TAWNS
3 Answers
ROMOS
Legal Requirements
The first hurdle to becoming a Member of Parliament (MP) is to pass the minimum legal requirements for the office. Candidates must be 18 or older and a citizen of the U.K., a Commonwealth country or the Republic of Ireland. Strictly speaking, that means citizens of Canada or South Africa could come to the U.K. and stand as candidates. A candidate must then get at least ten registered voters from the district he or she plans to run in, and then deposit 500 pounds. The deposit is a measure designed to discourage frivolous candidacies, and is returned only if the candidate polls at least 5 percent of the vote.
Party Candidacy
A big boost to getting elected is to be a candidate for one of the major British political parties: Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. Rising within a party to earning a MP candidacy is a mixture of hard work, putting time in, showing potential and making connections. This usually involves several unsuccessful stabs at becoming a candidate in a district where the party's influence is strong, or being sent to stand as a sure-to-lose candidate in a district where their influence is not. Tony Blair, for example, joined Labour in 1975. He made one failed stab at becoming a candidate, and then ran in a strongly Conservative district and lost, before finally earning enough political capital to be made a candidate in a district that he could win in 1983. Margaret Thatcher tried to become a candidate unsuccessfully several times and lost two elections when she did become a candidate in the 1950s, before finally meeting with success in 1958.
Read more: How Do You Become a Member of Parliament? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5250566_do-become-member-parliament_.html#ixzz2Sh55ove2
| 11 years ago. Rating: 7 | |
Ducky
Before you attempt to gain such a position, you might want to learn how to spell it!
P...A...R...L...???
| 11 years ago. Rating: 7 | |
sunnyB
