Cameron is wrong to call for a poll now

By Mike Katz

In these days of Parliamentary turmoil, we are all supposed to put aside partisan consideration for the good of our democracy. So I’m amazed that David Cameron hasn’t been challenged more substantially on roping in his calls for an election to this crisis in our legislature.

In normal times, it’s fine for an Opposition Leader to call for a General Election most hours of the day. In fact it’s standard operating procedure. But how responsible is it really to call for an election supposedly “to give the public a say” in the way Parliament operates, but which we all know would be fought on party lines?

Cameron’s disingenuous gambit is hardly statesmanlike behaviour. Make no mistake – Tuesday was truly historic, for the wrong reasons, and the general public’s respect for Parliament is clearly at rock bottom. But Cameron could have said that despite there being some logic or cause for an election, this is not the moment to make such a call; rather, it is more important to rise above the normal fray and avoid party politicking at the worst possible time. This would have been the statesmanlike, non-partisan approach.

Would Cameron not stand candidates in an snap election? No. Does he think that Tory MPs are beyond reproach? Far from it, given his public chastisement of some, including his own aides, for which credit is deserved. So let’s not simplify the rationale for all elections.

We all know that when we hold an election, we do two things: choosing who we want to govern, and who we want to represent us in our constituency. The two are interlinked – and will stay that way, for I’ve heard nobody, even the maddest PR anoraks, call for a formal separation of executive and legislature.

It really doesn’t help public appreciation of politics to think that you can do one without the other – whether it comes from lazy journalists or party politicians who should know better. Much has been made of wanting more Independent MPs, but if 650-odd free-thinkers were sent to Westminster, who would the Queen invite to form a Government? We do still need a Government, don’t we?

Yes, we need to involve the public more in these debates, but let’s be honest and admit two things. First, it isn’t easy to have public involvement in complex decisions in a considered way. This doesn’t mean we should duck the opportunity for a wide public debate about Parliamentary reform – far from it – but it does mean we shouldn’t rely on easy tropes.

I honestly don’t think that many people in Kilburn who I’ll be canvassing this weekend have, as one MP insisted on Newsnight, any great insight into which MP would make the best Speaker. They simply want a system they can trust and MPs they can respect. (Thankfully, our MP, Glenda Jackson, has not been touched by this scandal.)

The second point is that parties are integral to modern liberal democracies, and not some dirty repository for all our polity’s ills. Pretending they aren’t necessary, or that they don’t need proper funding, is a intellectual and political cul-de-sac.

True leadership would acknowledge how far we have to go to involve people properly in this debate. Whilst Labour has hardly had its finest hour in this regard, the Tories have failed here too.