Chloe Smith's comprehensive victory in Norwich North raises several issues. First of all, it suggests that the Conservatives are heading for a hefty victory at the next general election. Secondly, it begs serious questions of Nick Clegg's leadership of the Liberal (sic) Democrats (sic). (Why have they done so badly in recent elections? What is their unique selling point? Should they dump Mr Clegg for Vince Cable?) It also provides evidence that a well-run positive campaign can trump a desperately negative one.
Another matter that will doubtless have people muttering into their cornflakes is the relative youth of Miss Smith, who is 27.
There are lots of splendid arguments to be made about the undesirability of politics being overrun by the Political Class. Lots of MPs have very little work experience other than past membership of the Political Cadets - where they worked either in the civil service or at Party HQ. I agree that this has become a problem.
If you want to man the barricades to protest that older would-be candidates from outside the Political Class get discriminated against, then I'm in. But if you start chanting that no-one under the age of 35 should be allowed to stand for Parliament, I will vault the barricades and leave you to it. (Well alright, I'm not remotely agile enough to do that, but you get the point.)
Here's the nub of the matter. Experience isn't the most important quality; judgement is.
Can judgement be improved by experience? Certainly. That's why I don't want a House of Commons made up entirely of youngsters, and why I want there to be some soldiers, sailors, pilots, teachers, businessmen and women, social workers, artists and athletes on the green benches. But I don't for a moment accept that no-one young has anything to offer.
I don't even accept that they can't claim to be experienced. Experience comes in many guises. Show me a callow teenager and I might show you a gluesniffer. But I might instead show you a carer, a parent substitute, a volunteer or a young entrepreneur. Some of us have lived a lifetime by the time we leave our teens. (I hadn't, but some of us have.)
Moreover, in my experience people tend to be broadly sensible or broadly silly. I know pre-pubescents who handle their pocket money better than some bankers have handled billions of pounds. I've heard middle-aged men and women make the most idiotic remarks about domestic and foreign policy. I can even think of one or two incredibly thick MPs. On the other hand I've known lots of Shadow Cabinet advisers in their early twenties (I was one myself) who gave extremely shrewd advice (I did my best).
Chloe (does it undermine my case entirely if I admit that it seems pompous to call her 'Miss Smith'?) gives every impression of being drenched in common sense, and she has already proven herself dedicated to helping others through her charity and political work and by being a school governor. There will be no shortage of folk reminding her that she has a lot to learn. She would be entitled to point out that they have as well, whoever they are.
ANYONE who thinks they know it all is a menace. You can have a glittering career as a soldier behind you, but that doesn't mean you could plan a military exercise at sea. You might have lived abroad for large periods of your life, but it doesn't mean that you are an expert in arranging for food supplies to be delivered to a village and kept away from corrupt officials.
A good MP is listening and learning all the time, and knows that there are limits to their sagacity. Regular surgeries - which enable MPs to meet a far wider cross section of the public than many of us encounter in our 'real' jobs - will help.
If you were American and deciding between Presidential candidates, would you invariably vote for the candidate with the most distinguished record of military service? Or would you be more concerned about what policies they were advocating? John Kerry in 2004 and John McCain in 2008 were both vets - but is it very likely that you would have voted for both of them, given their profoundly different views?
Experience is great, but it's not the be all and end all. It is a useful consideration in assessing someone's competence, but it doesn't guarantee anything. I think a lot of us will have had very good young teachers and diabolical ones who had been doing it for decades (as well as vice versa).
Chloe has shown excellent judgement in becoming a Conservative. The voters of Norwich North have made their own judgement. It would have been quite wrong if they had been denied the democratic right to vote for a youngster. I don't think that Chloe and I have ever met, but I have a sneaking feeling that she's going to show her constituency that it was right to put its trust in her.
And I didn't even mention Pitt the Younger!
