Politics like everyone's watching

[purpletigron]

It's common for the larger parties to form a 'Shadow Cabinet' whilst not in power - the Shadow Ministers give detailed criticism of Government actions in different areas.

I wonder if it would be possible, and useful, to have 'Shadow MPs' and 'Shadow councillors' as well - prospective Parliamentary and Council candidates from other parties who actively track the job in the years between elections. Obviously, an elected representative has far more resources than an ordinary political activist. But what better way to build up support, and really serve your potential constituents by giving extra assistance when the incumbent drops the ball?

Comments

[redbird]

I don't know whether things are different in the UK than they are here, but a lot of the constituent services that elected officials (members of Congress, local legislators, city/town councilmembers) provide are possible because of their position: "Hello, I'm calling from Congressman Rangel's office" gets results from government agencies because it's a Congressman's office. There are also salary (would the party be willing to support a shadow state assemblywoman? the government isn't going to pay her) and office staff.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I don't know how different it is - there is information available through the House of Commons which is much harder to access otherwise.

There are a lot of people who work as unpaid volunteers during election campaigns. I'm partly envisioning this as a productive use of activist time during the terms of office of their opponents, which should still contribute to their election chances next time polling comes around.

[timill]

That works the same here - when Marcia's original one-year visa was about to expire, we called our local MP to get some action out of the Home Office, since no amount of personal calling was getting anywhere.

[sammywol.livejournal.com]

Now that is an idea! Of course getting publicity could be tricky but I can think of several TDs over here who could use some salutary breath on the neck from a rival or three.