What is the main message of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians?

The main message of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians is an exploration of the flaws in the political system and how it leads to the election of ineffective leaders.

How long does it take to read Why We Get the Wrong Politicians?

The reading time for Why We Get the Wrong Politicians varies depending on the reader's speed. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

Is Why We Get the Wrong Politicians a good book? Is it worth reading?

Why We Get the Wrong Politicians is worth reading as it sheds light on the shortcomings of our political system and offers insights into how we can bring about positive change.

Who is the author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians?

The author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians is Isabel Hardman.

Why We Get the Wrong Politicians Summary of Key Ideas and Review

Name: Why We Get the Wrong Politicians
Rating: 4.2 (52 reviews)
Author: Isabel Hardman

Introduction

What’s in it for me? A quick tour of British politics.

Politicians: can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Our much-maligned class of legislators and decision-makers are frequently characterized as corrupt, self-serving sycophants who have far more guile than talent. We think of them as careerists rather than devoted public servants. Along with bankers and estate agents, they are consistently voted in the least trusted professional groups in the UK.

And while there are indeed some politicians who could go toe-to-toe with Frank Underwood from House of Cards, there are far more who are upright, hardworking and keen to serve their country. True, their age, race, gender and wealth might be unrepresentative of the country at large, but it isn’t inherently their fault. The problem lies far deeper: in the structure and culture of Parliament itself.

Strap in, because we’re about to zoom through some of the British government’s most pernicious – and often neglected – features. From the MP selection process right through to their early resignations, find out why the system is broken and what we can do to fix it.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

how undemocratic the process for choosing politicians is;
why parliamentary culture doesn’t reward good lawmakers; and
how the yes-man damages UK politics.

Key idea 1 of 8

Becoming an MP candidate and running for election are both undemocratic and expensive.

For political analysts, media commentators and switched-on citizens, attention is only focused on a politician once they enter office – as if they popped into existence the morning after a successful election campaign. But to totally understand the UK’s flawed political system and why its citizens are unsatisfied and exasperated with their leaders, it’s worth examining how politicians are selected as candidates for office in the first place.

In the UK, elected politicians on the national level are called Members of Parliament (MPs), who represent a local area, called a constituency. Every political party nominates an MP candidate for each constituency, and local residents vote for their preferred candidate to represent them in the lower house of Parliament, known as the House of Commons. The party with the most MPs in the House of Commons becomes the governing party.

But the way that each party selects their MP candidates is completely undemocratic.

If a would-be Conservative – that is, a Tory – politician wants to become the Party’s MP candidate for Hemel Hempstead, for example, she must persuade a selection panel comprising the area’s local Conservative Party councilors. But these panels are woefully small, rarely numbering more than 250 people.

These people are often overlooked, but they’re responsible for choosing the names on UK ballot papers. What’s more, they’re usually unrepresentative. In 2013, the Local Government Association found that 67 percent of local councilors were male and 96 percent were ethnically white. The average age of these councilors was 60.

And even if you’re selected, the cost of running for election is prohibitively expensive.

Selected candidates must scale back their careers, dedicating their time to trudging rainy streets, knocking on doors and hosting charity events. To gain support from the community, many feel obligated to donate money to funding projects like renovating the local church or buying the school a new minibus. They rack up huge petrol bills traveling around their constituency and shell out on hotels to attend national party conferences. None of this is subsidized by their party.

One survey, conducted by the website ConservativeHome, asked 37 Tory party candidates how much running for election had set them back. The average came in at an exorbitant £34,392.

Auditioning for a job with such a ludicrous financial burden, a job that you’re not even guaranteed to get, deters many people from standing. Worse, it makes it impossible for talented, less well-off individuals to enter government.

The ones that do make it are maligned – but they’re not as bad as we think they are.

Key idea 2 of 8

Most MPs are dedicated, well-meaning people working in a difficult job.

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who actually likes politicians. Most of us either vehemently dislike them or regard them with cold indifference. But we should be more sympathetic – the vast majority are well-meaning and undertaking an extraordinarily hard job.

Their trouble starts as soon as they’re elected. The Palace of Westminster, where Parliament is located, is a sprawling labyrinth of tiny offices, long corridors, conference rooms and bustling restaurants and bars. MPs frequently complain of feeling lost and confused weeks after entering office.

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Key idea 3 of 8

There isn’t enough focus on legislating in an MP’s job.

Not only are most of us ignorant about the hurdles facing new and prospective MPs, we’re also mostly ignorant about what politicians actually do. Most of us think they do two things: vote and lie. And although they do both, they do far more than that.

MPs have two primary responsibilities: making, debating and scrutinizing laws; and representing the interests of their constituency. In addition, some are handed extra roles, like being made a government minister. These high-ranking officials lead government departments, such as the Department for Education.

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Key idea 4 of 8

British legislation is understudied – and it’s due to the country’s poor political structure.

Ask the next Briton you meet to walk you through how bills are created and passed into law in the UK. Chances are you’ll be greeted with a perplexed look and some polite apologies. But that’s not down to this poor Brit being politically illiterate – it’s because the UK lawmaking process is complicated, long-winded and inefficient.

In theory, it works just great. When a bill is first published by the government, it has two readings in the House of Commons. But the first reading is just a formality where a minister announces the bill – only during the second reading do MPs get the chance to debate the law. These debates are mostly centered on the bill’s principles, rather than discussing its intricacies.

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Key idea 5 of 8

Select committees are great for lawmaking but can’t prevent the damage done by out of touch politicians.

Even if the overall structure of Parliament does contribute to lax legislating, there is one mechanism inside Westminster that is definitely a force for good: select committees.

Select committees are composed of MPs from each major party, and thoughtfully arranged based on the departments of state, like the Department for Education, or topics, such as Science and Technology. Select committees have the power to order inquiries, examine a department’s spending and even question high-ranking ministers on particular policies.

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Key idea 6 of 8

Britain’s toxic political culture is partly to blame for our unsatisfying politicians.

We’ve already seen how Britain’s ineffective political structure poisons good lawmaking. But this toxicity inevitably seeps out and infects the political culture too – like a leaky septic tank poisoning the groundwater.

The UK political system doesn’t reward talented legislators, and MPs are just like other human beings – they are ambitious and want to gain as much success and recognition as possible for their skills. And for the most part, the best way of achieving this is by heading a government department as a minister.

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Key idea 7 of 8

Yes-men are the most dangerous and damaging product of Parliament’s political culture.

The eagerness of politicians to climb their party’s ladder has created the most inexcusable part of British political culture: yes-men. With self-serving dreams of entering the executive government, yes-men abandon their duty as legislators. They do this by voting through bills on which they’re completely uninformed or failing to scrutinize legislation, either sucking up to the party hierarchy or not putting in the time and dedication required.

But being strapped for time isn’t solely the fault of constituency work. So many bills are debated and voted upon on any given day in Parliament that, even for the most devoted of legislators, it’s impossible to stay expertly informed and thoughtfully vote on all of them.

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Key idea 8 of 8

We can take specific steps to reform Britain’s political system and ensure we get the right politicians.

So, Her Majesty’s Government is in a royal mess. What can be done? The politically disillusioned will argue that trying to reform Westminster is like redecorating a house with faulty plumbing – better to gut it out and start again. But that’s not entirely true. In fact, there’s plenty reforms that can bring meaningful change.

First, the UK should democratize the MP selection process.

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