Candidates could learn from Labour leadership challenge

IT CAN be an unsettling time in the lead-up to a general election.

All of a sudden you begin questioning everyone's motives, wondering if they are speaking out because that is what they believe in or just because they believe it will play well with the electorate at the ballot box.

Those in the States go through the same process, throwing sideways looks at their colleagues, perhaps afraid it is all some grand stitch-up.

To be honest, I'm quite a fan – all of a sudden our politicians become, well, politicians, and there is a heightened spotlight on the decision-making which not only gives it an added edge, it creates a critical pressure that can be healthy.

Better that than an Assembly cosily patting each other on the back and guffawing every time they make a decision, which tends to happen in the middle of the term.

It is now a period where some throw their hands up and shout 'electioneering' as if it is a dirty word and that will nullify any counter-argument, as if you're not allowed any opinions in the run-up to polling time because they are all tainted and invalid.

Thoughts turn to just who will be putting their name into the ring, from both inside and out.

It will not be long before we hear horror stories of the amount of experience that will be lost and all of a sudden those old hands that were facing public criticism begin a campaign for continuity.

In the last election, of course, they were on the outside campaigning for change, offering the fresh voice and fresh perspective.

How the worm turns and all that.

Now they will be happily extolling any possible achievement they can pin their colours to from this last Assembly – and distancing themselves from those decisions that were not popular.

Cast a critical eye on all those claims because quite often they don't stand up to scrutiny, or, at least, not exactly as the salesmen will be trying to say.

The old 'I spoke out against' needs to be countered with the 'did you actually do anything about it?'.

It may be remarkable how many people who voted for the transport strategy, for instance, suddenly campaign as if they were the ardent critics.

You can tell the election pre-season is open because there is a bit of stick-poking going on.

It is the chance for the incumbents who have faced so much criticism from the public and the pressure groups to use the old 'put your money where your mouth is' argument.

This is always disingenuous, especially from a States that relies so heavily on outside agencies to do its work anyway and will do so even more in the future.

You do not have to be on the inside to be allowed an opinion, although that is the comfortable fall-back position from those in the chamber when a mirror is being held up to their missteps.

We all hope, of course, that a few of those holding banners at North Beach protesting about, well, everything, do stand.

It will all help to put a spark in the election campaign because the last thing anyone really wants at the hustings is 10 monotone men in suits with grey hair nodding at each other like Churchill the insurance dog as they extol exactly the same values and perspectives. What we want is an Assembly that reflects society's complexion, which provides a voice to all the different groups that form our island community.

Just take a look at the Labour leadership election to see that sometimes it is what sets you apart which can make you electable.

Watching the leadership debates, there were three identikit modern politicians with the same mannerisms and ways of answering questions. It was as if they were all produced in the same lab as Ed Miliband – or they certainly had the same coach.

And then there was Jeremy Corbyn, who provided, in many voters' eyes at least, a clear, alternative voice.

Lessons to be learned for the hopefuls here perhaps.

Of course, this is a somewhat unusual election cycle because of the St Peter Port North by-election.

Two well-known names have already declared their intention to stand and there are some others expected to come forward too.

This might give us a slight preliminary feel for the electorate's appetite, although being the district it is, traditionally low turnouts for by-elections and there being no incumbents on the line, it will be hard to read too much into the result.

It should, though, give us a flavour for the election issues over which voters are going to be making their decisions, with the temperature on the doorstep and at the hustings providing some indication of people's perspective on the legacy of this States.

Right now those in the Assembly will be busy trying to work out what achievements they can take from this term – and what projects in the next they will impress on the voters that they need to be involved with if the wheels aren't to fall off.

This is meant to be the time when States members are held to account. So spend some time, too, digging out those old manifestos and see if they really were worth the paper they were written on.