On 1/4/06, Chris Jenkinson chris@starglade.org wrote:
Tony Sidaway wrote:
Well to be fair, nobody actually thinks an Esperanza position means anything. Isn't it just some sort of social club?
I don't know what Esperanza actually is, but that's not really the point. The point is that if he was eminently unsuitable, he wouldn't be voted for.
I don't think Michael Foot made much of a party leader, but I'd vote for him as a constituency MP and, if I were still a party member, I'd vote for him on the NEC. I'd say the same of those two former conservative leaders that I've forgotten the name of, the bald Yorkshireman and the Essex MP with the Japanese ancestry. These three chaps all have bags of skill and talent, but not all skills are shared out equally. They all lacked the skill to unite their respective parties. Conversely, someone may have such skills but be lacking in other areas (Neil Kinnock, a magnificant unifier and great orator whose downfall was lack of charisma in front of the TV camera). "Eminently unsuitable" presupposes a job description, and a vote for an Esperanza position probably only requires willingness to do...whatever it is Esperanza people do.