Political Dynasties

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_families_in_the_United_Kingdom
Shame Lynn Truss didn't read this first! There have been political dynasties for centuries - it's not new at all . I'm not saying that its an issue or not just that Truss was making a cheap and ill-informed political point that will come back to bite her

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_families_in_the_United_Kingdom

Pitt the Younger?

How come they got missed off the list?

I don't have a particular problem with it, as long as they are candidates that will work hard for their constituents.

It will not matter one jot though, if, as is probably going to be the case, the constituents would vote for the proverbial monkey wearing a rosette of the colour you are brain washed in to voting for.

Let's face it, all parties are happy to use nepotism.

What I do find annoying is partisan politics where one party accuses the other of nepotism, class and educational privilege, being millionaires and posh etc. and stupidly opens themselves up to be, quite rightly, called hypocrites. They make themselves look stupid and the ease with which it is carried out is often quite shameful.

I do as a matter of fact think the voter might just struggle with being so blatantly used if they have never seen hide nor hair of them in action and all they have to go on is the reputation of the parent. Blair, Straw, Kinnock and Prescott, they certainly are names to have made a lasting impression aren't they.

Many adult children follow in their parents' footsteps - doctors, dentists, teachers or carry on in the family business.
It's not necessarily a bad thing. You could argue that it's narrowing the pool of experience, or you could argue that they are already aware of the pitfalls of that particular occupation and are going into it with their eyes wide open, and having benefitted from their parent's experience.
Whether they are any good at it depends upon their own intelligence, hard work and integrity, and in the case of politicians, even if the voters still vote for the party they have always voted for, climbing up the greasy pole of preferment will depend on their own ability, or possibly their sycophancy skills

I think you need to look up a few Tory MPs to even this up. You should see Cameron's lineage, through his mother's side.
Boris Johnson's dad was a Tory MEP.
Even Robert Peel's dad was a Tory Lord.

Well yes and there are the husband & wife teams too.... but does it matter? It's the voters who vote them in.

Not forgetting all the cousins. I wonder if that's something that should be declared. Like Hunt being Bottomley's cousin, and in the constituency next to her.

Durhamjen

I don't think there has been anything other than pointing out nepotism is used by all parties. If you are referring to the OP the names mentioned were not used by the poster to be partisan but to ask the question of 'narrowing the pool'.

It would be interesting to know your opinion of the question being asked.

No it wouldn't. I do not have opinions any more.

POGS I assume by "one party" making accusations of nepotism, class, educational privilege, being millionaires, posh, etc., you mean the Labour Party makes those accusations - particularly as you give only the names of Labour offspring as examples, thus implying that the Labour Party is hypocritical.

As GrannyTwices list shows, political families are not just confined to the Labour Party. In my opinion, the main reason this issue has been raised is to detract from growing criticism (even from within its own ranks) that the Conservative Party is jam-packed full of old Etonions.

POGS, how do you know what was in the mind of the person who wrote the OP?
Tony Benn hasn't narrowed the pool. His family includes people from quite a few nationalities, so that actually widens the pool if any of his grandchildren want to be politicians. They certainly weren't marrying people from a narrow circle of friends.

Royal families arose as political dynasties too.

Put royal in "..."

It's natural for some children to follow in their family's careers and it's unavoidable that they should often have an advantage in doing that. What is a problem is when the family connection allows young people with no experience of life outside politics into the Commons or Europe. Too many of them!

Lilygran - I would agree that young people with limited experience of life outside the political bubble would not be my ideal MPs but it's not just family connections but connections in general that contribute to that - across the political spectrum. My main concern was that Lynnn Truss who started the debate made partial,quite frankly stupid comments( no change there then) and the OP did herself no favours by only giving Labour examples.

GrannyTwice Yes, I agree. I wasn't suggesting that only one party gave rise to political dynasties. I think it is unavoidable as it is in any sector, theatre, music, art, business, academic life, film,the law, teaching..... And I don't see it as a problem in itself. I do think it becomes a problem in politics when we get MPs who have had no life outside politics and who were selected just on their names.

Lilygran- I think I am taking your point a bit further - when I mentioned 'connections' I was including being well connected in ways other than family. So whilst Stephen Kinnock's name and therefore connections are obvious, there are also other candidates who are chosen to stand in safe seats because they are 'sponsored' or 'well connected' in other ways and 'good' words are put in for them. FWIW I think one of the most interesting MPs in the 2010 election is Sarah Wooleston(sp) a GP who was chosen through a ' primary'. Sadly this experiment is not to be repeated because she turned out to be too independent minded

Wollaston

I call what you're talking about "patronage". As lily says, it's nothing new.

GrannyTwice - I'm another admirer of Sarah Wolleston the MP for Totnes, and wouldn't it be good to see other independent minded people chosen by primary.

The issue of traditions that develop within families of children going into similar work to their parents is interesting, and nothing new. I dislike this kind of cheap political shot at young people, particularly when it's aimed at those on only one side of politics.

I suspect many of us looking at our own family and friends would see children following similar work paths to their parents. Most of us are influenced by our parents beliefs, and hobbies, so it isn't surprising you see the children of actors, lawyers, landscape gardeners, teachers, doctors, carpenters etc following similar work interests.

Yes patronage will do as a descriptor, the point I was trying to make us that it is a very narrow debate to focus on family connections if we want to seriously debate how to improve the quality of our elected representatives- but Lynn Truss didn't want a meaningful debate did she - just the usual bit of cheap point scoring and a pat on the head from her leaders.

Yes Iam64- absolutely agree.