RealDemocracy.uk (aka wote.uk)
[17dec24: apologies, but site content is being edited in real time pending a major redesign in 2025]
Straight to the blog, where the daily action accumulates.
WOTE (Will Of The Electorate) is not a traditional UK political party, but a federation that can provide a roof over the heads of the politically homeless - and also those with existing political affiliations who understand the urgent need to fix the chronic democratic deficit built into the UK "first part the post" (FPTP) electoral system - and evolve to adopt new ideas and technology to improve the efficiency of all aspects of government - and make it DEMOCRACTICALLY accountable. We had proposed our own version of DOGE before you-know-who.
The initial objective is to seed the idea that all those seeking election as representatives of their electorate should undertake a pledge to be accountable to that electorate, and engage throughout the period of representation - not just once every 5 years. This is not a big ask - just be honest and do what your electors want done. After all, we've had many years witnessing the mendacity of politicians and there is plainly too little trust. It's now up to politicians to repair the mess - and here is a very simple way to start.
"... WOTE is a housing project for the politically homeless... now let's have accountable and effective government - without wild promises, dogmatic politics (or ideologue politicians) ..."
WOTE had planned to have a proposition ready for the 2024 General Election. So when "middle manager" Sunak inexplicably ran for the bunker 6 months early, we have took the opportunity to watch how the Starmer administration would evolve, and adapt our messages and style to address the post election reality.
Most of the worst fears and warnings about Sir Kier Starmer have been confirmed, and then some. He is a pompous, humourless, dogmatic authoritarian Fabian ideologue, on a mission to undermine and destroy the traditional "silent majority" and its privileged middle class. Maybe to take revenge on those who he felt had disrespected a certain hard-working toolmaker? Grok has an interesting take on Starmer's relationship with his father. He frequently talks of respect and dignity, an aspect of the Starmer character that Grok explores with AI insight.
The Labour government contains mostly spiteful "townie/urban" politicians who cut pensioner fuel benefits at a stroke - and are setting out to destroy the UK's traditional system of "community farming by consent" - where long-established family-farms have to be on call 24x7x365 for the management of countryside "infrastructure" - including many things we take for granted like hedge trimming, flood defence, storm clearance and much else that is not obvious until it's not available.
No Labour minister has any relevant experience of the countryside, or wealth creation through starting and running a business. Grok takes a look for us...
Worse still, Starmer may even genuinely believe that he is on a mission fuelled by "good intentions", but we all know where roads paved with good intentions all too frequently terminate. And we are already well on our way there ...
And so it emerged Starmer had wilfully concealed the real intentions of his hard-left regime from lazy and gullible electors before the election - he and his spin doctors knew the truth would damage Labour's electoral prospects. Barristers like Starmer are basically salespeople, trained and paid to sell a case on behalf of paying clients - however dubious - to a jury and judge. So say and do what it takes to win, pocket the fee, and move on. As they say softly in The Godfather when performing some ghastly deed "it's only business..."
But how dare Labour claim a "massive mandate" with the support of just 20% of the electorate? He is clearly a fan of the Goebbels school of propaganda that says to use big lies - and keeping repeating them.
Many people now understand the scope and extent of the electoral fraud which was achieved using sleight of maths to game the UK's fundamentally broken electoral system, and are starting to make noises about the need for fundamental reform.
Whatever else, the most important task is to work hard to replace Labour's perniciously subversive #illegitimocracy before it can wreak more damage; and that requires an opposition with credible leadership and policies. Rupert Lowe (Reform MP for Gt Yarmouth) is making his presence felt - but to stand a chance, Reform needs another ten Ruperts.
* Fixing the democratic deficit: the wote blog
Backgrounder: The Genesis of WOTE
We had not anticipated an opportunity to challenge the government would arrive so suddenly and starkly - but the current opinion polls and the petition results are clear - the electorate want this nightmare of nonsense gone. Now. Not in another 4 and half years.
Here is an opportunity to have a civilised and grown up "revolution" on the moral high ground of bringing in a electoral system that respects and engages the Will Of The Electorate... and can avoid a repeat of the current rule of authoritarian diktat (backed by squads of routinely armed police) by establishing an ongoing dialogue between electors and elected; not just a smash and grab vote raid held every five years, that can be won by the most outrageous lies told by the most outrageous liars.
WOTE.uk has been anticipating this moment - but we didn't expect Keir Starmer and his inexperienced team could be quite so spectacularly inept and incompetent - and fall from public esteem so soon and so thoroughly.
(Please Note - we are gradually "restyling" WoteUk as realdemocracy.uk - People cannot help but be distracted by the similarity to WOKE. But we will retain the domain name wote.uk as an "umbrella brand" with a tidy alias. eg https://wote.uk/blog)
Meanwhile, Pete North has been compiling his important common-sense manifesto project with his ideal party - presently the Homeland Party - and you should participate at
https://www.northernvariant.co.uk/
But above all, we must demand our politicians listen to The Will Of The Electorate: every day... not just once every 5 years....
Scroll down and explore the menus.
WOTE.uk Blog
[revised 15DEC24 V1.08}
The Pledge draft #3
This is the foundation of the WOTE principle. But all candidates - independent or party sponsored - could undertake to do what their electors ask/instruct as an expression of good faith. And sign the pledge at any time.
Notes on a proposed voting system to follow - but it is likely to be a secure email platform where the proposition is to reply "Yes, No or Abstain".
Simple, unambiguous and scalable. So why wouldn't any politician seeking your trust, offer a token of good faith? Try it, all you new MPs, an honest pledge is good karma... unless you know you cannot keep it?
"... As the elected person for (constituency), I pledge that....
Where my electorate unambiguously wishes me to vote on a particular motion, I will obey. (e.g. >50% of the whole electorate)
Where my electorate expresses a strong view, I will only demur where my conscience demands that I should disobey. (Significant majority, but
< 50%)
Where the electorate is divided, I am able to use my own discretion, knowing that my vote will be noted by the electorate.
I understand that my voting record will be made available to the Electorate at the next election.
Signed
Prospective candidate for (constituency)
One year on... www.wote.uk
The story so far... (10th December 24 update V2.1)
Some politically homeless UK voters - neither Far Left nor Far Right - rather the "silenced majority"- kicked an idea around a year ago for The Will Of The Electorate Party. (www.wote.uk)
It was to be an "umbrella" for individuals (independents) to provide housing for the politically homeless, with candidates who undertook to vote in parliament in line with the way their electors asked/told them to vote. It was to be more like a federation of common sense and like-minded individuals than a traditional party that competed for telling the biggest lies and making undeliverable promises.
WOTE MPs would be expected to park their own personal agendas and dogma, and do what a rolling opinion poll of the electors told them to do - (subject to various elements of finesse, and other safeguards). Many requests sent to MPs by exasperated voters in recent times have been physically impossible, although shares in the makers of KY Jelly might have soared.
The initial reaction from the politically homeless was enthusiastic - WOTE slotted right in with the mood for a "none of the above" revolution - but it quickly stalled when everyone paused and said "hang on - this is far too sensible an idea - it won't be allowed to happen".
But the Electoral Commission sandbagged the application be a party at every application anyway. We realised "version one" was going to be a sighting shot to test ideas, so I have now adjusted the aiming point based on feedback and discussion. WOTE is now a pledge-based federation were MPs of any party are invited to participate and prove they have observing the will of the electorate as their guiding principle.
(We are also aware that almost everyone reads the name as WOKE (arrgh!) so we may deal with that by use of our "domain name alias" as Realdemocracy.uk)
None of the above
As the belief in a hung parliament after the General Election grew, we didn't need to target all 650 seats - we probably only need 10-20 - with an attainable starter fund of £2-3m - to create a big enough disturbance in the political force to get everyone talking and thinking. We are naive enough to think that the idea is so simple and straightforward that everyone would immediately get it. Especially when it became apparent after the July GE that anyone with an IQ marginally above their shoe size could get elected as an MP.
With well-chosen target seats, the voters can be deeply (personally) courted and made to feel special at the heart of an earnest, intense and pervasive local campaign with big name personalities, and they can be made to feel privileged that they can make the sort of difference that most voters never can - leading a national movement to impose The Will Of The Electorate on the worn out ideas of dogma-driven party politics that have badly let us all down.
10-15 seats with the persistent provenance of the endorsement of real voters - not spin doctors or the usual "uniparty political hacks" - can be a strategic nuisance in the next parliament - which could easily be delicately balanced with no overall majority. Or so we hoped... after all, the Starmer "majority" (of seats) is built on the votes of just 18% of the electorate, combined with spectacular sleight of maths to game a broken system.
But Labour won 63% of the seats in the House of Commons, with a 33.7% vote share. If that isn't a morally questionable basis for the sort of visceral class-war politics being practised by Labour's Marxist tendency , I'm not sure what is. It sure as hell is not a "mandate".
We also proposed at the outset that WOTE can be an oasis of dynamic and interesting ideas in the arid landscape of failed British politics...
.... curating and presenting the best ideas and contributions from all directions- without tribal party dogma or bias.
The whole nation and media can be trained to look to WOTE pledged MPs for the democratic "casting vote" on key issues - and smart use of modern media can ensure it punches well above its weight.
A modest sum could also pay for a quality documentary TV producer (like Martin Durkin) to do a round-up of political stories where narrow votes have made a difference and forced governments to do deals over a handful of casting votes. (remember Northern Ireland and Theresa May?)
It should resonate in constituencies where the voters feel abandoned - like Clacton (no longer!) or Camborne. And also evoke the spirit of The Mouse that Roared - a wonderful 60s film with Peter Sellers playing multiple parts, including the hereditary feudal head of the Grand Duchy of Fenwick. https://youtu.be/VfD_LTad1hE
[We got this next call very wrong - forgive us for thinking that no party with more than 40% of the votes would mean no majority. How wrong can you be? Fullfact analysis here]
This may well be the last chance to seed a proper people's revolution - since the next government will likely be a minority shambles with a ragbag of the usual uniparty failures - still not getting on with the job of fixing potholes.
Blair's 1997 "New Labour" regime unashamedly opened the borders and declared that it would rub the noses of the right in diversity This resulted in gerrymandering that has changed the nature of many constituencies of Britain, and there is a promise of more social engineering to favour left-wing ambitions with a promise of votes for 16-year-olds.
10-20 "wote" seats that reflected (and tracked) the wishes of the electorate would be an influential nuisance and should be a bellwether for British Politics that others would ignore at their peril.
Would current MPs who have thrown in the towel be willing to "upgrade" to WOTE before the election? Let's see. [They didn't!]
Since WOTE will poll continuously and respond to the wishes of the electors, it can be relied on for a snapshot democratic POV on any issues.
A better way forward
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Do you know a Hero? Someone who has a proven record of delivery, someone who could transform the performance of our government? If so, please nominate them for one of the 650 seats in parliament as they become available. So send us a resume of their achievements and where you think their skills could be best used in government. We will then contact the best nominations to see if they are willing to serve as independent members. These Heroes will stand at the next parliamentary elections on a unique and important platform. Competence! After the 2024 general election, we suggested all stand on a manifesto of NO POLITICAL CHANGE, but with a promise to just fix the stuff that traditional politicians never get around to doing. * Match the number of people skilled to do essential jobs * Fix the potholes .... and all the other stuff that every citizen needs our government to deliver Our Heroes will have a proven record of delivery in any field, be that in logistics, medicine, education, business, building, defence, law enforcement, the arts, or other sector. They will be engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, artisans, managers who have visibly contributed to the well-being of UK society, simply through their competence. Politicians, lawyers and accountants need not apply. They have each had ample opportunity to deliver, but have failed, or have been the cause of failure. Moreover, these professions are those that have been replaced in the first waves of the introduction of artificial intelligence. |
Ideally, those taking the WOTE pledge as independents or party members will have a proven record of delivery in their chosen field, be that in logistics, medicine, education, business, building, defence, law enforcement, the arts, or other sector. They should be engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, artisans, managers who have visibly contributed to the well-being of UK society, simply through their competence. Parents that successfully raise families will also have great contributions to make for our disintegrating society. Politicians, lawyers, lecturers and accountants need not apply. They have each had ample opportunity to deliver, but have failed, or have been the cause of failure. Help identify the heroes, and nominate yours?
Peter Dawe - Pioneering Internet service entrepreneur in the 1990s; currently farming in Norfolk, and reinventing government without tribal politics
Why don’t we trust Westminster?
When something has gone wrong, The Will of the Electorate will investigate to identify those who were responsible and ensure those people are punished and that they have not gained from their actions (or inactions). It is only when PEOPLE know they have RESPONSIBILITY that they will act well, rather than in the short-term interests of their organisation. See full blog post
There are near daily reports of poor outcomes from the actions and inactions of the Westminster "elites". The play-book goes something like this.
- Non-acknowledgement – Westminster totally ignores the issue and carries on regardless, in the expectation that the clamour will exhaust itself.
- There is nothing wrong – Westminster blatantly declares that there is nothing wrong. It is a feature of the “System”, which otherwise works.
- The issue is a rare failure, whereas the system is otherwise fine.
- Refer the issue to a third party – It is not a Westminster problem it is a problem for:-
- The company or organisation
- Another branch or government
- The regulator
- The courts
- The ECHR or other international treaty
- Appoint a “Senior Civil Servant” to look into it,
- The report is never finished
- The report is delayed by years or even decades
- The report is never published
- The report is published but otherwise obscured
- The report fails to identify any culpability
- The report recommends actions that impact on good actors, but can and are ignored by the bad actors
- Set up a “Regulator”, who provides a “barrier” between the public, the sector and the government.
- Populate the “Regulator” with people from the sector, and provide a “revolving-door” between the regulator and the sector to ensure the regulator puts the interests of the sector above the interests of the public.
- NEVER refer any issue to the police
- NEVER prosecute anyone in Westminster
- NEVER ban a person from holding a similar office
- Reward failure with “quiet resignation” with topped up pension and “gold handshakes”
- In extreme cases, Westminster will falsify evidence and flat-out lie to the investigation. Knowing if they get found out they will not face punishment, as they have “protected the establishment”
- WOTE has other ideas to make members of a government responsible for the actions of negligent MPs if they do not call out and identify those incompetent acts - which is a gross negligence of their duty to see that taxpayer money is spent responsibly and intelligently.
- Consider the cases of Ed Miliband and Angela Rayner.
Example: the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry, which was set up to investigate the 2017 fire that killed 72 people, has cost over £170 million to date. This includes the cost of legal fees, expert witness fees, and other expenses. The inquiry is expected to conclude in 2024, and the total cost is likely to exceed £200 million.
But there are four obvious bad decisions. Why10 years of investigation if not to fill the legal trough?
- The civil servant who signed off the cladding as safe
- The company who manufactured the cladding claiming it was safe
- The Fire service instruction to keep people in a blazing building
- Fire officer who failed to see when this instruction should have been ignored.
- WOTE would (and will) deal with each of these bad decisions rapidly.
- The civil servant would have been dismissed, and banned from similar work
Additional investigation might discover collusion with the industry, in which case criminal proceedings would be brought
- The directors of the company would be banned. And any company employing them would be banned from supplying the UK with materials.
- The PEOPLE responsible for the “Keep people in” instruction should be removed
- The Fire Officer who failed to show judgement should be demoted.
WOTE would (and will) deal with each of these bad decisions rapidly.
- The civil servant would have been dismissed, and banned from similar work
Additional investigation might discover collusion with the industry, in which case criminal proceedings would be brought
- The directors of the company would be banned. And any company employing them would be banned from supplying the UK with materials.
- The PEOPLE responsible for the “Keep people in” instruction should be removed
- The Fire Officer who failed to show judgement should be demoted, at least.
- It is vital that all involved in delivering for WOTE need to understand that responsibility and accountability is firmly back on the Westminster agenda.
- The absence of dogmatic party politics will reduce the options for creating corrupt "chumocracies"
WOTE founders made the UK and European internet happen in the 1980s - we will make WOTE happen
This testimonial piece was researched and written by the AI engine at Google BARD - and presented on this AI website creation platform from durable.co. AI can now replace many pen pushers and keyboard tappers to save money and provide better service.
Coping with the AI challenge will be very much in focus at the time of the next General Election, and barely any of the present mostly techno illiterate occupants of Westminster barely have a clue what it means. They are too easily bamboozled by "advisers" and vested interests. Remember the wasted Covid billions...
Peter Dawe played a key role in founding the commercial internet in the UK and Europe. In 1986, he founded Unipalm, a company that provided networking services to businesses.
In 1988, Unipalm launched Pipex, (Public IP Exhange) the UK's first commercial internet service provider (ISP). Pipex quickly became one of the most popular ISPs in the UK, and it helped to introduce the internet to businesses and consumers across the country. Dawe was also a co-founder of the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA), which is a trade association for ISPs in the UK.
The ISPA has played a major role in promoting the growth of the internet in the UK, and it has also helped to protect the interests of consumers and businesses. In 1995, Dawe founded the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a non-profit organization that combats child sexual abuse content on the internet. The IWF is the UK's leading authority on child sexual abuse content, and it works with ISPs, law enforcement agencies, and other organizations to remove this content from the internet.
Dawe has been awarded numerous accolades for his work in the internet industry, including an OBE from the Queen in 2001. He is a true pioneer of the internet, and his work has had a major impact on the way we live and work today. Dawe founded Unipalm, the UK's first commercial internet service provider (ISP). He co-founded the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA), a trade association for ISPs in the UK.
He founded the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a non-profit organization that combats child sexual abuse content on the internet. Dawe helped to promote the growth of the internet in the UK and Europe - he helped to protect the interests of consumers and businesses on the internet. Dawe's work has had a major impact on the way we live and work today. The internet has become an essential part of our lives, and it is hard to imagine a world without it. Dawe's work helped to make the internet a reality, and he is a true pioneer of this technology.
The (draft) Constitution of “The Will of the Electorate Party”
Executive summary:
Sine Qua Non: Do no evil - and really mean it.
Use a (very) secure app to hold regular referendum-like votes on key issues.
Do what the electorate ask for.
Restore faith in democratic government.
Make it happen!
The prospectus:
For starters, let's just complete everything worthwhile that has already been promised - and that we already voted for in the last 15 years.
- Immigration capped at under 100k PA
- Potholes fixed
- NHS made functional
- A return to policing by consent, not armed riot squad
But we now also need to undo all the harm caused by Starmer's Labour administration -an illegitimocracy - that somehow blagged its way to a majority of HoC seats on July 4th 2024
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