Jo Silvester PhD is a Professor of Organisational Psychology and a partner of the partner of the Work Psychology Partnership. Christina Dykes MA (pictured) is Political Advisor to Dominic Grieve MP and was Head of Candidates at Conservative Central Office.
So far it has run the predictable political course.
After months of anticipation and much hype the priority list was produced. Its appearance was accompanied by relief for the lucky included, and mutterings of disbelief and disappointment by those excluded. Quickly came the dénouement; practical difficulties are becoming obvious, its validity is being queried and then there will be the pregnant pause as we wait to see whether it will be used by Conservative Associations or not.
Before this final scene plays out let us take stock of what the priority list represents or perhaps more importantly what it could represent. We welcome it as a sign that the Party continues to take the selection of its future MPs seriously. We welcome the fact that the Party (unlike its two main rivals) is prepared to experiment and to test imaginative but fair ways of promoting greater diversity on its Candidates’ list. We welcome that the Party has accepted that the best way of ensuring diversity in the next generation of MPs is on the basis of merit. In particular we welcome that the Party recognises that merit transcends gender and colour.
As a result there are many excellent candidates on the list who deserve to get the full endorsement of the Party as they go forward for selection.
No doubt Conservative Headquarters hope that this will be enough to ensure that they are selected. But will it? Those of us who are alarmed by the growing apathy for politics on the part of the electorate worry that one of the causes is the low esteem in which the public holds politicians. Competence or having the ability to do the job must play a part. We are all too aware that when politicians and, in particular, Ministers fail the fall out in the press is sensational. Look a the debacle in the Home Office at the moment or ask a farmer what he/she thought of Mrs Beckett’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – both good examples of the failure of political leadership to deliver the results the public could expect. Witness the ridicule in the press for John Prescott’s scandalous behaviour. If we are to restore people’s confidence in our political systems we must have politicians that can both deliver and be trusted to deliver.
Although the first step is for political parties to put forward candidates who can represent Britain as it is, the second step is to make certain that those selected and then elected to be MPs are equipped to lead. This means ensuring that they receive the necessary professional development to support them as their career grows. These days training and continuing professional development is central to career progression for most if not all professions. Indeed, for many a failure to comply results in the loss of qualifications and professional status. Yet, it seems that politicians - people who have enormous influence over other people’s lives - are expected by birth alone to be good at their jobs.
This is where the priority list should come into its own. If we are to take the literature of the priority list seriously the Party’s candidates committee believes that these are the people who should be the politicians of tomorrow. Therefore it is not too fanciful to believe that the Party considers these people to be their brightest hope for forming a Government. So whilst step one has been taken, as yet nothing is being done about step two: preparing candidates for their anticipated roles in government. Estelle Morris acknowledged the importance of skill development in her resignation letter when she wrote “I’ve learned what I’m good at and also what I’m less good at. I’m good at dealing with the issues and in communication with the teaching profession. I am less good at strategic management of a huge department and I am not good at dealing with the modern media” (22 October 2002). Unfortunately, by the time an MP gets to be a Minister the opportunity for developing relevant skills may be long gone; the time they are most likely to benefit is as they rise up the political ladder. This is why we argue that those on the priority list should benefit from a well structured political leadership programme.
We believe the Conservative Party could steal a march on the other parties if they realise the potential it has created. If the Conservative Party introduced professional development of its Parliamentary Party they could promise the electorate a governing party that has been properly prepared for the heady and complex business of modern government.
Then national government would be seen to be catching up with developments in local government. Through such bodies as the Leadership Centre for Local Government and the Improvement and Development Agency both politicians and officers can find support for bettering their performance. Later this year the Leadership Centre will be launching a project specifically designed to make senior councillors (those in cabinet) aware of their political leadership role. Training will not be confined to campaigning techniques, important thought they are, but to increasing strategic awareness of their role, how to convey vision and to provide, to use the latest phraseology “leadership of place”.
For a long time a brain drain from councils to Westminster has been feared. If the emphasis on continual professional development is maintained at a local level and is ignored nationally we could well see the opposite.
