It's Show Time for the Politically Incompetent

According to Iain Martin in today’s Daily Telegraph “The Louise Mensch Show was always going to end in tears”.  While strictly speaking Mr Martin is correct I rather think this is a case of not seeing the wood for the trees.  Louise Mensch is just one instance among many of parliamentary candidates chosen or perhaps I should say appointed for the wrong reason.  Being young, female, attractive, a self-publicist, media savvy, ambitious are not in themselves bad things to be; but they don’t necessarily qualify you as a good MP.  If you want a profile of a good MP try some of the following attributes; public-spirited, a desire to put something back, someone who has experienced of life’s ups and downs, someone who has achieved something worthwhile, someone with a real connection to their constituency, someone who is chosen by their local party association.

Louise Mensch is just the latest in a string of sideshows that include the hapless Chloe Smith and the corrupt Baroness Warsi.  Interesting though these side shows are the real story is of parliamentary candidates appointed by central office for the wrong reasons.  That is not a sideshow but a Westminster blockbuster of a show that is going to end in tears and the curtain has only just gone up for the second act.