Pondering this question more… I’d suggest Dr Sarah Wollaston:
With Lewisham Hospital a major local political cause, I think a GP would be a credible local MP.
Wollaston defied the Tory leadership on top-down re-organisations of the NHS.
She’s also progressive (pro-marriage-equality, pro-gender-equality, pro-choice). Also a pacifist who opposed intervention in Syria. Lots of Green / pacifist types round here. And a Remainer, after some flirtation with the Leave campaign.
What’s more, female MP candidates stand a better chance than men in Lewisham due to local hardline feminists (who believe in equalising outcomes rather than opportunities).
Let’s say, for sake of argument, she could win in Lewisham Wotsit (what are we called these days? I keep forgetting). We’ll never know, but let’s assume.
Does her stance on Health not make her enough of a boat-rocker that she wouldn’t be able to make her way up the ladder to the cabinet? Remember, my question is about getting cabinet-capable MPs elected in constituencies that don’t traditionally vote for their party.
Who did May reappoint as Health secretary? Well, maybe May will take a more robust approach to her whole cabinet after the election. Brexit was her priority last year.
Point being, though: it is extremely difficult to get a cabinet-capable person to win in a naturally party-hostile constituency.
For MPs who aspire to be assistant Whip, then I completely agree: local people make the best MPs for their locality. But for those who can and want to be in the cabinet, they may need to be parachuted into constituencies they know nothing about.
I just remembered the apocryphal tale of Peter Mandelson campaigning in Hartlepool and asking in a chippy for what he thought was guacamole dip and was actually mushy peas.
Hmm… not every one is aTory you know ! My view is different !.. I refer to the founder of the NHS… and his comment relating to household pests. (For thick folk… Google it )
Not disputing that not everyone is a Tory. But the discussion arose from another thread on the question of whether you can have a cabinet-capable candidate stand successfully in a party-hostile constituency, just because they are local to that constituency rather than being parachuted in by their party.
Ah … see what you mean … parachuting MPs is a long standing in all parties… I suspect, in practice, cabinet members have little concern about local constituency matters? Bigger fish to fry?
