Can We Select Our MPs The UK Conservatives Way??

Can we use the way that the UK conservatives select our MPs. It will help to weed out a lot of our MPs who are non performing, seat warmers and have not utter a single word in the debates that take place on the floor of Parliament.

Would-be Conservative MPs attend a Parliamentary Assessment Board (PAB) where they complete five exercises: public speaking, an interview, an in-tray test (in which candidates must speedily prioritise and complete a series of desk-based tasks), a group exercise and a written exam.

The process is designed to uncover brainy, personable Stakhanovites with steely resilience and the gift of the gab. Peter Botting, a consultant who trains prospective candidates, describes one pupil who is used to working long hours but was “shattered” after the six-hour assessment.

Critics say the process disadvantages outsiders who lack relevant political or professional experience. But Jo Silvester, an organisational psychologist who helped the party draw up the tests, counters that it weeds out substandard candidates, including ones with desirable backgrounds.

Only once a hopeful has proven his abilities is he free to apply for seats, schmooze local members and bid for their votes at selection hustings.