Charles
Kennedy tells BBC Asian Network Lib Dems must address lack of Asian
MPs
Liberal
Democrat Leader, Charles Kennedy, told the BBC Asian Network today
(Friday 1 November 2002) that his party must address the fact they
have no Asian MPs.
Speaking
to presenter Sonia Deol, Charles Kennedy said: "We
don't have any Asian Liberal Democrat MPs in the House of Commons,
that is no good...
"We
are behind the others in terms of not having any Asian MPs, I am
determined by the next election that we're going to address that...
"This
is just not good enough for a party that calls itself Liberal and
Democratic
We're doing much much better at council level but
we really have not yet translated that onto [a] parliamentary level."
But
he said he was not able to insist Asian candidates were selected:
"At
the end of the day in a democratic system, much as I might be tempted
to, I'm not allowed to under the law or the constitution of the
party... to direct the traffic and say you will choose so and so
for there... you've got to be fair across the board... what I mustn't
do is... positively discriminate against other people... all you
can do is encourage as wide a pool of talent to come forward and
to make their pitch."
Pressed
by Sonia Deol about how he could encourage greater participation
by Asians in time for the next General Election, Charles Kennedy
pointed out that David Chidgey, MP for Eastleigh, Hampshire, is
the only MP who has said he is retiring.
"They
haven't yet started selecting a candidate... and I hope that anybody
listening from the Asian community who is interested in pursuing
a career in politics, feel free to get in touch with me personally
at the House of Commons if they want details," Mr Kennedy said.
Asked
to comment on the present state of the Conservative Party, he told
the BBC Asian Network: "At
the moment it's mission impossible for whoever has the thankless
task of trying to make sense of that party... political parties...
are much more like a family, they're unpredictable.
"When
people fall out the feuds tend to go on for years... those scars
take a long time to heal. I think the Conservatives are stuck for
the best part of a decade in a rut."
He
was also critical of the Labour Government, seeing it's lack of
idealism as playing a major part in undermining young people's interest
in politics.
"The
other thing that's switching people off is an insufficient sense
of idealism," Mr Kennedy said.
"If
people cast their minds back five years, the morning that Tony Blair
was elected after 18 years of unbroken Conservative rule, there
was a great sense of hope and of vigour and of excitement in the
country... a great deal of the high hopes... if not evaporated,
have certainly reduced in the intervening period...
"It's
the lack of ambition I think that is distressing a lot of people."
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