Re~Stirred Forum

think 10,000 West Mids members so shows how much people do not care.

Surprised bob won and the vote split between Brum and the rest of West Mids would be fascinating to see

I have known Bob for a long time and I can quite confidently say he will do a good job. A job, I must say, should not really exist!!

of course not but your party fully supported it, why I do not know at all. to make the head of the police a political role is madness. At least if bob wins he will stop the privatisation of the service here.

All I can do is 100% agree with you. Do not agree with the National Party on this issue or on the rediculous idea of elected mayors. Furthermore believe the Cabinet & Scrutiny process for Local Government is totally flawed and we should return forthwith to the Committee system where every member of the Council had an input into the decision making process!

That was always the plan. I think there are other candidates too...

The BBC's Midlands political reporter Patrick Burns has a long comment on the PCC election and this weekend's programme will be on PCC's.

I expect those appearing might be slightly put-off by this:

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18493182

I wonder if he will ask his guests to comment on a YouGov poll that found 59% thought an ex-police officer would make the best PCC and less than 10% thought a politician would make a good PCC.

Locally we have on offer from Labour two police authority members and after their Labour Party ballot Bob Jones announces Yvonne Mosquito will be made his deputy.

The misery that is the Labour Party. Fake, arrogant, painfully awkward and joyless all in one picture.

Vote Bob.

I think that would misjudging the electorate. I don't see Labour's core support getting themselves to the polls in November to vote for the soft on crime party.

A valid comment:

What will be interesting to watch is how hard the Labour Party, including the trade unions, work on getting their supporters to opt for a postal vote.

The Jones-Mosquito "ticket" may appeal to some of the 'core support'. I suspect many of them are unconvinced for a variety of reasons. Clearly some Conservatives will argue to retain front-line officers privatisation of support activity is the only option. Or each 'special adviser' and deputy PCC costs one police officer.

Good job there aren't any pictures of, for example, Cameron, Osborne and Gove looking like clueless plonkers.

Just staying on topic.

Ed : You gotta laugh - Its the Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe. Is this the right smile?
Yvonne : I don't know which of you is touching my left buttock, but one of you is in deep trouble just as soon as I get my handbag
Bob: Not guilty M'Lud, but who thought it was a good idea to take my pic with these three metrosexual losers? And my feet are killing me in these shoes.
Yvette :I am so happy to be here in Leicester/Warwick/Coventry - just how long does it take to get a skinny latte in this dump?

Two Solihull residents have announced their intention to stand. Cllr Diana Holl-Allen, from Knowle and a vice chair of the Police Authority, she's been a member since 1999; plus a community activist opposed to an illegal travellers site @ Meriden, a David McGrath.

Mr McGrath was a B'ham councillor till 1994, with a stint on the Police Authority, when he retired from politics.

The Tory Party selection process is down to two now, Solihull Cllr Joe Tildesley and another. I suspect the later is Knowle Cllr Diane Holl-Allen

Does this mean that former councillor Matt Bennett has been excluded at the short list stage, and if so will certain Tories here be upset by this, given how quick they were to suggest that the Labour selection process was being fixed?

The candidates are being told this afternoon/evening what the outcome of the short listing is. A press release will be published on Monday.

No matter what their merits, I don't like the idea of a shortlist of 2 Solihull councillors.

The thing about the Conservative selection is - in contrast to Labour - everyone on this forum who lives in the West Midlands will have a chance to select the Conservative candidate. Given the limitations of the Labour candidate and his deputy, I would suggest this is something worth taking an interest in.

You didn't answer my question, Dominic, so I assume I was right.


Do you mean the Consrvatives are organising a primary election where everyone can vote (after, of course, ensuring that both candidates are entirely acceptable to the leadership)? Or to put it more bluntly, the Tory party doesn't trust its own members to select its candidate?

Yes... You appear to have a comprehension problem. Would it help if I write more slowly?

They will have to do it quickly. Will it be organised by the people who ran Birmingham city council until last May? And why, then, if this is true, is former councillor Matt Bennett so unacceptable that his name cannot go forward?

Incidentally, I ran into a former indepependent member of the Police Authority the other day who I hadn't seen for a while. She was delighted - overjoyed, I'd almost say, by her reaction - that Bob Jones had been selected and said how good he was. She was caustic about Diana Holl-Allen.

I am sure you will be furnished with all the details in due course. When it's just party members I would favour more than two names going forward, but for an open primary across the whole West Midlands I think it is right to have a shortlist of two (provided they are sufficiently different candidates).

How quaint, 'furnished with all the details'. Does that mean what a Tory commissioner will spend on his office?

Please explain why the people cannot be trusted to vote on more than two candidates. And why your fellow (?) party members cannot be trusted to pick the candidate.

Open primaries are expensive for the party, but I am sure you can understand why it is more democratic and adds legitimacy to the selected candidate. I don't know what the view is within Labour, but in our party we don't see the general population as a sub-species. Trust the people.

Primaries are populism not democracy. The USA where they are universal has the lowest democratic involvement (measured by polling figures) in the western world. And in the short time involved the candidate with the most money has a strong tendency to win. No doubt that's a reason why you like them. And this one is clearly a cynical exercise. If not, please explain why the people cannot be trusted to vote on more than two candidates.

Speaks the man who wrote upthread that he favoured a shortlist of two for the Labour candidacy? Wot a hypocrite.

Speechless.

For many of the contributors on this site political persuasion might just influence to a slight degree their view of the PCC candidates declared so far.

It is public record that Councillor Bob Jones was opposed to the office of Police and Crime Commissioner but the reality is that this is where we are heading.

The only certainty we have is that Labour have their team selected and that the Liberal Democrat Party have, as yet, only one declared candidate Mr. Ayoub Khan.

From the names mentioned on this site, so far, only Councillor Jones has what would appear to be a CV that fits the role of PCC.

A former Chairman of the National Association of Police Authorities, a former Chair of the West Midlands Police Authority and a long serving member of that authority coupled with a long service record as a councillor.

He might not have the fashionable aspects that often accompany those politicians that appear to be a bit oily and slippery but he is honest, genuine, hardworking and has the intellect, experience and capability to be an excellent PCC.

He works in the reality of what is and not what might be. The pressure on the budget and the required cost savings of circa £126 million for policing in the region will need a PCC with exceptional skills. Councillor Jones has been part of the process that has so far brought in a saving of £20 million.

He has the reasoned position of acknowledging, that given the required savings to be made, certain aspects of 'back office' function will need to be put out to the private sector, but privatisation of the core policing function is not an option.

He is committed to the operational independence of the Office of Chief Constable and would not politicaly interfere with that role.

Having declared that Councillor Mosquito will be his Deputy PCC, acknowledges that he is ensuring that experience of policing issues and holding the police to account is paramount.

As a team they will have complimentary skills, a vast knowledge and skill base and in these days of diversity they cover the bases of male, female and BME representation.

As mentioned by previous contributors, the turnout in November could be very low and this will not give much democratic approval or legitimacy for the Office of PCC.

Mr. M Bennett would be the best of the Conservative names so far associated with the position of PCC but it would appear to me from what has been contributed above that the Conservatives might decide on the wrong candidate.

Mr. Ayoub Khan presided over some of the negative aspects of Birmingham City Council's police interaction such as Project Champion and possiblly has very little hope of being elected PCC, due to an unreasonable public perception of the Liberal Democart Party.

I await for the official declaration of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Team for PCC and Deputy, but what matters is that post November 2012 West Midlands Police still has the capability to protect and serve the community of the West Midlands.

That doesn't make much sense - how can the same process both be "populist" [implying mass involvement], but also engender "the lowest democratic involvement in the western world"?

Clearly, the candidates in primary elections must first be approved by the party - it would hardly be helpful to anyone for candidates to stand with wildly inappropriate agendas compared to that particular party's principles. That said, I don't see why there could not be three or four such candidates?

Anyway, whatever your criticism of primaries, surely they are far more democratic than candidates being appointed by very opaque executive party committees, sitting in smoky rooms...

I think, not entirely sure, that I can openly say that the two candidates that have gone through to the open primary are Matt Bennett and Joe Tiledesley.