British Conservatives remove a little bit of democracy

Wednesday night Tory Members of Parliament (MPs) changed the rules for electing party leaders, which had previously been through election by party members. The rule change required a 2/3 vote of the MPs.

According to Fraser Nelson of the Scotsman,

Party members will be consulted about the leadership by their constituency party chairman, who will express their choice formally. A list will then be prepared, telling MPs which candidate is the most popular among the party's 300,000 members.

Armed with this information [which they're free to ignore], MPs will start voting on the candidates. Anyone with the support of ten MPs can go forward, and the least popular would be knocked out at each round of voting until only two remain.

It is as if the Republicans were to announce that they would no longer hold primaries or caucuses but would instead return to the good old days of the smoke-filled room.

Well, the Conservatives have never thought much of democracy anyway. And if they ever regain power, this should serve the plutocrats well.