There is a rather murky story in this mornings newspapers regarding Amjad Bashir who was until last week the communities spokesperson for UKIP and is now apparently a member of the Conservative Party. His change of party is apparently so important that he and the Prime Minister have done a photo shoot together, something that not all ‘defectors’ are granted. Yet his personal credibility is in question as UKIP are claiming that it had already suspended him because of what it called “grave” impropriety. That Mr Bashir may have broken as yet undisclosed laws or party rules is clearly a matter of concern, however something that should definitely matter to all of us and in particular the voters in Yorkshire and the Humber is the idea that someone who was elected on a Party List system, can apparently change parties within 9 months of the election at which they were elected for 5 years without any form of accountability to the electors. Whatever the value of the two by-elections caused by the resignation of Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless, they have at least set a standard by which all future defections should be judged. If that is the case with representatives whose election is as a result of the First Past the Post system when it is the individual who is elected, how much more should that be the case where the system is the Party List system, where the electors vote for the Party, not the individuals. As someone who has never voted for UKIP or Conservative Parties, nor could I ever imagine myself doing so, it is not a matter of huge concern to me which party Mr Bashir is a member of, however we cannot ignore this appalling ignorance of principle and abuse of process which once again shows how corrupt our parties are and how little they really believe in being accountable to you and I!
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