The gang of how many?

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Sarah Woollaston our local tory mp has quit, yesterday she was accused of trying to thwart brexit.

I don't know enough of politics to say what happens when you quit a party?
How does it stand for a mp voted for one party joining another, who has elected them etc, does it still count you are a mp?

[Mick F]

In my opinion, you vote for a candidate, and you are voting for that person to represent you in parliament.
Just coz that candidate is in a political party, you don't know how much "into" that party he or she is or will or won't be.

If you vote for a party irrespective of the character/personality of the candidate, more fool you.

It's the person that you vote for, not for anything or anyone else other than that candidate as a person.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
So a party is full off fools but one your local mp, they then do no follow the ideals of the people who voted for them, what do you do then look at another party?
Does voting for an mp get you an election?

Lets say you like what an mp says and does but you then find out that they are on the other side, do you still vote for them?

Swings and roundabouts

[mjr]

In my opinion, you vote for a candidate, and you are voting for that person to represent you in parliament.
Just coz that candidate is in a political party, you don't know how much "into" that party he or she is or will or won't be.

If you vote for a party irrespective of the character/personality of the candidate, more fool you.

It's the person that you vote for, not for anything or anyone else other than that candidate as a person.

^^This. That's why it's bunk when May claims that 80% or whatever voted for parties in favour of Brexit in 2017: even ignoring tactical voting, there were plenty of candidates who openly said they were against it or would push for an are-you-sure referendum.

[Tangled Metal]

Get real! You vote for the politics of a party. The candidate stands under the policies of their party. Always has had that at its heart of it didn't then why don't you get a candidate's manifesto. You get summaries of the party one often with your candidate's mugshot added to it.

You might claim you vote for a candidate but that only n every happens if the person has been your mp for awhile so that you get to feel like you know them. Until that connection happens then just how can you vote for them? Everything they put out is party approved. You can't know them if they're new. You have to vote on party approved information. That's voting for a party.

My mp has been around since 2010. Apart from, him wanting to get a branch line station upgraded as a main west coast line station with main route trains stopping there and 8 minutes away in a bigger place (and a city). Basically a totally pointless thing to campaign on that nobody wants. You can't vote on that.

[bovlomov]

Voting for people rather than parties gets you a better quality MP. Policies shift all the time, as the world shifts. It's better to vote for someone with good judgement than for a party manifesto that's unlikely to last a month after the election, and certainly won't survive large scale global events. Unfortunately, a person of good judgement is rarely available on the ballot paper.

The main point, however, is that we do vote for people. That's the law.

[Oldjohnw]

Whatever motivated people to vote, the MP has a duty to represent all constituents, as they see fit, regardless of how they voted. But MPs are not delegates: they consult but don't take orders. So they cannot possibly please everyone.

[Spinners]

All 8 (at time of writing!) should have the guts to stand for re-election to validate their status as a member of parliament for their constituency. At an election, rightly or wrongly, some people do vote for their preferred party and not the dazzling personality of the subsequently elected MP.

Rightly or wrongly, there's no requirement in our current system to do so and it seems entirely consistent with their reasons for breaking away that they would prefer to deal with issues of the day that they feel their former parties are failing to address correctly, instead of wasting time fighting unnecessary elections - we had one unnecessary timewasting election recently and it feels like another may be along shortly.

That'll be wrongly then. The only thing consistent is their own vanity and utter contempt for the people who elected them. They might all want to reflect on that... between soundbites to the eager media of course.

[bovlomov]

The Tory Party Manifesto is largely meaningless waffle, but anyway it has been abandoned - drowned beneath the Brexit tsunami. No MP should be expected to cling to a document that the leadership itself has discarded.

A strong economy. Smooth and orderly Brexit. Strong and stable Union. Promoting British culture around the world. A flourishing and secure democracy....

Yes folks - that's the Tory Party manifesto.

[MrsHJ]

Hi,
So a party is full off fools but one your local mp, they then do no follow the ideals of the people who voted for them, what do you do then look at another party?
Does voting for an mp get you an election?

Lets say you like what an mp says and does but you then find out that they are on the other side, do you still vote for them?

Swings and roundabouts

Sarah Wollaston is my MP too although I didn’t vote for her. I’ve been fairly impressed with her in this Parliament- if you look outside the Brexit debacle she’s been making a contribution as head of the health select committee and she voted against the government on social care costs and has an excellent reputation as a local MP as someone who will help if you get in touch ( this from a friend who is on Luke Pollards team -labour MP in Plymouth so wouldn’t throw round praise unnecessarily). She is broadly a compassionate conservative but no doubt we’ll get in some UKIP lite type instead at the next election given the direction of the Tory party. I would/will vote for her as an independent, not under the conservative manifesto.

[Vorpal]

I have only ever voted for the person, feeling that I would rather have someone that I respected to represent me, independent of party. Mr. V. does that in council and county elections, but votes for MP by party. Not because he wouldn't prefer to vote for the same person I do (sorry about the double negative), but because he is a Green party candidate, and Mr. thinks it's more important to vote for a party that has a chance against the Conservatives.

[mjr]

You might claim you vote for a candidate but that only n every happens if the person has been your mp for awhile so that you get to feel like you know them. Until that connection happens then just how can you vote for them? Everything they put out is party approved. You can't know them if they're new.

Why not? Our Labour candidate in 2017 was long-standing local trade union activist Jo Rust, well known from various campaigns and often in the local news media and the Green candidate was long-standing local green activist and parish councillor Michael de Whalley. I don't remember the other two, but those two challengers are at least as known as the sitting MP and would get a lot of people voting for them as people.

[mjr]

Rightly or wrongly, there's no requirement in our current system to do so and it seems entirely consistent with their reasons for breaking away that they would prefer to deal with issues of the day that they feel their former parties are failing to address correctly, instead of wasting time fighting unnecessary elections - we had one unnecessary timewasting election recently and it feels like another may be along shortly.

That'll be wrongly then. The only thing consistent is their own vanity and utter contempt for the people who elected them. They might all want to reflect on that... between soundbites to the eager media of course.

Surely these brave MPs are staying sincere to what they said to the people who elected them when they feel that their party isn't?

Accusations of them being vain and contemptful are libellous unless you've evidence for each and every one of them. Have you?

[MrsHJ]

Do you want an MP who always toes the party line and is just a face in the crowd or one who makes a contribution? I guess we wouldn’t have Jeremy Corbyn if we only got people who toed the party line.

[PH]

The Tory members jumping to join the Labour ones tells me all I need to know about the values of both. They were all elected on party manifestos, if they no longer believe in them they should stand for election on what they do believe.

Ken Clark answered that a couple of weeks ago. To paraphrase: the manifesto was a load of rubbish that was produced by some backroom spads a couple of weeks before the election. He was never sent a copy. The government junked large parts of it within days.

Ken Clarke seems affable enough but he's never been a big influence on my political thinking.