The talent-free zone

Chris Trotter brutally assesses the new Labour MPs as a talent-free zone.

He says that since the early 1990s, only a handful of new MPs have shown promise, and most of them ended up blotting their copy book.

Trotter says that the Labour selection system is set up to favour those who win patronage from one of the three powerful sector groups – the affiliated trade unions, the Women’s Council, and the Rainbow Council.

Now it is interesting to look at the top ranked new candidates on Labour’s 2005 list. After Shane Jones at 27 we have the next six new candidates:

STREET, Maryan – female, gay
MORONEY, Suzanne Mary – female, unionist
FENTON, Darien Elizabeth – female, unionist
CHAUVEL, Charles Pierre – gay, lawyer for unions
SOPER, Lesley Frances – female, unionist
WALL, Louisa Hareruia – female, gay

Now this is not to say on an individual level, any of the above won’t be good MPs – Maryan Street for example is already regarded as doing well. But it does reinforce Trotter’s point that the way to get elected from Labour is to have backing or be a member of one of those three groups.