We have so many people in the party that have held office of one sort or another over the years. We must make sure that we find a way of retaining their expertise and at the same time give them the support that they need.
I have been thinking about setting up this new network for sometime but I think now, more than ever, it is the right time to do it. For too long many elected members who have lost their seats feel that their contribution to the party hasn’t been properly appreciated.
I know when I lost my parliamentary seat in Rochdale in 1997, due to boundary changes and the Labour landslide, it felt as if I had been kicked in the teeth. I felt I couldn’t have worked harder for my constituents but still I had been defeated. I felt absolutely devastated. I had a phone call from the party nationally but after that, apart from keeping in touch locally to a certain extent, I didn’t feel as if I was really engaged with the party anymore. I gather from talking to people that in many cases people feel much the same now. We need to find a way of changing that perception.
I have called the new proposed group Network of Experience. I believe it should have two roles. One would be to make sure that those elected representatives who have lost their seats have a support network. It is very important for anyone who doesn’t retain their seat to realise that they are not alone and other people are going through or have gone through the same emotions that they are experiencing.
The second role is to make sure all the experience that has been gained over the years is not lost. I know people who have been councillors or MPs who have a wealth of experience but don’t know how to go about channelling that experience for the good of the party in the future. Many do stand again and win again but many do not and just fall off the radar. There are also many who stood down and we must retain their expertise as well.
I haven’t formulated a detailed plan of where we should go with this network as yet, however, I thought it would be worth floating it as an idea, to see if there is any interest across the country for it.
I have set up an email address [email protected] if anyone would like to get in touch with me, and if there is enough interest we can flesh out the details. I hope to hear from as many of you as possible.
* Liz Lynne is former MEP for the West Midlands and is a board member of EEF - the Manufacturers’ Organisation.
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15 Comments
Very good idea – I think it should be channelled into a national training programme to encourage and guide those of us with less experience. This can all be handled with one to one mentoring over skype so there’s no travel expenses to worry about/pay for.
Excellent idea. There is a very wide range of experience and that experience comes from very different political backgrounds. This could more easily be picked up regionally or sub regionally and then shared more widely. There will be different themes.
I strongly support the support networking .
Agreed – it’s not much fun when you become a “non-person”. 🙁
This sounds good. We need to tackle casual agism and promoting experience helps.
Sounds like a good plan Liz lets hope it outworks into something constructive.
What a great idea
This idea for a new L/D `Network of Experience’ is an excellent plan for future work together in unity. Please let me have further details as I still have a really positive contribution to make towards winning back our lost L/D Councillors, especially in London,Manchester and Liverpool.I suggest that there be a pep talk by Dorothy Thornhill whom has been re-elected 4 times as L/D Mayor of Watford…
Yes what a good Idea .I have been the fund rising officer in Leyton and Wanstead for a number of years and it would be good to share experience with other fund rising officers in the party.
Liz, this is a great idea.
Thanks for the positive comments. Anyone who wants to be involved please email me on [email protected]
Now that sounds like one of the best ideas I have heard in a very long time indeed.
So pleased that this has had such a positive response. It is certainly worth doing.
I think that this is an excellent strategy for your party. As a Learning & Organisational Development Consultant I would also recommend that there is an aspect of succession planning: passing on those lessons learnt and experiences to the next generation of leaders. For those like my son who is just about to do politics at Uni. this would have been an ideal experience at the time that he was asking for work experience in a party office. This would enable a larger number of interested next generation leaders to get involved sooner and of course gain all that wonderful knowledge, those transferable skills and that winning attitude through a mentoring/coaching programme.
Totally agree, as a former Town & District Councillor (88-00) and Leader of West Wiltshire DC. Never even had a thank you from HO when I stood down having done my 3 year term as Council Leader. NOT that I was looking for it.
What a simply great idea, anything that moves things forward has to be a good thing. Especially in the light of Brexit.