PODIUM: Parliamentary systems need to change

LORD Randolph Churchill (1849-1895) was born into wealth, power and privilege: Eton, Oxford, (and the notorious Bullingdon Club) were followed by election to parliament for the safe constituency of Woodstock.

He is famous for two things: for being the father of Winston Churchill, and for making one of the silliest and most damaging assertions ever to come out of Westminster – “The first duty of Her Majesty's opposition,” declared his lordship, “is to oppose.”

And with those words he provided an excuse for generations of politicians to leave their brains behind when they walk into the House of Commons, and to shout down every policy or proposal that comes fromthe opposing tribe – whatever their privately held opinions.

The shape of the Commons chamber itself encourages this adversarial mindset. Straight rows of uncomfortable benches opposite each other “two sword lengths apart”, but near enough to exchange insults face to face.

So true debate during which minds might change, rarely happens in this place. It's a binary choice: no third or fourth opinion matters, it's black or white, yes or no, win or lose.

And if some naive member breaks ranks and begins to 'see the other side' of a question, a tribal elder we call a Whip will very quickly remind them that their continued membership of this exclusive club may become uncertain.

Once a week, the slanging match known as PMQs (Prime Ministers Questions) is arranged for the entertainment of honourable members.

It’s the one day when it's sure to be standing-room only, and follows “Randolph's Law” to the letter. The questions will simply be provocative (or sycophantic), the answers bland or dismissive, and the noise deafening; no-one is enlightened and no-one expects to be.

In this place that George Bernard Shaw called 'the gabble shop', rhetoric is more valued than reason. No wonder the scribblers up in the press gallery see themselves as theatre critics rather than political journalists.

The continued domination of Parliament by two major parties is no accident. Whichever one is in opposition knows that the one in power will soon become unpopular when its election promises prove impossible to fulfil, or unexpected ‘events’ blow it off course.

Then the pendulum will swing back in their favour, and at the next election it will be Buggin's Turn to enjoy unrestrained legislative power.

This is inevitable, given our FPP (First Past the Post) voting system, which is ridiculously undemocratic. It effectively disenfranchises supporters of smaller parties who may have wide national support but no concentration in any one constituency.

For example, in the last general election, with a proportionate system reflecting the voters’ intentions, the number of seats won by SNP, UKIP and Greens respectively, would have been about 19, 11 and 10.

But with the cockeyed system of FPP, the numbers are 35, 0 and 1!

And the Liberal Democrats would have won about 45 seats instead of the present 12. No wonder so many people feel disillusioned about the political process when we know that half of our votes will change nothing; and no surprise at all that successive Labour and Tory governments have been determined to keep it that way.

But, it’s argued, doesn’t FPP give us strong and stable governments? No, it doesn’t; it gives us arrogant governments. It imposes things we don’t need and didn’t ask for – things like the Poll Tax and the Iraq war, to name only two.

This has to change. But it won’t change until Parliament itself abandons the attitudes and ingrained habits it seems to regard as immutable traditions.

Do our MPs really have to jump to their feet like scalded cats in order to ‘catch the Speaker’s eye’? And is there really no alternative to that time-wasting shuffling into the voting lobbies like zombies for every division?

Of course there is – it’s called joining the 21st century.

So confrontation rules; so much so, that the major parties are now in a state of civil war among themselves over Brexit.

Lord Randolph must be smiling in his grave.