As I write this the result of the Tory Leadership election has not been announced. Whoever it is I do not want to reflect on their personal characteristics and beliefs – plenty will be doing that – but on how they were selected and what this means for our democracy.
The leader of the Conservative Party is ultimately picked by 160,000 people. The Party will not reveal their characteristics, but it is generally assumed they are predominantly white, middle class and elderly. Be that is as it may, there is little discussion as to how the process is actually conducted. By accident, my wife and I had a revealing insight into this, and I want to describe it here.
The process
The parties do not have the resources or expertise to conduct elections on this scale themselves. Sir Graham Brady does not empty the ballot boxes onto his no doubt large kitchen table in Altringham. Instead, the Tory Party, as does the Labour Party and many other organisations, uses Civica Election Services. This is part of a large software business providing information systems for a host of organisations, as diverse as Trade Unions and Public Libraries.
It used to be the venerable Electoral Reform Society, an organisation set up in 1884 to campaign for a fairer electoral system, but did organising elections as a side-line to finance itself. It established Electortal Reform Services in 1988 to cater for the growing need to organise ballots and this was sold to Civica in 2018.
I am not aware that anyone scrutinises this organisation which plays an important role in our democracy, effectively deciding who the next Prime Minister will be. But I do have a totally accidental insight into how they operate.
My story
Full disclosure. My wife and I have been members of the Labour Party for a long time. We usually vote in internal elections. The election for members of the National Executive Committee was going on this summer, with far less publicity than the Tory Leadership. I received my ballot from Civica and voted. It got nearer the deadline and my wife’s had not arrived, so we contacted Civica who said they had not received her details from the Labour Party. So we contacted the Labour Party who said my wife had not paid her subs. Next step was to look at the bank statements and it confirmed she had. We told the Labour Party and the ballot finally arrived from Civica in time for her to vote. (There was no apology from anyone) Then, believe it or not, the following e mail from Civica arrived.
Thank you for contacting Civica Election Services (CES).
If you have a registered email address with the Conservative and Unionist Party, you will receive a confirmation email that your vote has been received. You can expect to receive this within 2 working days.
No, we didn’t believe it at first either.
All this does not show a high degree of competence in either the Labour Party or Civica in handling data. The Labour Party is a private organisation and needs to get its house in order. But Civica is an organisation conducting a ballot of national importance and needs to make sure the ballot results it delivers are accurate. In public elections, there is strong scrutiny with heavy penalties for fraud, and Civica should have to submit this too. I am not suggesting any deliberate malpractice, but rather simple incompetence.
The whole way the election was conducted also raises other questions relevant to our democracy. Because it was during the “silly season” and the only other big news stories were Megan Markle’s self-aggrandising revelations and the war in Ukraine, the hustings received extensive coverage. But did they seriously discuss policy? Rishi Sunak did more than Liz Truss, but I do not remember any debate about how “Levelling Up” would be delivered, or how the crisis in the NHS can be resolved. All we got was vague promises.
Policies
At a proper election, parties have to deliver manifestoes which set out their policies, often the result of much internal debate beforehand. This leadership election did not do that, but it hugely influences how the government will deal with the real challenges facing us.
This election seems to have been technically flawed, and the whole cumbersome process did not really give us much idea how we were going to face the really serious challenges ahead. Not a great day for British democracy.
