This sounds like it could have an affect on the forthcoming election, not just on the numbers of votes that go this way or that, but on what gets said during the campaign. It makes our Labour government look bad.
The judge in a vote-rigging trial says the postal voting system is “wide open to fraud” and has strongly attacked the government’s attitude to the problem.
Richard Mawrey QC was speaking as he ruled there had been “widespread fraud” in six Birmingham council seats won last year by Labour.
He accused the government of being not only complacent, but “in denial”, about the failings of the system.
The lawyer representing the accused in this case has just been on Newsnight, and he came as close as you can (with the look on his face rather than with his mere words) to saying that his clients are a pack of liars. That was a fun moment. This is a ticklish matter for the media, because the people doing these frauds are … er … ethnic.
Now Sion Simon, a local MP right next to where this happened, and something of a Labour attack dog in the Norman Tebbit mould, is saying that there is no systemic problem. Paxman is being quite rough on him. Simon Hughes for the Lib Dems, and a Conservative whose name I did not catch, are saying that there is a systemic problem. And of course, although this row has been simmering for some time, there is now no time to do anything to the system except urge vote counters and returning officers to be extra-vigilant.
Just how bad this will be for the government, I do not know. Maybe in a couple of days it will all be forgotten by almost everybody. But however this particular story plays out in the next few days, I get the feeling that, in Britain now, a political corner has been turned, some time during the last few months.
Whether the electorate as a whole has any plans to vote differently remains to be seen. Many of my friends, such as regular Samizdata commenter Paul Coulam to name but one, have said to me that Blair is about to be re-re-elected with a similar majority to last time around, just as Thatcher was. Coulam certainly said this to me a few weeks back. But governments take a long time to unravel, and what does seem to have happened is that the metropolitan media of Britain have got bored with Labour. They are now more bored with Labour than they are disgusted and embarrassed by the Conservatives, which was not true a year ago. Michael Howard may disgust many Samizdata readers by being just another opportunist political hack, but he is nevertheless, I would say, a much more impressive and consequential figure than his two predecessors at the head of the Conservative Party.
Now, Paxman is talking about what life is like in North Korea. Apparently people who have tried to escape from that hell hole, to heaven, otherwise known as China, are being executed in public, with everyone else in the town rounded up and forced to watch. Someone even managed to film one of these horror shows, and the BBC showed it. “Worst human rights record of any country in the world.” Count your blessings time.
The Today Programme on Radio 4 has just interviewed Michael Meadowcroft (ex-MP for Leeds West and founder-member of the “continuing” Liberal Party) and a leading member of the Electoral Reform Society.
He savaged the whole affair stating categorically that postal voting can never be considered a trustworthy process, and saying that the Electoral Commission should resign en masse.
A nicely damning indictment, I gave a little cheer as I drove in to work this morning.
The vote rigging only serves to confirm my worst fears and suspicions about the Labour party. I hope the upcoming election becomes an ‘anything but Tony’ event, much as 1997 was an ‘anything but Major’ one.
What comes after – I don’t really care, as there is precisely zilch on offer for someone like me who wants to see the state shrunk in size and power. NuLab, LibDems, Tories – they all want to spend more and control more.
When electors lose interest, as they have done in Britain, corruption expands to fill the vacuum of apathy. The lower the turnout, the easier it becomes to rig the result.
In inner cities, where turnouts are always lower, groups with racial, confessional or good old-fashioned nest-feathering motives can infiltrate the process. All the more so when much of the electorate comes from cultures where tribal loyalties, patronage and respect for priests, menfolk or elders trump abstract considerations of ideology, class etc.
Non-whites are taking us back to the England of the 18th century, where patronage networks determined outcomes in the minority of seats which were contested at all.
At school I was taught that in the disgraceful old days of limited franchises, rotten burghers sold their votes to the highest bidder. But in the brave new democratic world, it’s so different. Nowadays candidates bribe us by offering to take a bit less of *our* money, or at least promise to spend more of it on the things we want.
On the whole I prefer the old way. But when the franchise has been expanded to include chavs, women, and teens, the going rate for the vote would drop from a few quid and a pint to– what? Fifty Nectar points?
The following quote seems even more appropriate than normal:
“Democracy is an advance auction in stolen goods”
– H.L.Mencken
We should really getn rid of postal voting, if not before the GE, then at least before any possible EU referendum next year.
If this issue does look as if it will dominate the headlines, what’s the betting the Labour party pulls off some stunt to distract editors? Tax breaks for dinner-ladies, anyone?
Aaargh! It will have an effect, not an affect.
And yes, postal voting should be restricted to those who are unable to vote in polling booths. Even then it is a problem, but preferable to denying people access.
I’m very surprised that nobody here has made the comparison between the recent vote fraud, violent intimidation of the electorate and general corruption in and thescrupulously honest open electoral ballot in Zimbabwe. Perhaps for our General Election we could have a taskforce of Zimbabwean and EU electoral monitors to help ensure that our elections are fair and unbiased.
Apologies for the above, Firefox seems to be going all wobbly on me at the moment. The post should look like:
I’m very surprised that nobody here has made the comparison between the recent vote fraud, violent intimidation of the electorate and general corruption in Birmingham (Link)and the ‘scrupulously honest, open electoral ballot’ in Zimbabwe. Perhaps for our General Election we could have a taskforce of Zimbabwean and EU electoral monitors to help ensure that our elections are fair and unbiased.
More from the Independent on how the fraud took place and a piece in the Times about the possible extent of vote fraud in the General Election on May 5.
Business as usual in Phony’s Banana Republic multi-cultistan. It won’t touch Phony of course. Even though it was His government which ignored warnings that this would happen and His party which needlessly imposed this system on the country and it is His party which has been caught out, nothing must be allowed to sully the person and reputation of the Dear Leader.
There were no shortcomings with how things used to be done. If you want to cast a vote then get yourself down the school at the end of the road and vote in secret. If you can’t be bothered to do that so be it. That was far too efficient for this lot though. Expect much more on May 5 and ahead of the EU constitution vote and Euro referendum. The corruption of Britain’s civilisation takes another step foward.
I see on Sky News that Blair has just got into a helicopter to go campaigning. I sincerely hope it crashes.
Pete_London writes:
“There were no shortcomings with how things used to be done.”
Much as I agree with the sentiments everyone (so far) has expressed about this disgraceful incident, the above statement isn’t entirely accurate.
Voter impersonation is quite possible under the traditional scheme, apparently took place in the Birmingham scam, and probably has gone on in the UK for years.
There’s one other highly sinister aspect to our voting system which is rarely commented on. Our voting papers are individually traceable. If they wanted to, they could find out how you voted.
As for postal votes, I use one as I am frequently away from home for professional reasons and would otherwise be disenfranchised, so I rather approve of them – though their mandatory use is anathema and, clearly, designed by Labour to swing our already loaded elections in their favour. In a close-run contest, Labour’s boundary fiddles combined with postal votes could win them an election. And they know it!
Voter impersonation is possible under the traditional system, but very difficult to do on any scale without getting caught, because you have to appear in public in person. It’s easier to fake 100 postal votes than one in-person vote.
There’s one other highly sinister aspect to our voting system which is rarely commented on. Our voting papers are individually traceable. If they wanted to, they could find out how you voted.
Yes; but it would be really hard work–sort through the entire ballot cast (all those boxes get mixed at the count) for a particular numbered piece of paper. And it would be next to impossible to do secretly (because of the labour and physical space required). In consequence not a cost-effective means of political control. For all practical purposes we have a secret ballot.
Tony’s preferred solution is for a national election register, and electronic voting linked to ID cards…
“Moneypenny, we need to know the names of every woman in Bradford who’s blind and voted for RESPECT. Whistle up a list to conference suite 3, would you.”
Basicly Blair realises that the average Nu lab voter is to dam lazy to get to a polling booth, & he also knows that in ‘ethnic’ communities that the main man can get his 7 wifes & “cousins” to vote Labour? Damn Blier !!!!
Bugger. General election called and I haven’t managed to comply with the requirements to get an absentee ballot. I’m disenfranchised I tell ya.
Not that I’m overly enamoured with democracy these days anyway but a chance to cast a vote against the current clown-in-chief would have been nice.
Rich
Pete_London – The only problem with a helicopter crash with the egregious Liar on board is, an innocent pilot would be involved, and the Liar’s life isn’t worth the life of an innocent person. It’s not even worth the life of an innocent bunny or centipede the chopper may crash on.
There was never any reason – oops! there was never any legitimate reason – for expanding the postal vote. The Liar always intended it to be fraudulent – and how well, and how patronisingly, he read a large “ethnic minority” whose traditional practice this is and who have a large population of cowed, you should excuse the term, women.
Those of you who live in Britain, don’t take your eye off the ball. More blatant corruption is planned for the EU referendum. In addition to the votes of a certain ethnic minority one cannot mention without being accused of being prejudiced, the Liar currently masquerading as the prime minister of Britain intends to let European foreigners, who have absolutely no stake in the history or the future of Britain, to vote on the constitution.
Currently, EU citizens resident in one another’s countries can vote in their local, but not national, elections. So foreigners who don’t qualify to vote in a general election are to be accorded the vote in an irreversible election that will have far more profound consequences to the nation of Britain.
Sleaze, thy name is B. Liar.
All cultures are equal of course which is why we adopt multiculturalism.
Some of the results are becoming evident in the postal voting scandal in the
midlands.
If this is what these people get up to before they are elected what in
heaven’s name will they do in office.
How long will it be before a Birmingam council sentence a local woman to be
gang raped because of a minor infringement by her brother?
John Rippengal
Sion Simon cut a very sorry figure, as he tried to bluster his way out of this one. From what the judge has said, it seems likely that the Labour Party in Birmingham is an organised conspiracy, and should be investigated as such. It won’t be, of course.
John K – What has happened to the robust Anglosphere tradition of investigative journalism? Actually, The Telegraph is still pretty good at this. I suggest a team headed up by brilliant Rajiv Sayeel (although I haven’t seen his byline recently ….). This corruption is absolutely crying out for some good old fashioned bulldog reporting.
Andrew McGuinness writes:
“Voter impersonation is possible under the traditional system, but very difficult to do on any scale without getting caught, because you have to appear in public in person.”
Up to a point, but the “vote early vote often” system seems to have worked quite successfully in N. Ireland, according to reports. It would certainly be quite easy in cities and towns like Birmingham, where the imported cultural norms make personation a doddle – as has just been proved.
Where else, one wonders?
Guy Herbert writes:”In consequence not a cost-effective means of political control..”
Yes and no. I absolutely agree it would be impossible on a grand scale, but one wonders about what might happen in local elections, or where a fiercely controversial individual result took place – say a BNP victory.
Either way, it has always seemed quite wrong to me that we have individually identifiable ballot papers in the UK.
John K writes:
“Sion Simon cut a very sorry figure, as he tried to bluster his way out of this one. From what the judge has said, it seems likely that the Labour Party in Birmingham is an organised conspiracy, and should be investigated as such. It won’t be, of course.”
Hear, hear! Mind you, Telegraph readers will already have known what an odious little Marxist Sion Simon is, from his notorious columns in the paper, a few years ago.
Possibly an even worse performance took place a few days before, when some Labour hood from the Birmingham party refused to admit anyone had done anything at all wrong.
As Verity goes on to suggest, this story needs a lot more work done to find out just how prevalent this sort of thing is. We already know that Bliar heads possibly the most fundamentally dishonest British government since the 19th Century – so who can say how deep the corruption might run, spurred by his ‘victory at all costs’ mentality?
Melanie Phillips again hits the mark.
The editors of The Telegraph and The Times need to shove a large wadge of cash into a couple of quick-witted and persistent reporters’ hands and put them on a train to Birmingham. This is the only way we are going to get the truth. I’m sure Phoney will be announcing a royal commission of enquiry or something any minute … which should occasion hearty mirth.
Verity writes:
“The editors of The Telegraph and The Times need to shove a large wadge of cash into a couple of quick-witted and persistent reporters’ hands…”
It’s hard to see the editor of the Times doing anything like that, these days. I never had much time for the Left’s paranoia about Rupert Murdoch, but what he has done to the Times and its once proud reputation beggars belief. Perhaps they were right, after all.
These days, the Times is little more than a partisan rag, a bit like the Daily Mirror with pretensions.
It would be nice if someone listed all the places in Britian where there had been electoral fraud over the last couple of years (as far as I can remember all the recent cases of fraud have been by the Labour party).
There was the case in Glasgow, the antics in Bury, Darby, Preston…..
I repeat a full list would be nice.
As for why the issue is making little impact.
Well the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail report the frauds, but it is hard to get angry when even the Conservative party does not seem to care.
Nor does the Conservartive party seem to care that the constituencies are gerrymanded (strange shaped constituencies are one thing, but some of the Labour constituences have half the voters in them that the Conservative ones do – if you have less voters in each constituency you can have more seats of course).
I wonder if the Conservative party (of which I have been member since I was fifteen) really wants to win this election.
Of course if we won the election there would be the question of trying to deliver on all the David (“Two Brains”) W. policy promises.
Free university education, state pension increases linked to average earnings increases, promises to bail out private company pension funds with “money that is forgotten in banks” and so on.
I don’t believe that the Conservative Party is serious about winning this election. They have offered a moth-eaten manifesto which is a recipe for higher taxes and more regulation. I don’t trust them to do even half of the little they are promising to do. They have consistently allowed Labour to get away with murder over postal voting: it was the Lib Dems who blew the whistle in Birmingham. In the early 1990’s, the Tories were completely outmanouevred by Labour over constituency boundaries so that First Past the Post has wrecked their chances of making big inroads into Labour’s majority. When the Boundary Commission redraws boundaaries again after this election, you can bet your bottom dollar that Labour will work overtime to rig the result and that the Tories will sit on their hands. The Tories are lazy, incompetent, deeply divided and barren of ideas. Once this election is out of the way, they will descend into the only thing they excel at: internal bloodletting. There is already talk of a section of the Party trying to do a deal with the Lib Dems. With this collection of second-rate chancers, nothing would surprise me.