Both the major political parties in Britain are having internal trouble of a rather unusual kind: a dispute over the kind of person to be selected to stand for Parliament.
As usual, discontent is more openly expressed among the Socialists than among Tories. The trade unions deliver the bulk of the Socialist vote and also provide the bulk of the Socialist cash; which makes it not unreasonable that they should provide also the bulk of the candidates. That is how it used to be. There were safe Socialist seats all over the country where a prominent and respected and slightly elderly trade union boss could confidently expect that the moral and financial support of his union would enable him to transfer his lumbago to the House of Commons with not much demanded of him except to vote with frequent decency and always for the good cause.
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