only the leicester by-election which was not retained at the general election. Overall, there is a meritocracy barrier, which the Conservatives have overcome by not being nearly so reluctant as the LDs apparently are to select non-white candidates in seats like Witham, Huntingdon.<br /><br />Labour does win BME seats regularly, but has also had non-white MPs in Gloucester and Middlesborough, and selects BME candidates in over 10% of selections in all kinds of seat.<br /><br />So placing so much emphasis on "he's not from round here" is a bit double-edged for the LibDems. I gave evidence to the Speakers Conference on this: this <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/30/liberal-democrats-black-mps-strategy" rel="nofollow">Guardian commentary</a> contains constructive analysis of why the LDs are stuck on this if localism is always trumps so non-white MPs are seen as representatives of particular types of constituency only.Sunder Katwalahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06671411534003530927noreply@blogger.com