Project: Creating the UKMP Constitution

#1

There are no requirements about what your party’s constitution should set out, but you may want to include the following:

  • your party’s aims and objectives
  • the structure of your party - for example, if you have branches
  • how the party is run - for example, the frequency of meetings and how decisions are made
  • what officers you have and what their responsibilities are
  • if you have membership requirements

Constitutions of other UK Parties:

Post below if you want to work on this, or dive ahead and post your ideas and what you’ve written.

#2

We would like a society in which the arbitrary circumstances of one’s birth and upbringing – which can in no meaningful way be traced to the child’s personal life-choices or exercise of character – serve minimally, if at all, as factors indicative of how far one may reach or the kind of life one may lead.

We would like to refer to this request of ours to live in such a society as the Meritocratic Agenda.

#3

I have been reviewing the constitutions of NI based political parties and when I get reliable copies, I will post them all here. Btw Roberto-the labour party link you posted there was the Labour Party in the Republic of Ireland. Even their website is .ie-Ireland.

UK Labour follows the Labour Party Rule Book as their constitutional basis: http://labourlist.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Rule-Book-2013.pdf

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#4

Here is a link to the England and Wales Green Party constitution. I’d say we’d take a lot of their environmental issues on board with the M but ditching their left wing anarchist agenda in general. http://greenparty.org.uk/about.html

#5

Okay, I am trying to create a constitution for the party in N. Ireland. I am finished clauses 1 and 2.
I suppose I will post each clause as i write it and you can tear it apart and reassemble it in some sort of sensible form.

You can expect clauses 3 and 4 which is the financial scheme and our aims and values in the next few days. For the moment, kick back, relax and digest clauses 1 and 2!

Meritocracy Party Constitution

Constitutional rules:

Clause 1-Titles and Objects

This organisation will be known as the Meritocracy Party (referred hereafter as ‘the party’).
It will organise and maintain a political Meritocratic party in the Northern Ireland Assembly with views to revolutionising Capitalist Democracy into a Meritocracy.
The Meritocratic Party aims to bring together their most meritorious members and supporters and place them in all positions of political power depending on their ability and personal aspirations.
The above principals will be enforced by the use of dialectical development and editions to this constitution made under the discretion of the most meritorious.

Clause 2-Party Structure:

There shall be a Committee of Meritocrats (COM) which will be composed of the Most Meritorious party member from every field of expertise currently enrolled in the party. The Most Meritorious Member (MMM) for each field of expertise will be democratically elected by his fellow specialists only. Thus COM will be the administrative power governing the party.
The party will be organised as follows:

  1. Where the COM determines, there shall be instituted in any Northern Ireland establishment, a party unit known as a CMP (Constituency Meritocracy Party.)
  2. These shall then be divided into sub-units whose size and powers shall be decided on by COM.
  3. Forums for minority and gender groups will be permitted to exist if COM decides that it will further the Meritocratic agenda and not to compromise the party’s collective identity.
  4. There shall be an official party office at a permanent address, and additional regional offices in areas where there are significant support for the party. Gender or minority groups may run their own offices with the approval of COM.
  5. Members on local authorities shall be organised into Merit groups and collectively on the Association of Meritocratic Councillors. (AMC)
  6. They, along with elected mayors and the police commission with have the following rights:
    Annual Conference
    Northern Ireland and regional conferences
    Leadership elections.
  7. There shall be no division of membership dependant on age. Membership status will be decided according to their own talents, experiences and abilities. Thus all members enjoy equal and full rights.
  8. Student members will have the status of Student Meritocrats (SM). All SM members will enjoy full membership plus a commission to create a society within their Student’s Union based on the principals of Meritocracy to educate the electorate and popularise the party’s cause.
  9. A liaison organisation shall be set up to allow cooperation from trade unions and other parties sympathetic to our cause to enhance the Meritocratic cause in their organisation and society at large.
    Outside organisations may be affiliated with the party if they match the following criteria:
    They are trade Unions representing the rights of the work force
    They support the 100% inheritance tax and the Social Contract style of societal socialism.
    They value merit over money
    Any other relevant criteria deemed acceptable to COM.
    Any organisation associated with the party must:
    Accept the aims, methods and policies of the party
    Abide by this constitution and any standing orders laid out by the party.
    Submit its laws, agendas and policies to COM for scrutiny
    Any other organisations involved in politics which do not meet the above criteria will not be affiliated with the party.
    There shall be a procedure in place to decide which organisations may be affiliated with the party. This is the responsibility of COM.
    For the foreseeable future, there will be no membership fees.
    There shall be an insurance policy to cover by-election premiums, public liability etc. The cost will be calculated according to the policies of the chosen insurance package. Costs will be estimated at the party conference and COM shall have a date for it to be collected.

…

Hope you see this, the thing said I’ve reached my maximum posts or something. Yeah, I was reading those forms, but you know some of the statements are generic and can be changed from NI Assembly to UK Parliament.

How would that be done ,this challenge? Perhaps a committee within the party would act as some sort of judges.I guess the structure would have to be very fluid to avoid a ‘general vote’, allowing only those qualified to decide on relevant positions?

Should then the challenge not be custom made per position?And who would decide what type of challenge is best for each job and different personality types applying for it?

I would say developing a system which can sort of keep this beast moving will be difficult. Also , just starting out ,we will have far too little members to do a lot of this anyway.What about an interim system? How do we govern the group before we reach sort of optimum membership for it to run as we envision?

#6

I don’t think we want to create two separate political parties for the UK and Northern Ireland as that heavily increases the amount of work. As far as I understand what I’ve read from the Electoral Commission, it’s simpler to create a political party that is on both the Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland registers.

That means a single constitution and I’m fairly certain it means that positions don’t have to be repeated - there is a single Party Leader and Party Treasurer for example. What does have to be kept separate are the finances and for there to be separate accounts, donations and loans reports for Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

On a structural level, that would probably be handled with Deputy Treasurers.

I think the best thing would be for someone in the UK to give them a call and confirm that this is the way it works, i.e. that the additional work involved is keeping finances separate and that the official roles don’t have to be repeated by law.

I went through the UKIP constitution last time and it’s pretty well-rounded out. I’d have to go through the rest of party constitutions that we’ve linked in detail, but for the most part a lot of technicalities can be done the same way other party’s do them. The main difference naturally lies in the objectives of the party and one of the things we should incorporate is a “meritocratic challenge” process - where anyone can challenge an officer for their position if they think they’ll do a better job. All of this could either be in the Party Constitution or in the Party Rules (which are quicker to modify, meaning we can experiment with what works and what doesn’t - particularly as I think there’s a fee for updating your Party’s information, i.e. constitution in this case).

I’ve attached the draft based on the UKIP constitution in this post. See below to open.

UKMP Constitution - Draft 1.pdf (113.7 KB)

#7

Updated, thanks.

#8

Yeah, I was reading those forms, but you know some of the statements are generic and can be changed from NI Assembly to UK Parliament.

How would that be done ,this challenge? Perhaps a committee within the party would act as some sort of judges.I guess the structure would have to be very fluid to avoid a ‘general vote’, allowing only those qualified to decide on relevant positions?

Should then the challenge not be custom made per position?And who would decide what type of challenge is best for each job and different personality types applying for it?

I would say developing a system which can sort of keep this beast moving will be difficult. Also , just starting out ,we will have far too little members to do a lot of this anyway.What about an interim system? How do we govern the group before we reach sort of optimum membership for it to run as we envision?

#9

A meritocratic challenge doesn’t have to be complex to start out. It can be as simple as saying that any member in “good standing” has the right to challenge XYZ positions. There would be caveats of course, i.e. you can’t challenge someone during critical campaign moments, but in general you would, for example, be able to contest for the role of Party Leader if you think the existing Party Leader isn’t up to the job.

This would be handled by the National Executive Committee, which is the maximum decision-making body for the entire organisation. Think of them as the Board of Directors of a publicly listed company. You become a member of the NEC by virtue of being voted in by the “shareholders” - in this case, the members of the UKMP.

In such a case, the members are the ones who have the ultimate power as they are the ones who vote for the NEC members.The question then becomes one of deciding what the requirements for becoming a UKMP member should be and what rights and duties each member shall have.

In your previous post you mentioned no membership fees. I object, finances will be tight enough as they are and it’s essential to have at least 1 source of income.

So one of the requirements is a membership fee which should be thought about carefully. How much can people afford? How much would you as a meritocrat want to contribute to the Party? (Particularly if this is the sole source of income or the major source of income for the party’s activities). Often it’s something in the range of £1-10 a month (£12-120 a year).

In the PDF I uploaded, I kept this from the UKIP constitution:

Eligibility

4.1.1 Membership of the Party shall be open to any natural person who shares the
objectives and core beliefs of the Party and who agrees to abide by this Constitution and
any Rules which may from time to time be made by the Party and who have not been
excluded from membership by virtue of rules made under Article 4.2.1 or Article 4.2.2.

4.1.2 Members are considered to be in “good standing” if at any given moment:
a) their subscriptions are up to date; and
b) they are not subject to any suspension or exclusion by the Party either from elected
office or from standing as a candidate of any sort in any election; and
c) they are not subject to any form of suspension or restriction as to their membership of
The Party.

Members who are “in good standing” shall receive a membership card and the Party’s
newsletter either by post or electronically. They shall be entitled to vote in all relevant
internal Party elections or ballots, provided that no new member shall be entitled to vote in
any such election until 28 days have elapsed from the commencement of his membership.

I think membership should basically be open to anyone who identifies with the meritocratic ethos. The main concern one could have with members having total power over the party is that non-meritocrats infiltrate the membership base - but this can always happen and by placing excessive restrictions or requirements on party membership, we’ll end up putting off people who would have otherwise joined but couldn’t or wouldn’t because of all the requirements.

#10

The meritocratic culture and meritocratic identity that evolves from our efforts will be what fundamentally drives the machine forward for the decades to come. That’s why the initial leadership of the party should understand the importance of setting a good example and of being open from day one to the fact that anyone can challenge them for their position, and to create the appropriate meritocratic processes for this to occur.

#11

Yeah. I understand your concerns with he funding. However, I believe the vast majority of the people we will end up recruiting will be students. Students get so very frustrated at paying anything. If a section of the community chronically feels they are being robbed, then they may look at us as just another parasite on their funds.

In order to quell this perception, I propose that we should introduce a simple means testing system. Students abd the currently unemployed pay say 10 pounds a month and working people pay 15-20 and junior members get free.

This shows that we are actively considering the needs of the social groups we are campaigning on behalf of! I am a University student and I so get it! Its a headache and its disheartening to feel like we are given so little and still everyone has their hands in our pockets. I believe a reduction for students will see us very well. Students will feel like we respect them and we empathise. I cant be free but reduced will certainly put across our goodwill message.

…

As for one person wielding totalitarian power, I think we should have yearly reviews of the performance of each party members. All their paperwork and records should be fully available for a member evaluation test whereby a group of willing INTPs can scan their activities and pick up anything dodgy. The group will then vote on whether that official has acted in the interests of our ethos.
I suppose this group would also arbitrate any challenges to the position analysing performance in order to get the best results.

I hope all that reads as nicely as I was thinking it!!!

#12

Yes, different membership types is a common practice in political parties. For example, here’s a brief overview of the current fees for several UK parties:


https://www.conservatives.com/Join.aspx
http://join.ukip.org/JoinOnline.aspx?type=1
https://my.greenparty.org.uk/civicrm/membership/joining

No one person wields totalitarian power. That’s why there’s a constitution and party rules, with a National Executive Committee elected by the members themselves.

If you want yearly reviews, it’s probably better to have a committee rather than a group of “INTPs” - there’s no reason to limit it by MBTI. Or to just leave members to raise issues with a committee if they find anything dodgy after reviewing the records.

I think we should keep these things as simple as possible starting out.

#13

I reviewed the constitution again and I think we can just go ahead and use what we currently have. I’ve modified the objectives slightly from the first version, but other than that, I don’t see anything else that should be changed right now.

I think that if we have a working constitution, then what’s vital to have next is strong leadership to form the National Executive Committee (NEC). With those in place, then the constitution can be modified as necessary while we move forward on creating awareness and recruiting more members.

Below you’ll find the objectives listed on the constitution, which is what changes the most from the one it’s based on (for obvious reasons):

Objectives

2.3 The Party believes that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
(hereinafter “The United Kingdom”) should be governed in the interests of her own citizens
and not those of a political, social and economic elite (hereinafter “The Power Elite”). The
Party believes that all citizens of the United Kingdom should have equal opportunity to
thrive to the greatest extent of their individual talent and ambition. To that end it shall be
the policy of the Party to first and foremost fight for equal opportunities for every child in
the United Kingdom. The Party further believes that achieving equal opportunity for every
child will entail structural changes in our political and economic systems that are further
outlined below.

2.4 The Party finds the Royal Family of England to be the antithesis of meritocracy and
equal opportunities. It shall be the policy of the Party to strip the Royal Family of their
authority, privileges and wealth. This policy shall extend to all the noble families of the
United Kingdom.

2.5 The Party seeks to restore the credit commons and remove the power to create money
from the banks.

2.6 The Party seeks for the most qualified people in their respective fields of expertise to
become the representatives of the People in parliament and other legislative bodies.

2.7 In pursuit of these objectives the Party will at all times adhere to the principle of
meritocracy and equal opportunity. The Party shall conduct itself and its affairs in such a
way that the best people rise to the top, as deemed by this Constitution and the Party
Rules, and that the Party does not discriminate against or in favour of any person on the
grounds of their race, religion, ethnic origin, education, beliefs, sexual orientation, class,
social status, sectarianism or any other basis prescribed by the law and the Party Rules.
Further the Party shall at all times respect human rights and the freedom of people to
thrive and prosper without arbitrary limitations imposed by a socio-economic elite.

2.8 The Party is a meritocratic and democratic Party and will espouse policies which:
• give all children in the United Kingdom the best possible start in life;
• seek the removal of the Power Elite from affairs that affect the livelihood of the
citizens of the United Kingdom and the world;
• favour hard-work, talent and entrepreneurship;
• seek to strengthen the role of the State as a conductor of positive liberty.

To me, this is good enough to get started on the “real work”. If you disagree, please comment.

I’ve uploaded the file.

UKMP Constitution - Draft 2.pdf (116.9 KB)

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Creating the UK Meritocracy Party
Filling the positions
#14

I propose starting off with the following 3rd draft: UKMP Constitution.pdf (755.9 KB)

Please review and make any comments or suggestions that you may have. Keep in mind that most day-to-day matters will be regulated by the Party Rules. The constitution lays out the groundwork and defines how the Party functions at its core.

Once the constitution is approved, it can only be amended by a two-thirds majority of members voting in favour. I think it’s good enough for the time being though and the NECs ability to come up with Party Rules provides the flexibility to experiment with what is an ideal meritocratic structure within the organisation.