EVERYONE who believes that independence should be our main target in the Holyrood election knows full well that we should ensure our most effective candidates are on the ballot paper. We all have a part to play in ensuring that this is the case and that ability and a commitment to independence should be the only priority in candidate choice.
No-one should be making decisions when they have a vested interest in the outcome. The NEC members who voted at the eleventh hour to bring in a ruling that prevented MPs in Westminster from submitting their names for the Holyrood election in May without first vacating their Westminster seat acted in an underhand way. Some of those NEC members have since submitted their own names to constituencies of their choice with a view to contesting the Scottish election in May. Those members should have declared an interest and taken no part in the discussion or the vote which resulted in one of our outstanding MPs being, in effect, blackballed.
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A number of Joanna Cherry’s colleagues in Westminster have written in support of her. While some at Westminster have kept their heads down, others have shamefully made it known that they concur with this late ruling. That, I suspect, has more to do with Joanna Cherry’s support for women’s rights than her abilities and, of course, looking after their own interests. It has to be said that it also keeps them on good terms with the leadership. Thomas Jefferson once said, “Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.” When people have all the power at their disposal, they can ignore the opinions of others.
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The excuse put forward by those who have thwarted MPs submitting their names for consideration, by adding a late ruling to allow both the Holyrood election and any by-election for Westminster to run concurrently to save money, is a fabrication of the truth. We want to run Scotland but we can’t find the money to fight a couple of by-elections. To some, democracy means saying what you like but doing what you are told. In the 19th century, Simon Cameron served as both a US Democratic senator and later a Republican senator. He commented, “An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.”
Bill Clark
Fort William
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