A tendency to oligarchy

Continually absent Reform UK councillor in Cornwall is asked to attend meetings

The Mayor of Newquay has written to a Reform UK councillor asking her to attend town council meetings after members raised concerns about her "continued absence". Cllr Christine Parsonage was a paper candidate elected to represent St Columb Minor at the Cornwall Council election earlier this year. She lives over 45 miles away in Torpoint.

Since the May 1 election she hasn't attended a single meeting of Newquay Town Council. Her predecessor, Independent councillor John Fitter, provided monthly updates of casework and issues affecting the St Columb Minor and Colan ward in person. Cllr Parsonage's husband, Cllr Rob Parsonage - the leader of the Reform UK group at Cornwall Council - has accused Newquay councillors of trying to score "political points".

Only a single, barely significant story and it is politics and local media have to hunt around for stories, but there is no obvious reason why Reform won't have a wider problem with the kind of people attracted to politics. It's a systemic party problem which goes all the way to the top. 

Political parties don't work. 

Moving on from an absent Cornwall councillor, some sound people are attracted to politics, but from potholes to immigration to the UK economy, there is a glaringly obvious problem with political parties, a problem which has been obvious for a very long time.

Organization implies a tendency to oligarchy. In every organization, whether it be a political party, a professional union, or any other association of any kind, the aristocratic tendency manifests itself very clearly. As a result of organization, every party or professional union becomes divided into a minority of directors and a majority of directed.

Robert Michels, Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy (1911)