Britain's election: a primer for Americans - Geoffrey Lawler / LA Times

An interesting, somewhat tongue-in-cheek piece, from a former member of the British Parliament ~ pinto

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-lawler-20100505,0,1526747.story

Britain's election: a primer for Americans

Britain is likely to have a new prime minister after Thursday's election. But if you haven't followed the ins and outs of Britain's most interesting political contest in years, here is a crash course.

First, the parties. Labour (don't forget the "u") is socialist, but you will not hear that word uttered at all during the campaign. Conservatives cast themselves as modern, progressive and even compassionate — anything but conservative. And the Liberal Democrats? If they are in Conservative rural areas, they are right wing; if they are in urban, Labour areas, they are left wing. Just ask them.

Labour has been in power for 13 years but is campaigning on a theme of "forget the past, it's all about the future." The Conservatives want voters to "remember the past, and vote for change." The Liberal Democrats also hope voters remember the past, specifically 1916, when they were last in power on their own.

Labour is largely (70%) funded by the trade unions; the Conservatives have some wealthy backers but also rely on small donations, while the Liberal Democrats have a piggy bank. During the first week of the campaign, the Conservatives attracted £1.5 million ($2.3 million) in declarable donations, while the Liberal Democrats collected just £20,000 ($30,000) — barely enough to pay for a U.S. presidential candidate's haircuts.

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For the public, the greatest thing about British politics is that they only have to be endured for four weeks every four or five years. British election campaigns are short and to the point, and political parties are banned from airing television commercials. And while the parties can spend up to about £18 million ($27 million) on their national campaigns, local campaigns are run on a shoestring. The average maximum expenditure a candidate is legally allowed to spend during the campaign is about £11,000 ($17,000) probably less than the amount spent on coffee and donuts for the average U.S. congressional campaign.

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Geoffrey Lawler, a former Conservative member of the British Parliament, runs a government-relations company. He also co-founded Democracy International Ltd., through which he has trained politicians in new democracies.

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-lawler-20100505,0,1526747.story